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Within the world of contemporary cinema, a fresh wave of artists is pushing the boundaries of the horror category. Ranging from cultural allegories to intense chillers, these eight movie-makers are creating unforgettable experiences that reshape terror for a current era.

Jordan Peele

The filmmaker behind Get Out has developed spring-loaded symbolic tales delving into the risks, nuances, and conflicts of Black life in the United States. Peele's effect is obvious from the sheer number of copycats, with the best of them nurtured by the filmmaker by way of his Monkeypaw.

Master of Historical Horror

A skilled uncoverer of the most obscure corners of the past, this director of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu specializes in uncovering the unfamiliar elements of past epochs and showing them free from modern-day revisionism. Eggers' sinister time machines unlock gateways to madness, longing, and transformation.

Jane Schoenbrun

The millennial director with their focus closest to the generation’s pulse, as attuned to the loneliness, and meaningful bonds, of an online-focused time. Filtering concepts of bonding and popular media by way of trans experiences and the tradition of corporeal fear, creations such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the most unsettling fissures of the identity.

Gore Maestro

The director's three-part saga of Terrifier films is this century’s great scary movie success story, evidence that fan support can still generate bona fide blockbusters from expertly crafted microbudget violence. Not just the new horror villain, deranged poster boy Art the Clown is proof that the audience's craving for gore – excessive, comical, unchecked – remains endless.

Rose Glass

Merging the line between fantasy and reality, with her movies Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has assembled a gallery of intense female characters pushed to the edge by the strength of their commitment to warped values. Prone to surreal climaxes that challenge simple interpretations into doubt, her works remain – though less like a pebble in your footwear than a spike in your sole.

YouTube Sensations

From the humble origins of YouTube arrived a team of filmmakers taking over the film industry with a trendy brand of shock. With their films Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they created atrocity exhibitions in between realistic representations of how today’s young people think. Aspiring directors look up to them as if they’re newly made saints.

Julia Ducournau

The director's sleek, allegory-driven combination of genre trappings with independent flourishes earned her a prestigious award, the historic moment the Cannes Film Festival presented its top prize to a scary film. Bearing the gore-stained standard of the French horror movement, the Titane creator explores the desires of the disconnected to spectacular outcome.

Asian Horror Visionary

A member of the most exciting filmmakers to arise from Asia in the past decade, the Korean filmmaker has made one jewel of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-scripted a second one (The Medium). Paced with absolute confidence and meticulous atmosphere crafting, his work transforms mainstream formulas into horrifying, unique forms.

The listed directors signify the diverse and creative path of the horror genre, propelling the edges of fear into unexplored dimensions.