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Within the realm of current filmmaking, a new wave of creators is expanding the limits of the horror film genre. Ranging from social commentaries to visceral chillers, these 8 movie-makers are crafting lasting journeys that redefine terror for a new generation.

Jordan Peele

The filmmaker of Get Out has crafted sharp allegories exploring the risks, nuances, and contradictions of African American experience in the America. His influence is clear from the multitude of followers, with the top among them nurtured by the director by way of his production company.

Robert Eggers

A skilled excavator of the most obscure recesses of the past, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu specializes in finding the foreign elements of past epochs and showing them free from contemporary alteration. Eggers' dark journeys into the past unlock gateways to psychosis, desire, and transformation.

Jane Schoenbrun

The modern director with their pulse closest to the generation’s spirit, as aware of the solitudes, and meaningful bonds, of an internet-besotted time. Channeling ideas of connection and pop culture by way of trans experiences and the tradition of physical terror, works such as I Saw the TV Glow plumb the strangest cracks of the psyche.

Damien Leone

Leone’s three-part saga of Terrifier movies is this century’s significant scary movie triumph, evidence that fan support can still produce genuine hits from skillfully made microbudget bloodshed. Not just the next slasher icon, psychotic figure Art the Clown is proof that the public’s desire for violence – excessive, hilarious, unchecked – remains insatiable.

Blurrer of Realities

Blurring the division between fantasy and the real world, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has assembled a collection of powerful protagonists pushed to extremes by the intensity of their devotion to warped values. Known for surreal climaxes that challenge simple understandings into question, her films remain – though less like a pebble in your shoe than a sharp object in your foot.

Danny and Michael Philippou

From the humble origins of online video arose a team of filmmakers conquering the film industry with a current brand of controversy. With their works Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they presented violent spectacles in between credible depictions of how modern teenagers behave. Aspiring directors pray to them as if they’re freshly canonised icons.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

The director's polished, allegory-driven blend of genre trappings with art film touches gained her a top Cannes prize, the historic moment the event presented its top prize to a scary film. Carrying the viscera-flecked flag of the extreme cinema wave, the Titane creator explores the cravings of the disconnected to remarkable effect.

Asian Horror Visionary

A member of the most thrilling artists to come forth from Eastern cinema in recent years, the Seoul-based creator has directed one masterpiece of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-written one more (The Medium). Paced with total assurance and meticulous tonal control, his movies transforms Hollywood templates into terrifying, unique shapes.

These directors embody the wide-ranging and groundbreaking direction of the horror genre, driving the limits of fear into unexplored realms.