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Within the realm of contemporary filmmaking, a new wave of artists is expanding the boundaries of the horror style. Ranging from social allegories to graphic thrillers, these eight filmmakers are creating memorable experiences that reimagine terror for a new age.

The Mind Behind Get Out

The filmmaker of Get Out has developed pointed metaphors exploring the perils, nuances, and contradictions of Black existence in the United States. His effect is clear from the multitude of imitators, with the best within them nurtured by the filmmaker through his Monkeypaw.

Master of Historical Horror

An expert excavator of the most obscure recesses of the bygone eras, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu specializes in finding the alien aspects of historical periods and depicting them without present-day revisionism. Eggers' sinister time machines unlock gateways to insanity, longing, and transcendence.

Jane Schoenbrun

The modern creator with their pulse most attuned to the younger spirit, as aware of the isolation, and deep connections, of an internet-besotted age. Filtering themes of connection and popular media by way of trans identity and the history of body horror, creations such as I Saw the TV Glow plumb the most unsettling fractures of the psyche.

Damien Leone

Leone’s three-part saga of Terrifier features is this era's major scary movie achievement, proof that word of mouth can still create true hits from expertly crafted low-budget gore. More than the new horror villain, deranged icon Art the Clown is evidence that the viewers' desire for blood – gratuitous, comical, unbridled – remains unslakable.

Blurrer of Realities

Blurring the boundary between fantasy and actuality, with her movies Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has assembled a portfolio of driven protagonists driven to limits by the strength of their commitment to twisted ideals. Given to imaginative climaxes that call simple interpretations into question, her works linger – though not so much like a pebble in your shoe than a sharp object in your sole.

YouTube Sensations

From the humble origins of YouTube arose a team of brothers taking over the world with a zeitgeisty style of shock. With their works Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they presented atrocity exhibitions in between realistic depictions of how current young people behave. Aspiring directors idolize them as if they’re recently canonised heroes.

Julia Ducournau

The director's polished, symbolism-rich blend of genre trappings with independent styles won her a Palme d’Or, the historic moment the event gave its highest honor to a scary film. Carrying the gore-stained flag of the French horror movement, the Titane creator delves into the appetites of the alienated to spectacular result.

Na Hong-jin

Among the most exciting artists to come forth from Eastern cinema in the past decade, the Korean creator has made one gem of folk horror (The Wailing) and co-written another (The Medium). Paced with absolute assurance and precise mood management, his films converts Hollywood templates into frightful, novel styles.

These filmmakers signify the varied and groundbreaking path of horror, propelling the limits of dread into unexplored realms.