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In the landscape of modern movie-making, a innovative cohort of creators is pushing the boundaries of the horror category. Ranging from social metaphors to graphic chillers, these 8 filmmakers are creating memorable experiences that redefine terror for a new age.

Jordan Peele

The creator of Get Out has developed pointed symbolic tales exploring the risks, nuances, and contradictions of Black life in the US. His influence is evident from the sheer number of followers, with the best among them nurtured by the filmmaker via his studio.

Robert Eggers

A skilled explorer of the darkest corners of the bygone eras, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu excels in uncovering the foreign elements of distant history and showing them free from present-day alteration. His dark historical explorations unlock gateways to psychosis, desire, and elevation.

Jane Schoenbrun

The modern director with their pulse closest to the millennial spirit, as aware of the loneliness, and significant relationships, of an digitally-obsessed age. Filtering themes of bonding and mainstream entertainment via trans experiences and the history of corporeal fear, works such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the eeriest cracks of the psyche.

Damien Leone

Leone’s trilogy of Terrifier films is this century’s significant scary movie triumph, proof that fan support can still produce genuine hits from expertly crafted microbudget bloodshed. Not just the next horror villain, deranged poster boy Art the Clown is confirmation that the public’s thirst for violence – gratuitous, comical, unchecked – remains insatiable.

Blurrer of Realities

Merging the boundary between delusion and the real world, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has created a gallery of intense women pushed to extremes by the depth of their commitment to twisted values. Prone to imaginative grand finales that call easy interpretations into question, her movies remain – though less like a stone in your shoe than a spike in your sole.

YouTube Sensations

From the early beginnings of online video arrived a pair of brothers taking over the world with a trendy style of shock. With their films Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they staged shocking displays in between authentic portrayals of how modern teenagers behave. Film students look up to them as if they’re newly canonised saints.

Julia Ducournau

The director's polished, symbolism-rich fusion of genre trappings with art film touches earned her a top Cannes prize, the initial instance the event presented its top prize to a terror movie. Carrying the gore-stained banner of the extreme cinema wave, the Titane filmmaker indulges the desires of the isolated to remarkable effect.

Na Hong-jin

A member of the most thrilling filmmakers to emerge from the Asian continent in recent years, the Korean director has directed one masterpiece of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-scripted another (The Medium). Paced with total certainty and exact mood management, his movies converts conventional structures into terrifying, original styles.

These directors signify the diverse and creative future of scary cinema, propelling the edges of dread into new dimensions.