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Within the world of contemporary movie-making, a new wave of creators is stretching the edges of the horror category. From social metaphors to intense fright-fests, these eight filmmakers are producing memorable experiences that reimagine terror for a new era.

The Mind Behind Get Out

The director behind Get Out has crafted sharp symbolic tales exploring the perils, nuances, and contradictions of Black life in the United States. Peele's impact is clear from the abundance of followers, with the best within them nurtured by the director by way of his production company.

Master of Historical Horror

A masterful explorer of the darkest pockets of the history, this director of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu specializes in finding the unfamiliar aspects of past epochs and depicting them devoid of present-day reinterpretation. Eggers' unholy time machines create doorways to madness, desire, and transformation.

Voice of a Generation

The modern creator with their finger most attuned to the millennial heartbeat, as sensitive to the loneliness, and deep connections, of an digitally-obsessed time. Channeling concepts of relationships and mainstream entertainment via trans identity and the history of body horror, works such as I Saw the TV Glow plumb the most unsettling cracks of the self.

Gore Maestro

Leone’s trilogy of Terrifier films is this decade's great scary movie triumph, proof that audience buzz can still produce true successes from skillfully made small-scale gore. More than the next slasher icon, insane icon Art the Clown is proof that the public’s desire for blood – gratuitous, comical, unchecked – remains endless.

Rose Glass

Obscuring the line between fantasy and reality, with her movies Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has built a portfolio of driven female characters driven to the edge by the strength of their dedication to twisted beliefs. Given to fantastical climaxes that question simple interpretations into doubt, her movies stay with you – though less like a pebble in your shoe than a sharp object in your foot.

Danny and Michael Philippou

From the early beginnings of digital platform arrived a pair of filmmakers conquering the film industry with a trendy type of controversy. With their works Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they created violent spectacles in between authentic representations of how today’s youth think. Cinema enthusiasts pray to them as if they’re freshly made icons.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

The director's polished, metaphor-forward combination of horror elements with independent styles earned her a prestigious award, the initial instance the festival awarded its premier award to a horror picture. Holding the blood-soaked flag of the New French Extremity, the Titane creator delves into the desires of the disconnected to spectacular outcome.

Na Hong-jin

One of the most intriguing artists to emerge from Eastern cinema in recent years, the South Korean creator has crafted one masterpiece of traditional terror (The Wailing) and co-scripted a second one (The Medium). Structured with total confidence and meticulous atmosphere crafting, his movies transforms Hollywood templates into horrifying, original forms.

These eight directors signify the wide-ranging and creative path of horror, driving the limits of dread into new territories.