Horror Heads: 20 for the 21st
All born between 1971 and 1986, here are the twenty XXI century directors for those with thick skin, strong stomach and a good eye.
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- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Pascal Laugier was born on 16 October 1971 in France. He is a director and writer, known for Incident in a Ghostland (2018), Martyrs (2008) and The Tall Man (2012).Personal favorite: MARTYRS- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Ben Wheatley was born in May 1972 in Billericay, Essex, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Free Fire (2016), Kill List (2011) and Sightseers (2012).Personal favorite: A FIELD IN ENGLAND- Director
- Writer
- Producer
André Øvredal was born on 6 May 1973. He is a director and writer, known for Troll Hunter (2010), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) and Tunnelen (2016).Personal favorite: THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Paco Plaza was born in 1973 in València, València, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for REC (2007), Veronica (2017) and [Rec]² (2009). He is married to Leticia Dolera.Personal favorite: REC- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Peter Strickland was born in 1973 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Katalin Varga (2009), In Fabric (2018) and Berberian Sound Studio (2012).Personal favorite: BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO- Writer
- Director
- Cinematographer
S. Craig Zahler was born on 23 January 1973 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Bone Tomahawk (2015), Dragged Across Concrete (2018) and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017).Personal favorite: DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Andy Muschietti was born on 26 August 1973 in Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina. He is a producer and director, known for Mama (2013), It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019).Personal favorite: MAMA- Writer
- Director
- Producer
David Robert Mitchell is an American director mainly known for the breakout horror film ''It Follows'' which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2014. in 2002, Mitchell wrote and directed ''Virgin'' a short film featuring Carolina Castro and Cameron Diskin about a local legend sees a vision of Virgin Mary which leads him to the pursuit of true love, in 2010, he wrote and directed ''The Myth of The American Sleepover'' which starred Claire Sloma and Marlon Morton, the film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest festival on March 10, 2010. It was released on July 22, 2010 in a limited release. in 2014, Mitchell directed ''It Follows'' featuring Maika Monroe and Keir Gilchrist, the horror film was breakout hit and grossed over $14 million at the box office and was labeled one of the best indie films of 2015. The film was released on March 13, 2015, in a limited release, but because it was so successful it finally got a wide release on March 27, by Radius-TWC, a division of The Weinstein Company.Personal favorite: IT FOLLOWS- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Na Hong-jin born in 1974 is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. His debut film The Chaser (2008) won Best Director at the 45th Grand Bell Awards in 2008. The film also won the award for Best Film. His follow up film, The Yellow Sea, was released in South Korea on December 15, 2010. It is scheduled to be screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.Personal favorite: THE WAILING- Writer
- Director
Alexandre Bustillo was born on 10 August 1975 in France. He is a writer and director, known for Inside (2007), The Deep House (2021) and Among the Living (2014).Personal favorite: INSIDE- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sean hails from Hobart, Tasmania. The Loved Ones (2009) is his first feature and has achieved official selection at over twenty international film festivals, winning the People's Choice Award, Midnight Madness Category, Toronto International Film Festival (2009) and The Siren Award for Best International Feature, Lund International Film Festival (2010). His most recent short Advantage (2007) had its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2008) and has picked up multiple awards on the festival circuit. While doing his Masters at the Australian Film Television & Radio School, Sean received the Australian Directors Guild and Screen Sound Australia Awards for Excellence in Drama Directing for his shorts, Work?, Sport, Sunday and Ben.
When he isn't directing shorts and features, Sean directs television ads for Renegade Films in Melbourne. He has directed spots for Cadburys, Nintendo and Ford, among others.Personal favorite: THE LOVED ONES- Producer
- Writer
- Director
James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Furious 7 (2015).
Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.
Prior to 2003, Wan and Leigh Whannell had begun writing a script based for a horror film, citing inspiration from their dreams and fears. Upon completing the script, Leigh and James had wanted to select an excerpt from their script, later to be known as Saw (2004), and film it to pitch their film to studios. With the help of Charlie Clouser, who had composed the score for the film, and a few stand-in actors, Leigh and James shot the film with relatively no budget. Leigh had decided to star in the film as well.
After the release of the full-length Saw (2004), the film was met with overwhelming success in the box office both domestically and internationally. The film ended up grossing 55 million dollars in America, and 48 million dollars in other countries, totaling over $103 million worldwide. This was over 100 million dollars profit, over 80 times the production budget. This green-lit the sequel Saw II (2005), and later the rest of the Saw franchise based on the yearly success of the previous installment. Since its inception, Saw (2004) has become the highest grossing horror franchise of all time worldwide in unadjusted dollars. In the United States only, Saw (2004) is the second highest grossing horror franchise, behind only the Friday the 13th (1980) films by a margin of $10 million.Personal favorite: THE CONJURING 2- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Alexandre Aja was born on 7 August 1978 in Paris, France. He is a producer and director, known for High Tension (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Piranha 3D (2010). He is married to Laïla Marrakchi.Personal favorite: CRAWL- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Fede Alvarez was born on 9 February 1978 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He is a writer and producer, known for Don't Breathe (2016), Evil Dead (2013) and The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018).Personal favorite: DON'T BREATHE- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Mike Flanagan is a prolific writer, director, and editor of feature films and television, and founder of Red Room Pictures. Flanagan entered into an exclusive overall deal with Amazon Studios in 2023 for television projects (after a similar exclusive deal with Netflix lasted from 2018-2022), and has produced feature films for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and Netflix, among others. Flanagan is best known for his work in horror films and television series, which has attracted the praise of critics for his focus on character and lack of reliance on jump scares. Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino, and William Friedkin, among others, have praised him.
Flanagan was born in Salem, Massachusetts to Timothy and Laura Flanagan. The family relocated frequently, as Timothy was in the U.S. Coast Guard, and finally settled in Bowie, Maryland. As a child, he would shoot and edit short movies on VHS. This continued as he attended Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Maryland, where he was active in the theatre department and the president of the Student Government Association. A graduate of Towson University's Electronic Media and Film department, Mike moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and began working as an editor of sketch comedy shows, reality television, documentary programming and commercials before his Kickstarter-funded breakout feature Absentia (2011) launched his filmmaking career.
Flanagan's films, all of which he directed, wrote, and edited, include Oculus (2013), Hush (2016), Before I Wake (2016), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Gerald's Game (2017), Doctor Sleep (2019), and The Life of Chuck (2024). He also created, directed, and served as showrunner on the series The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), the teen horror series The Midnight Club (2022) and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023).
Flanagan has been nominated for dozens of awards for writing, directing and editing, and was presented with the Visionary Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in 2022. He is an active member of the Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America West, Motion Picture Editors Guild, and Screen Actors Guild.
Flanagan lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Kate Siegel, whom he married in 2016. They have a son and a daughter together, as well as a son from Flanagan's previous relationship with Absentia actress Courtney Bell. He has been sober since 2018, and frequently uses his work to explore themes of addiction, recovery, and empathy.Personal favorite: OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Jordan Peele is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning director, writer, actor, producer, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions. Peele's first feature film, "Get Out," was a critically acclaimed blockbuster, recognized with four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The film would earn Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. His second feature, "Us," broke numerous box-office records, becoming the biggest opening for an R-rated original film in history when released in March of 2019 to widespread critical praise. Peele's third feature, the original horror epic, "Nope," opened in the summer of 2022 to rave reviews, the No. 1 slot at the box office, and once again becoming a widely discussed cultural phenomenon. Five years in the making, Peele produced and co-wrote Henry Selick's stop-motion animated feature, "Wendell & Wild," to which he also lent his voice as one of the title characters. Under the Monkeypaw banner, Peele co-wrote and produced Nia DaCosta's "Candyman" which made history as the first film helmed by a Black woman director to open at No. 1 at the box office. He also produced Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," which earned a nomination for Best Picture and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has also served as executive producer for numerous television series, including "Hunters" (Amazon), "Lovecraft Country" (HBO), and "The Twilight Zone" (CBS). Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Peele was a celebrated comedian who was the co-star and co-creator of "Key & Peele" on Comedy Central.Personal favorite: GET OUT- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Ti West is most notable for directing horror films, as well as being an actor, writer, producer, and editor. Ti broke out, after directing various projects, in 2009, when he directed two feature films - 2009's The House Of The Devil and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Ti later directed, with his production company Glass Eye Pix, the widely popular 2011 horror film The Innkeepers, which starred actors Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis. Ti also starred as "Tariq" in Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett's horror film, You're Next (2011). More recently he has been a director for MTV's Scream and Fox's The Exorcist. His acting roles include him portraying "Dave" in Joe Swanberg's rom-com, Drinking Buddies (2013) and a cameo as "Favorite Teacher" in The House Of The Devil.Personal favorite: THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL- Production Designer
- Director
- Writer
Robert Houston Eggers is an American filmmaker and production designer. He is best known for writing and directing the historical horror films The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), as well as directing and co-writing the historical fiction epic film The Northman (2022). His films are noted for their folkloric elements, as well as his efforts to ensure historical authenticity.Personal favorite: THE WITCH- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Ari Aster is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for writing and directing the A24 horror films Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019). Aster was born into a Jewish family in New York City on July 15, 1986, the son of a poet mother and musician father. He has a younger brother. He recalled going to see his first movie, Dick Tracy, when he was four years old. The film featured a scene where a character fired a Tommy gun in front of a wall of fire. Aster reportedly jumped from his seat and "ran six New York City blocks" while his mother tried to catch him. In his early childhood, Aster's family briefly lived in England, where his father opened a jazz nightclub in Chester. Aster enjoyed living there, but the family returned to the U.S. and settled in New Mexico when he was 10 years old.Personal favorite: MIDSOMMAR