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Within the world of modern filmmaking, a fresh cohort of artists is pushing the boundaries of the horror film style. Ranging from cultural metaphors to graphic fright-fests, these eight movie-makers are creating unforgettable experiences that redefine dread for a modern age.

Jordan Peele

The filmmaker behind Get Out has developed spring-loaded symbolic tales examining the dangers, subtleties, and contradictions of African American experience in the US. Peele's effect is evident from the sheer number of copycats, with the top among them nurtured by the filmmaker via his production company.

Master of Historical Horror

A masterful uncoverer of the most obscure recesses of the past, this creator of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu excels in finding the alien aspects of historical periods and presenting them devoid of present-day alteration. Eggers' sinister time machines unlock gateways to psychosis, desire, and elevation.

Jane Schoenbrun

The contemporary director with their focus most attuned to the younger heartbeat, as aware of the solitudes, and significant relationships, of an digitally-obsessed age. Weaving ideas of relationships and pop culture by way of trans identity and the history of physical terror, films such as I Saw the TV Glow plumb the eeriest cracks of the identity.

Gore Maestro

The director's three-part saga of Terrifier features is this era's great scary movie achievement, evidence that word of mouth can still create true blockbusters from skillfully made low-budget gore. Beyond the next Jason or Freddy, insane figure Art the Clown is evidence that the viewers' craving for blood – gratuitous, hilarious, unbridled – remains endless.

Blurrer of Realities

Merging the line between hallucination and the real world, with her movies Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding, The director has assembled a portfolio of powerful women compelled to limits by the depth of their devotion to twisted values. Prone to surreal endings that call straightforward understandings into suspicion, her works remain – though not so much like a rock in your footwear than a sharp object in your sole.

YouTube Sensations

From the humble origins of online video came a duo of brothers taking over the world with a zeitgeisty type of provocation. With their works Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, they presented violent spectacles in between credible depictions of how current youth act. Aspiring directors look up to them as if they’re recently declared heroes.

Julia Ducournau

The director's polished, metaphor-forward combination of scary movie conventions with arthouse touches won her a prestigious award, the historic moment the event presented its top prize to a terror movie. Holding the gore-stained flag of the extreme cinema wave, the Titane creator delves into the cravings of the isolated to stunning outcome.

Na Hong-jin

A member of the most exciting filmmakers to come forth from Asia in the past decade, the Seoul-based director has made one jewel of traditional terror (The Wailing) and co-written a second one (The Medium). Arranged with total confidence and precise tonal control, his movies transposes Hollywood templates into terrifying, novel styles.

These directors signify the wide-ranging and innovative future of scary cinema, driving the limits of terror into fresh dimensions.