Horror, as a genre, requires a deft touch to make an impactful movie. For every fantastic horror movie out there that frightens you and leaves you shivering at every dark corner you see for the rest of the night, there are a dozen stinkers that fail to leave any kind of impression.
With the mixed ratio and seemingly endless number of unimaginative, derivative gore flicks out there, it makes it even more of a shame that these 10 visionary filmmakers have never tried their hand at making a horror movie.
Christopher Nolan
Nolan has spent a majority of his career making high-concept blockbusters, often using time as a plot device in his own unique way to distort, stretch, and play with the storytelling like no one else making movies does. We’ve seen him direct intense personal conflict with Memento, The Prestige, and Insomnia, do large-scale bombastic action in the Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception, and we’re all waiting quite impatiently to see what Tenet is about. His movies are constantly wowing, constantly original, and we’d love to see what Nolan would be capable of when putting his mind to scaring an audience out of their seats.
Quentin Tarantino
Another obvious choice, it’s a surprise that Tarantino has never made a full-out horror movie. He’s dance around seemingly every genre, making crime films (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs), action flicks (the Kill Bill movies), Westerns (Django Unchained, the Hateful Eight), and a war movie (The Hateful Eight), and even the grindhouse film Deathproof. His movies always include scenes that seem like they’re plucked straight from a horror movie.
His die-hard fans have been begging for it for years, and it’s time for Tarantino to dive in headfirst and make the horror movie we all know he can make.
Taika Waititi
No, What We Do In The Shadows doesn’t count. Taika’s wonderful sense of humor, great sense of visual comedy, and genius dialogue could be perfectly translated into a genuine bone-chilling horror movie. We’ve seen those involved in comedy go to horror before with Jordan Peele and John Krasinski. It’s not unbelievable that the always hysterical Waititi, hot off a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the side-splitting Jojo Rabbit, would be able to turn his attention to making a smart, thought-provoking horror movie that would be uniquely his own.
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow is a name that should be known as well as anyone else on this list. The veteran filmmaker is the mastermind behind Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Hurt Locker. With the latter, she became the first, and still the only, female winner of the Academy Award for Best Director. Bigelow has an eye for great action, deep character personalization, and intense violence that would make her the perfect choice for a popcorn horror experience.
David Fincher
Given that he’s all but taken his name off the credits, Alien 3 does not count. Fincher’s movies constantly dance on the line of being horror films, but never going all-in. Instead he holds to thrill the audience with suspense and interpersonal drama, with little dashes of horror thrown in here and there to make things even more interesting. Renowned for being absolutely meticulous, often requiring dozens of takes to shoot even the simplest of scenes, this master visual storyteller should, at least once, turn one of his thriller stories into a full-out horror creepfest. His horror movies would have a more lasting impression than anything ever made before. We could’ve had it with the World War Z sequel he was once signed on to, but we’re still waiting.
Paul Thomas Anderson
While he’s not known for the visual spectacle of some of the other directors on this list, that doesn’t mean Paul Thomas Anderson wouldn’t make a fantastic horror film. Anderson’s stories are deep, personal, tragic, and always make an emotional impact on the viewer.
Now imagine this type of personal connection and attention to detail put into a movie where the main character’s life is on the line in a terrifying situation. We wouldn’t just be scared, we’d be invested, praying tearfully that our protagonist makes it out of whatever horrific situation Anderson puts them in.
Boots Riley
Exploding into a film career with his debut, the side-splitting and jaw-dropping black comedy Sorry to Bother You, this brilliant man would make a horror movie unlike any film ever made. Boots Riley’s approach of including socially important themes in the visual medium is in a style completely his own, and a breath of fresh air to anyone who is looking to watch something utterly unlike your typical movie. While anything Boots Riley makes next is a definite must-see, a horror film in his voice and style would be beautiful.
George Miller
While we’re eagerly awaiting Mad Max 5, one thing we’re sure of is if George Miller does not make one horror movie in his career, it will be a sorely missed opportunity. He’s a master of visual action, with the Mad Max movies remaining action must-sees, and having won Academy Awards for his animated features, including Babe and Happy Feet. His work on Mad Max: Fury Road proves that he approaches action like no other film director, bringing audiences to the edge of their seat for the entire two hours. We know a horror film from the Aussie auteur would be a spectacle well worth the ticket price.
Bong Joon-ho
Fresh off sweeping the Academy Awards for his black comedy masterpiece Parasite, Bong is likely in a position he can do whatever projects he wants. And a Bong Joon-ho horror movie would be fantastic.
He’s precise, unique, and has a visual sense of story that always makes his movies a fun watch. While he dabbled with the scary in the masterfully crafted monster thriller The Host, putting these skills to work on a true horror flick would make something truly special. It would be fun, it would be thought-provoking, and it would be terrifying. Please, Director Bong, give us another masterpiece.
Neill Blomkamp
The world almost had a horror movie from this visionary, and it’s all the sadder that it never happened. Neill Blomkamp’s unique vision has created three films that are uniquely his own and despite a long run of bad luck. Blomkamp was set to direct a Halo adaptation, an Alien spin-off, and a Robocop sequel, but all were canceled, and we all want to see him do more. His visual style is kinetic, visually pleasing, and always action-packed. A horror movie from Blomkamp would be great fun, and we would be more than happy to be terrified by his creations. The best part is? This one might actually happen.
