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Across the world of contemporary movie-making, a new wave of visionaries is pushing the boundaries of the scary movie genre. From societal allegories to graphic fright-fests, these eight movie-makers are creating lasting adventures that reimagine fear for a current age.

The Mind Behind Get Out

The director behind Get Out has crafted pointed allegories exploring the risks, subtleties, and conflicts of Black life in the US. Peele's effect is obvious from the sheer number of followers, with the best within them guided by the director by way of his Monkeypaw.

Master of Historical Horror

A skilled excavator of the most obscure recesses of the bygone eras, this director of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu excels in uncovering the alien elements of past epochs and depicting them devoid of modern-day alteration. His sinister journeys into the past open portals to psychosis, craving, and elevation.

Voice of a Generation

The modern director with their finger closest to the younger heartbeat, as attuned to the isolation, and significant relationships, of an digitally-obsessed time. Channeling ideas of bonding and pop culture via gender transition and the tradition of corporeal fear, works such as I Saw the TV Glow delve into the most unsettling cracks of the identity.

Damien Leone

The director's series of Terrifier films is this century’s great scary movie success story, proof that audience buzz can still create true successes from skillfully made microbudget bloodshed. More than the next horror villain, psychotic icon Art the Clown is proof that the viewers' thirst for violence – gratuitous, hilarious, unchecked – remains insatiable.

Rose Glass

Merging the division between delusion and actuality, with her films Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, Glass has assembled a gallery of powerful women compelled to the edge by the depth of their commitment to twisted ideals. Known for surreal endings that call straightforward interpretations into doubt, her works remain – though less like a stone in your footwear than a nail in your sole.

Danny and Michael Philippou

Emerging from the primordial ooze of online video arrived a team of brothers conquering the cinema landscape with a current brand of shock. With their movies Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they created violent spectacles in between credible depictions of how today’s youth behave. Cinema enthusiasts idolize them as if they’re freshly declared saints.

Arthouse Horror Pioneer

Her polished, symbolism-rich blend of scary movie conventions with arthouse touches earned her a prestigious award, the initial instance the event awarded its top prize to a terror movie. Holding the viscera-flecked standard of the New French Extremity, the Titane director explores the desires of the alienated to remarkable result.

Na Hong-jin

One of the most thrilling artists to emerge from Eastern cinema in recent years, the South Korean creator has crafted one jewel of mythical fear (The Wailing) and co-scripted one more (The Medium). Paced with absolute assurance and meticulous atmosphere crafting, his work transposes conventional structures into terrifying, unique forms.

These filmmakers signify the diverse and groundbreaking future of scary cinema, propelling the edges of fear into new realms.