Horror movie directors are a special breed. Like most directors, they mostly want to entertain (and make some money), but hell, you can do that with romantic comedies, or dramas, or superhero films (god help us). The directors who make horror movies, who return to that dark well again and again, are after more than that. They want to scare us, to find those trigger points in our psyche and probe them with a grimy, blood-streaked hand. They’re a strange breed, and we love them for it. Sure, there are a lot of directors who have dabbled in the horror genre, but to be considered for this list, they had to have dedicated themselves to the art of the scare. (For the most part, anyway.) So take a moment to celebrate these maestros of the macabre.
These are the 50 Greatest Horror Directors of All Time.
10. James Whale (1889–1957)
Known for Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and Bride of Frankenstein
One of the greatest horror directors that ever lived, James Whale looked beyond the terrifying flesh of his subjects and revealed the haunted heart that beat (or sometimes didn’t) beneath it. With the original Frankenstein, Whale gave us a monster whom we could empathize with and even cheer for. With Bride of Frankenstein he turned horror into blockbuster entertainment, somehow managing to juggle the terror with a dark and witty humor and giving us a horror icon with only a handful of minutes of screen time. With The Invisible Man he showed us how science could turn a good man into something awful. And with The Old Dark House he… well, I think honestly he was just having a good time with horror tropes.
While Todd Browning established the Universal horror film, James Whale perfected it, playing shadows like a symphony and presenting monsters like long-lost friends, turning them into icons. Every horror film that came after his work was either trying to emulate him or trying to get away from him, something he himself was unable to do. (Nothing that came after his horror films was ever quite as good.)
–Bob Cram
9. Sam Raimi (1959–)
Known for The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, The Gift, Drag Me to Hell, and Send Help
Though Sam is a director with far more than just horror under his belt, so much of his style is built from his work within the genre. Within the iconic nature of the first two Evil Dead movies, Raimi cemented himself with a signature style that’s easy to pick up on in his continued work. His use of frenetic camera movements and quick zooms with his particular sense of “gross-out” horror (scenes from Drag Me to Hell, Send Help, and The Gift come to mind), but he also has this ability to blend genres seamlessly. This comes through best with his Spider-Man trilogy, all with small dips into horror while still maintaining superhero-action priority. Still, it was there in his early work as the Evil Dead movies remain some of the best horror-comedy has to offer. He’s also worked to produce countless horror efforts for lesser-known filmmakers and continues to be a supporter for the legacy of genre films. A staple for the growth of this genre and a fascinating figure that built an empire out of low-budget horror passion.
–Tyler Harner
8. Tobe Hooper (1943–2017)
Known for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Eaten Alive!, Salem’s Lot, Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Invaders from Mars, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Spontaneous Combustion, Body Bags, Night Terrors, The Mangler, and The Toolbox Murders
Tobe Hooper is probably the most influential director on this list, and he deserves every accolade. Even if The Texas Chainsaw Massacre stood alone in a sea of mediocre films (and it doesn’t), he would still be worth mentioning. It is probably one of the most effective and scary films of all time, with practical effects that cause the film to stand tall even in a modern film landscape. There’s much more to love from Hooper, though, notably the original Poltergeist (his collaboration with Steven Spielberg). Even with other titles like his Salem’s Lot miniseries, he created iconic movie monsters and environments of dread that directors still imitate to this day.
–Valerie Morreale
7. Dario Argento (1940–)
Known for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Cat o’ Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, Opera, Two Evil Eyes, Trauma, The Stendhal Syndrome, and Sleepless
Sometimes called the Italian Alfred Hitchcock, Dario Argento is a dark star in the horror firmament. His initial foray into filmmaking, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, popularized giallo – a kind of violent horror/thriller that had been around since the 1960s, but never as commercially or critically successful as it was after Argento’s debut. The 70s were awash in films inspired by Argento’s films, including others in his so-called “Animal Trilogy,” The Cat o’ Nine Tails and Four Flies on Gray Velvet. His 1975 film, Deep Red (made after his brief foray into comedy films failed to connect with audiences), is often considered the greatest giallo ever made, and one of Argento’s best films.
He would turn his attention to the supernatural with his next film, 1977’s gorgeously lurid Suspiria. Set in a witch-haunted ballet school, the film received accolades for its style, colors, and soundtrack. It remains one of his most influential (and beautiful) films, and received an “inspired by” remake by Luca Guadagnino in 2018. He maintained an output of excellent horror films (including a return to the giallo in 1982 with Tenebrae), but the quality of his work and output seemed to flag after the 1980s.
Argento also wrote and produced films, including providing the initial funding for George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in 1978. (He also edited and provided a new soundtrack for the film’s release in Europe.)
He is still working – writing and producing films and TV shows and occasionally stepping into the director’s chair.
–Bob Cram
6. Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980)
Known for Psycho, The Birds, and Frenzy
Quite simply one of the greatest movie directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock only directed a handful of films that could charitably be called “horror.” So why is he so high in the list? Other than being Alfred effing Hitchcock, that is? Part of it is due to the effect those films – and one in particular – had on the genre. Part of it is down to the filmmaker himself, and how his mastery of suspense, shadow, music and editing affected filmmakers who followed in his footsteps.
Psycho is Hitchcock’s dark masterpiece of terror, a low-budget classic of nerve-jangling tension and unseen (but oh so graphically imagined) violence. Psycho was the proto-slasher, and without it we’d have no Halloween, no Friday the 13th or any of a thousand other slasher flicks. It’s also a master class in misdirection and editing – he makes you think you see so much more than you do. The success of the film paved the way for a darker, more violent form of horror, and along with a few others – like Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary’s Baby – created the modern horror film.
Of the two other films that form his forays into full horror, Frenzy is the weakest. It’s got its own delights, but it’s a film made by a director who hasn’t quite got a handle on his own progeny. The Birds, on the other hand, is a classic Hitchcock thrill-fest, and the progenitor of the 70s creature feature, with an unexplained attack on the modern world by nature herself.
Hitchcock’s influence goes far beyond the horror film, and directors from Brian DePalma to John Woo to Paul Thomas Anderson all owe a debt to the master of light and darkness.
–Bob Cram
5. David Cronenberg (1943–)
Known for Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers, eXistenZ, Crimes of the Future, and The Shrouds
Curated by the conservative nature of his Canadian upbringing, David Cronenberg revolted against normalcy by creating the definition of what we call “body horror cinema”. His challenging pictures that made audiences uncomfortable, nauseous, and angry are exactly what turned him into royalty for the legacy of horror. His effects-driven creations are often paired to a societal theme, whether it be television censorship, sexual desire, video game immersiveness, surveillance, etc. His provocative concepts are met with the human relationship to our own bodies and to flesh, for both pleasure and horror. Cronenberg deals with more psychosexual aspects of the genre that usually coincide with strange biological connections, such as The Fly, Dead Ringers, or The Dead Zone. Though not always the easiest content to watch, Cronenberg’s eye and mind for inner horror make him one of the most interesting genre directors to dive into.
–Tyler Harner
4. George A. Romero (1940–2017)
Known for Night of the Living Dead, Hungry Wives, The Crazies, Martin, Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow, Day of the Dead, Monkey Shines, Two Evil Eyes, The Dark Half, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead
There are horror movies that came before Night of the Living Dead and horror movies that came after – that’s how pivotal it is. For many, horror movies prior to Night had become safe horrors, friendly monsters, all cobwebbed castles and Vincent Price hamming it up in period dress. Horror had become so safe that Night was even initially released on a matinee billing, leading Roger Ebert to pen a warning to parents in the pages of Reader’s Digest, because a ton of children went to those afternoon shows. Those poor kids had no idea what they were watching – hell, I’m not sure the adults who saw it back then did either.
Romero’s re-imagining of the zombie as a flesh-eating ghoul, devoid of personality – all id, no ego – allowed it to become a receptacle of filmmaker intent. They became the perfect monster for the modern filmmaker, because they could be used to represent anything. The fact that the original film was released without copyright meant that filmmakers everywhere could freely use the ideas Romero and crew came up with. While zombies aren’t quite as popular right now as they have been, just wait – they’ve been declared dead before and have always come back.
Night put the horror in the present, menacing people like you and me, with real and (literally) visceral consequences. It refused to explain itself and refused to give us a happy ending. It upset expectations, killed its heroes, and gave us the first modern monster, one that still resonates. “What’s happening?!” Barbara screams at one point in the film, and audiences at the time must have felt much the same way.
Romero wasn’t content with changing the cinematic horror landscape – he kept on making films the rest of his life. Most were horror, but some weren’t (check out Knightriders someday). While they weren’t all as influential or even as good as Night (though Dawn of the Dead might want a word), they all had something to say about our culture, and the pitfalls therein.
–Bob Cram
3. Mario Bava (1914–1980)
Known for Black Sunday, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Black Sabbath, The Whip and the Body, Blood and Black Lace, Planet of the Vampires, Kill, Baby… Kill!, Bay of Blood, Baron Blood, Lisa and the Devil, and Shock
I know what you’re thinking. Who the hell is Mario Bava? Just one of the greatest Italian movie directors of all time, and a genre-establishing badass. His very first film, the gothic horror Black Sunday, made a horror icon out of Barbara Steele. His next, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, created the giallo genre. His 1965 sci-fi horror film Planet of the Vampires is an influence on Ridley Scott’s Alien films (and those costumes are almost directly copied in the 2000s X-Men movie). His Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve) is a direct progenitor of the modern slasher film, with its focus on a killer stalking young people in a rural setting. (And you’ll recognize a certain “spear through trysting lovers” scene, as it was copied wholesale in Friday the 13th Part 2.)
So who the hell is Mario Bava? Just one of the most influential horror directors of all time. He was a mentor and inspiration to a generation of Italian genre filmmakers, like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, and Michele Soavi. His films were always stylish, violent, and unique, and they influenced directors around the world. An unsung (or undersung) hero of the horror landscape, Mario Bava deserves his spot on this list, and in the horror hall of fame.
–Bob Cram
2. Wes Craven (1939–2015)
Known for Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, Summer of Fear, Deadly Blessing, Swamp Thing, Invitation to Hell, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Chiller, Shocker, The People Under the Stairs, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, and the Scream films
A name synonymous with the horror genre, Wes Craven holds the paternal claim for two of the most iconic horror franchises: Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Though not affiliated with all of their sequels and spin-offs, Craven sent these movies off at a perfect time for each that played into our preconceived conceptions of the genre itself. Using Scream (1996) as a way to criticize and anticipate audience reaction to slasher media while still being one of the classics for this sub-genre speaks to his impressive ability to confront the horror atmosphere of the time and make it his own. He’d keep up this trend with movies like The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Red Eye (2005) and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994). Craven knew how to scare you, challenge you, but also make sure you were still having heaps of fun. We miss you, Wes.
–Tyler Harner
1. John Carpenter (1948–)
Known for Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Christine, Prince of Darkness, Body Bags, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars, Cigarette Burns, Pro-Life, and The Ward
John Carpenter is a true horror visionary and one of the most influential directors the genre has ever produced. His films include some of the best horror and science fiction ever made, with Halloween (1978) standing as his towering achievement. Many still consider it the greatest and most influential horror movie of all time, a lean, deeply unsettling classic that is studied and debated decades later. It proved you could craft pure terror on a shoestring budget and essentially birthed the modern horror franchise. Carpenter’s pioneering use of Steadicam and POV shots, along with his own unforgettable scores (that iconic Halloween theme still defines the entire genre), changed the language of fear forever. Other masterpieces like The Thing (1982) and The Fog (1980) only cemented the legend, while the Escape films showed his range beyond pure horror.
Carpenter’s movies were among the few that actually got under my skin as a kid. Michael Myers never scared me the way everyone else claimed he did, but The Thing and Prince of Darkness shook me to my core. That creeping atmosphere and those practical effects hit different. So many of his films shaped how I watched movies, both inside and outside the horror genre. Halloween will always rank among the greatest horror films ever made and the one that truly launched the slasher boom of the ’80s. Without Carpenter and that movie, there would be no Friday the 13th series… and no Jason Voorhees. For that, I salute you, sir.
–Vincent Kane
20-1 | Greatest Horror Movies
Who are some of your favorite horror directors? Maybe they will show up later in this list!
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