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In the landscape of contemporary cinema, a new generation of creators is stretching the edges of the scary movie category. From cultural allegories to visceral thrillers, these 8 movie-makers are creating memorable experiences that reshape terror for a new generation.

Jordan Peele

The creator behind Get Out has created pointed allegories exploring the risks, nuances, and paradoxes of Black existence in the US. His impact is evident from the multitude of copycats, with the finest within them nurtured by Peele himself by way of his production company.

Robert Eggers

A masterful explorer of the least known corners of the bygone eras, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu excels in uncovering the alien aspects of distant history and presenting them without modern-day alteration. Eggers' dark historical explorations open portals to psychosis, longing, and transcendence.

Voice of a Generation

The contemporary creator with their finger closest to the generation’s spirit, as sensitive to the loneliness, and significant relationships, of an digitally-obsessed age. Channeling ideas of relationships and mainstream entertainment through trans identity and the legacy of physical terror, works such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the most unsettling fractures of the psyche.

Damien Leone

The director's trilogy of Terrifier features is this decade's significant scary movie success story, evidence that fan support can still generate bona fide hits from well-executed small-scale violence. Beyond the next Jason or Freddy, insane figure Art the Clown is proof that the audience's desire for blood – excessive, comical, unrestrained – remains endless.

Rose Glass

Merging the line between hallucination and actuality, with her works Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has built a collection of powerful protagonists driven to extremes by the depth of their devotion to warped values. Prone to surreal endings that challenge straightforward understandings into suspicion, her movies linger – though not so much like a pebble in your footwear than a spike in your sole.

Danny and Michael Philippou

From the humble origins of online video came a team of siblings dominating the world with a zeitgeisty brand of controversy. With their movies Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they created atrocity exhibitions in between realistic depictions of how current young people behave. Aspiring directors look up to them as if they’re freshly made heroes.

Julia Ducournau

Her polished, allegory-driven fusion of scary movie conventions with independent flourishes won her a top Cannes prize, the initial instance the event presented its highest honor to a terror movie. Carrying the blood-soaked banner of the French horror movement, the Titane filmmaker delves into the appetites of the alienated to remarkable effect.

Asian Horror Visionary

A member of the most intriguing talents to come forth from the Asian continent in the past decade, the Korean director has directed one gem of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-scripted another (The Medium). Arranged with total certainty and meticulous mood management, his work transforms mainstream formulas into terrifying, unique forms.

The listed creators represent the diverse and creative direction of horror, driving the limits of dread into unexplored realms.