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In the world of modern cinema, a fresh generation of artists is stretching the limits of the scary movie style. From societal allegories to graphic chillers, these eight filmmakers are producing lasting experiences that reshape terror for a new generation.

Jordan Peele

The filmmaker behind Get Out has crafted spring-loaded allegories examining the risks, nuances, and paradoxes of Black existence in the America. His influence is clear from the multitude of copycats, with the best of them supported by the director through his Monkeypaw.

Robert Eggers

A masterful explorer of the most obscure corners of the bygone eras, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu is known for uncovering the foreign aspects of historical periods and depicting them devoid of present-day reinterpretation. His unholy journeys into the past open portals to insanity, desire, and transcendence.

Jane Schoenbrun

The modern filmmaker with their pulse closest to the millennial heartbeat, as sensitive to the solitudes, and meaningful bonds, of an internet-besotted time. Weaving ideas of connection and pop culture by way of trans experiences and the history of physical terror, films such as I Saw the TV Glow explore the most unsettling cracks of the identity.

Damien Leone

Leone’s three-part saga of Terrifier movies is this decade's significant scary movie success story, proof that audience buzz can still generate true blockbusters from expertly crafted low-budget violence. Not just the new slasher icon, insane poster boy Art the Clown is proof that the audience's thirst for gore – over-the-top, humorous, unbridled – remains unslakable.

Rose Glass

Merging the division between hallucination and actuality, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has built a portfolio of powerful protagonists driven to the edge by the strength of their dedication to twisted ideals. Known for surreal climaxes that question simple readings into doubt, her films stay with you – though not so much like a pebble in your shoe than a nail in your foot.

YouTube Sensations

From the primordial ooze of digital platform arrived a pair of siblings dominating the cinema landscape with a current type of provocation. With their films Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they created violent spectacles in between credible depictions of how today’s teenagers act. Film students look up to them as if they’re freshly made heroes.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

The director's sleek, allegory-driven fusion of horror elements with art film styles gained her a prestigious award, the historic moment the event awarded its highest honor to a horror picture. Bearing the gore-stained standard of the New French Extremity, the Titane director indulges the cravings of the alienated to stunning effect.

Na Hong-jin

Among the most thrilling filmmakers to come forth from Eastern cinema in the past decade, the South Korean creator has directed one jewel of folk horror (The Wailing) and collaborated on one more (The Medium). Structured with total assurance and precise tonal control, his films converts mainstream formulas into terrifying, original forms.

These filmmakers represent the wide-ranging and innovative direction of scary cinema, pushing the boundaries of terror into new territories.