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Across the world of contemporary filmmaking, a new wave of artists is pushing the edges of the horror film style. From social allegories to intense thrillers, these eight directors are crafting lasting adventures that reimagine fear for a current generation.

Jordan Peele

The filmmaker behind Get Out has developed spring-loaded metaphors examining the risks, complexities, and paradoxes of African American experience in the US. Peele's impact is evident from the sheer number of imitators, with the best among them supported by the director by way of his production company.

Robert Eggers

A masterful excavator of the least known corners of the past, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu excels in uncovering the foreign aspects of historical periods and depicting them without contemporary revisionism. Eggers' unholy historical explorations unlock gateways to madness, desire, and transcendence.

Jane Schoenbrun

The contemporary creator with their focus closest to the younger spirit, as sensitive to the loneliness, and significant relationships, of an internet-besotted age. Channeling ideas of connection and mainstream entertainment via trans experiences and the legacy of body horror, creations such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the most unsettling cracks of the psyche.

Gore Maestro

The director's three-part saga of Terrifier films is this decade's great horror achievement, testament that fan support can still create bona fide hits from expertly crafted microbudget gore. More than the new Jason or Freddy, deranged figure Art the Clown is proof that the audience's desire for gore – excessive, humorous, unrestrained – remains insatiable.

Blurrer of Realities

Merging the boundary between fantasy and the real world, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has assembled a portfolio of driven protagonists compelled to extremes by the depth of their commitment to distorted beliefs. Known for fantastical endings that call simple understandings into question, her movies remain – though less like a rock in your footwear than a nail in your foot.

YouTube Sensations

From the primordial ooze of YouTube arrived a team of brothers conquering the film industry with a current style of controversy. With their films Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they presented shocking displays in between realistic depictions of how modern teenagers act. Aspiring directors pray to them as if they’re recently canonised saints.

Julia Ducournau

The director's polished, metaphor-forward blend of horror elements with art film styles gained her a Palme d’Or, the first time the Cannes Film Festival presented its premier award to a horror picture. Holding the blood-soaked banner of the New French Extremity, the Titane filmmaker explores the appetites of the alienated to remarkable outcome.

Asian Horror Visionary

One of the most thrilling artists to emerge from the Asian continent in the past decade, the South Korean creator has directed one masterpiece of folk horror (The Wailing) and collaborated on one more (The Medium). Arranged with supreme certainty and exact atmosphere crafting, his movies converts conventional structures into frightful, novel styles.

These eight filmmakers embody the wide-ranging and creative path of scary cinema, propelling the boundaries of terror into new dimensions.