Dekker was born on April 9, 1959, in
San Francisco and was raised in the
Bay Area. He attended the
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in the mid-1980s. In 1983, film director
Steve Miner hired Dekker to write the script for
Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 3D, a project which went unproduced. The film, an homage to
B-movies of the 1950s and 60s, has since become a
cult classic. His next film
The Monster Squad was co-written with his friend and long-time collaborator
Shane Black. It is an homage to the
Universal "monster cycle" of films produced between the early 1930s and mid-1950s. Like his previous film, it has since become a cult classic. Dekker subsequently wrote five episodes of the
Tales from the Crypt television series, and directed one. He co-wrote the
neo-noir Ricochet and the
spy comedy If Looks Could Kill. His return to the director's chair came in 1992 when he directed the
third installment in the
RoboCop series, co-writing the screenplay with comic book writer
Frank Miller. The film, which had its release delayed by a year due to the bankruptcy of
Orion Pictures, received negative reviews from critics and audiences. Dekker has since gone on to accept blame for the film's negative reception. Dekker worked as a
script doctor, making uncredited contributions to films including
Titan A.E. and
Lethal Weapon 4. He also wrote three episodes of
Star Trek: Enterprise in the early 2000s. In 2015, after a lengthy hiatus, he returned to filmmaking by co-writing a
television pilot,
Edge, for
Amazon Studios, with Black. He co-wrote the 2018 film
The Predator with Black, who also directed the film. ==Filmography==