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In the landscape of current cinema, a new cohort of visionaries is pushing the limits of the horror film category. From social metaphors to intense thrillers, these 8 movie-makers are crafting unforgettable adventures that redefine fear for a current generation.

Jordan Peele

The filmmaker behind Get Out has crafted spring-loaded symbolic tales exploring the dangers, nuances, and paradoxes of Black existence in the United States. His influence is evident from the abundance of copycats, with the best within them nurtured by the director via his Monkeypaw.

Master of Historical Horror

An expert uncoverer of the least known pockets of the past, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu is known for finding the foreign aspects of distant history and depicting them devoid of modern-day alteration. Eggers' dark time machines create doorways to psychosis, craving, and transformation.

Jane Schoenbrun

The millennial creator with their finger most attuned to the millennial spirit, as attuned to the isolation, and significant relationships, of an online-focused time. Channeling themes of connection and pop culture via trans experiences and the history of body horror, films such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the strangest fractures of the identity.

Gore Maestro

The director's series of Terrifier features is this era's great scary movie achievement, testament that audience buzz can still create true successes from skillfully made low-budget violence. Not just the modern Jason or Freddy, psychotic poster boy Art the Clown is confirmation that the viewers' desire for blood – gratuitous, comical, unbridled – remains insatiable.

Blurrer of Realities

Merging the line between hallucination and the real world, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has created a portfolio of driven women pushed to limits by the strength of their devotion to distorted ideals. Known for surreal climaxes that call simple readings into suspicion, her films linger – though less like a stone in your shoe than a nail in your sole.

Danny and Michael Philippou

Emerging from the humble origins of online video came a duo of filmmakers taking over the world with a current type of controversy. With their films Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they staged violent spectacles in between realistic portrayals of how today’s youth think. Aspiring directors pray to them as if they’re freshly made saints.

Julia Ducournau

Her polished, allegory-driven combination of genre trappings with art film styles earned her a Palme d’Or, the first time the Cannes Film Festival awarded its highest honor to a scary film. Bearing the blood-soaked standard of the extreme cinema wave, the Titane filmmaker delves into the cravings of the disconnected to remarkable effect.

Asian Horror Visionary

One of the most exciting talents to arise from the Asian continent in recent years, the South Korean filmmaker has directed one masterpiece of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-written another (The Medium). Paced with absolute confidence and exact mood management, his movies converts Hollywood templates into terrifying, unique forms.

These eight creators represent the diverse and creative path of scary cinema, propelling the boundaries of terror into new territories.