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Across the landscape of current cinema, a innovative cohort of creators is expanding the boundaries of the scary movie genre. From cultural commentaries to graphic thrillers, these 8 directors are creating lasting experiences that reimagine dread for a new generation.

Jordan Peele

The director of Get Out has created sharp metaphors examining the dangers, nuances, and paradoxes of African American experience in the US. His influence is obvious from the abundance of imitators, with the best among them guided by the filmmaker by way of his Monkeypaw.

Robert Eggers

A masterful uncoverer of the most obscure recesses of the past, this filmmaker of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu specializes in revealing the unfamiliar elements of past epochs and presenting them free from modern-day alteration. Eggers' unholy historical explorations open portals to psychosis, desire, and transformation.

Voice of a Generation

The contemporary creator with their focus most attuned to the generation’s pulse, as attuned to the isolation, and meaningful bonds, of an online-focused time. Weaving concepts of connection and mainstream entertainment via trans identity and the history of corporeal fear, films such as I Saw the TV Glow plumb the most unsettling fissures of the self.

Gore Maestro

Leone’s series of Terrifier features is this century’s great scary movie achievement, proof that fan support can still generate genuine blockbusters from expertly crafted low-budget gore. Beyond the modern slasher icon, psychotic figure Art the Clown is confirmation that the viewers' thirst for violence – gratuitous, hilarious, unbridled – remains endless.

Blurrer of Realities

Merging the line between delusion and reality, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has created a gallery of intense protagonists compelled to extremes by the intensity of their dedication to twisted ideals. Given to surreal endings that call simple readings into question, her movies remain – though less like a stone in your footwear than a spike in your foot.

YouTube Sensations

From the early beginnings of YouTube came a duo of brothers taking over the world with a trendy brand of provocation. With their works Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they presented violent spectacles in between realistic representations of how modern young people behave. Aspiring directors look up to them as if they’re recently canonised saints.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

The director's polished, symbolism-rich blend of scary movie conventions with art film styles earned her a top Cannes prize, the first time the event presented its top prize to a terror movie. Holding the viscera-flecked banner of the New French Extremity, the Titane creator indulges the desires of the disconnected to spectacular effect.

Na Hong-jin

A member of the most exciting talents to arise from the Asian continent in recent years, the South Korean director has directed one masterpiece of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-scripted a second one (The Medium). Structured with absolute confidence and exact atmosphere crafting, his work transposes conventional structures into frightful, novel styles.

These eight filmmakers represent the varied and groundbreaking path of the horror genre, pushing the boundaries of fear into unexplored dimensions.