The 28 Greatest Horror Directors of All Time

Universal's black-and-white monster makers share the field with giallo stylists, J-horror minimalists and the A24 generation. Some built whole subgenres; a few just made three films nobody can sleep after.

1. 1
   John Carpenter

   American director of Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and The Thing (1982).
   1000pts
2. 2
   Guillermo del Toro

   Mexican director of Cronos (1993), The Devil's Backbone (2001) and Crimson Peak (2015).
   752pts
3. 3
   Kiyoshi Kurosawa

   Japanese director of Cure (1997), Pulse (2001) and Retribution (2006).
   692pts
4. 4
   Wes Craven

   American director of The Last House on the Left (1972), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996).
   663pts
5. 5
   Brian De Palma

   American director of Sisters (1972), Carrie (1976) and Dressed to Kill (1980).
   609pts
6. 6
   Roman Polanski

   Director of Repulsion (1965), Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Tenant (1976).
   609pts
7. 7
   Karyn Kusama

   American director of Jennifer's Body (2009), The Invitation (2015) and the XX segment Her Only Living Son (2017).
   609pts
8. 8
   Roger Corman

   American director of the Edgar Allan Poe cycle, including House of Usher (1960) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964).
   546pts
9. 9
   Dario Argento

   Italian giallo director of Deep Red (1975), Suspiria (1977) and Tenebrae (1982).
   546pts
10. 10
    Sam Raimi

    American director of The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987) and Drag Me to Hell (2009).
    473pts
11. 11
    David Lynch

    American director of Eraserhead (1977), Lost Highway (1997) and Inland Empire (2006).
    473pts
12. 12
    George A. Romero

    American director of Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).
    473pts
13. 13
    Ari Aster

    American director of Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019) and Beau Is Afraid (2023).
    473pts
14. 14
    Mario Bava

    Italian director of Black Sunday (1960), Black Sabbath (1963) and Blood and Black Lace (1964).
    387pts
15. 15
    Robert Eggers

    American director of The Witch (2015), The Lighthouse (2019) and Nosferatu (2024).
    387pts
16. 16
    Ti West

    American director of The House of the Devil (2009), X (2022) and Pearl (2022).
    387pts
17. 17
    Clive Barker

    English writer-director of Hellraiser (1987), Nightbreed (1990) and Lord of Illusions (1995).
    387pts
18. 18
    Mike Flanagan

    American director of Oculus (2013), Hush (2016) and Doctor Sleep (2019), and creator of The Haunting of Hill House.
    387pts
19. 19
    James Whale

    English director of Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) for Universal.
    284pts
20. 20
    Alfred Hitchcock

    English director of Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963), known as the Master of Suspense.
    284pts
21. 21
    Lucio Fulci

    Italian director of Zombi 2 (1979), City of the Living Dead (1980) and The Beyond (1981).
    284pts
22. 22
    Tobe Hooper

    Texan director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Salem's Lot (1979) and Poltergeist (1982).
    284pts
23. 23
    James Wan

    Malaysian-Australian director of Saw (2004), Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013).
    284pts
24. 24
    David Cronenberg

    Canadian body-horror director of Shivers (1975), Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986).
    284pts
25. 25
    Takashi Miike

    Japanese director of Audition (1999), Gozu (2003) and One Missed Call (2003).
    0pts
26. 26
    Tod Browning

    American director of Dracula (1931), Freaks (1932) and The Devil-Doll (1936).
    0pts
27. 27
    Hideo Nakata

    Japanese director of Ring (1998) and Dark Water (2002).
    0pts
28. 28
    Jordan Peele

    American director of Get Out (2017), Us (2019) and Nope (2022).
    0pts

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