Mikael Håfström is a Swedish director, working mainly in the Horror, Science Fiction and Action Genre. He started out working in TV in the late 80s, directing many made for TV installments of the Roland Hassel series. His breakthrough arguably came with his adaptation of Jan Guillous auto-biographical book Evil (2003).
He made the jump to Hollywood in 2005 with the Clive Owen vehicle Derailed and would spend the majority of his career here until returning to work in Sweden in the late 2010s. Although foreign critics tend to think he is pretty hit and miss, he is still very respected in Sweden for being one of the first big-budget directors who's work "feels" like Hollywood.
Films with pages on this site includes:
Tropes:
- All-Star Cast: His films tend to have a number of big names in them. He was also the first director to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in a movie together. (At least one where they both had starring roles, not just cameos.)
- Early-Installment Weirdness: So closely associated with genre movies, that his earlier work in drama tends to be forgotten. Yet he made some of his most acclaimed films there.
- Follow the Leader: Tends to partake in this. Chock was obviously meant to be a Swedish version of Tales from the Crypt and Escape Plan came out around the time when 80s action had a huge revival.