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In the landscape of contemporary movie-making, a fresh wave of visionaries is pushing the boundaries of the scary movie category. Ranging from cultural commentaries to graphic chillers, these 8 filmmakers are crafting lasting journeys that redefine fear for a new age.

The Mind Behind Get Out

The director of Get Out has developed sharp symbolic tales exploring the risks, subtleties, and contradictions of African American experience in the United States. Peele's influence is clear from the abundance of imitators, with the best among them guided by Peele himself by way of his studio.

Master of Historical Horror

An expert excavator of the most obscure recesses of the history, this director of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu specializes in revealing the unfamiliar facets of distant history and showing them free from contemporary reinterpretation. His sinister journeys into the past unlock gateways to psychosis, craving, and transcendence.

Jane Schoenbrun

The modern director with their pulse most attuned to the generation’s heartbeat, as sensitive to the isolation, and deep connections, of an online-focused age. Weaving themes of relationships and mainstream entertainment through trans experiences and the legacy of body horror, works such as I Saw the TV Glow plumb the eeriest cracks of the self.

Damien Leone

Leone’s series of Terrifier movies is this era's major horror triumph, evidence that audience buzz can still generate true hits from expertly crafted microbudget gore. Not just the modern slasher icon, psychotic icon Art the Clown is evidence that the audience's thirst for violence – gratuitous, hilarious, unchecked – remains unslakable.

Rose Glass

Obscuring the boundary between fantasy and the real world, with her movies Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has assembled a gallery of intense female characters driven to the edge by the strength of their dedication to distorted values. Known for imaginative grand finales that challenge easy understandings into suspicion, her movies stay with you – though not so much like a stone in your footwear than a spike in your foot.

Danny and Michael Philippou

From the humble origins of digital platform arrived a duo of siblings dominating the film industry with a current style of shock. With their movies Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they created atrocity exhibitions in between realistic portrayals of how today’s teenagers act. Cinema enthusiasts pray to them as if they’re recently canonised saints.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

The director's polished, allegory-driven combination of genre trappings with art film touches won her a top Cannes prize, the first time the Cannes Film Festival gave its premier award to a horror picture. Holding the viscera-flecked flag of the New French Extremity, the Titane filmmaker indulges the appetites of the isolated to remarkable effect.

Na Hong-jin

One of the most thrilling artists to come forth from Asia in modern times, the South Korean director has directed one gem of folk horror (The Wailing) and collaborated on one more (The Medium). Arranged with absolute assurance and precise tonal control, his movies transposes conventional structures into horrifying, original styles.

These eight filmmakers represent the varied and innovative path of horror, propelling the boundaries of fear into new territories.