Eight Filmmakers Who Are Reshaping Modern Scary Movies

In the realm of modern movie-making, a fresh cohort of visionaries is expanding the edges of the horror genre. Ranging from societal allegories to intense fright-fests, these eight directors are creating unforgettable journeys that reshape fear for a current age.

The Mind Behind Get Out

The filmmaker behind Get Out has created sharp symbolic tales exploring the dangers, nuances, and contradictions of Black existence in the United States. Peele's influence is obvious from the abundance of copycats, with the best of them guided by Peele himself by way of his production company.

Robert Eggers

A skilled explorer of the darkest corners of the history, this filmmaker of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu excels in uncovering the unfamiliar aspects of historical periods and showing them free from modern-day reinterpretation. His sinister historical explorations unlock gateways to insanity, craving, and transformation.

Jane Schoenbrun

The contemporary director with their pulse most in touch with the generation’s heartbeat, as sensitive to the loneliness, and meaningful bonds, of an internet-besotted era. Filtering themes of bonding and popular media through trans identity and the history of body horror, films such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the most unsettling cracks of the self.

Damien Leone

The director's trilogy of Terrifier movies is this decade's significant scary movie success story, proof that word of mouth can still create genuine successes from well-executed low-budget violence. Not just the new slasher icon, psychotic figure Art the Clown is evidence that the public’s desire for violence – excessive, humorous, unchecked – remains insatiable.

Blurrer of Realities

Blurring the division between fantasy and the real world, with her works Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has built a gallery of driven female characters pushed to the edge by the depth of their devotion to warped values. Prone to surreal grand finales that challenge straightforward readings into doubt, her works remain – though not so much like a stone in your shoe than a sharp object in your sole.

Danny and Michael Philippou

From the humble origins of online video arrived a pair of brothers taking over the world with a zeitgeisty type of shock. With their films Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they staged atrocity exhibitions in between credible depictions of how today’s teenagers think. Aspiring directors look up to them as if they’re freshly made saints.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

Her polished, metaphor-forward combination of scary movie conventions with independent styles earned her a top Cannes prize, the initial instance the Cannes Film Festival gave its premier award to a terror movie. Bearing the blood-soaked standard of the New French Extremity, the Titane filmmaker explores the desires of the isolated to stunning result.

Asian Horror Visionary

Among the most thrilling talents to emerge from Asia in the past decade, the South Korean filmmaker has made one jewel of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-written a second one (The Medium). Structured with total confidence and exact atmosphere crafting, his movies converts Hollywood templates into horrifying, original styles.