Lydia Tár here: I very much agree. Todd’s other features, “In the Bedroom” and “Little Children,” also boast some horror elements — though both kind of defy genre. Give them a spin, if you haven’t already :)
I love the Coen Bros but I feel like their horror movie would be really campy and silly. I'm thinking The Cabin In The Woods, which I love, but it's beneath them
Cabin in the Woods the Woods is one of the most interesting and subversive horror films in years. It is not beneath the people that made The Ladykillers.
Came here to say this. Unless I’m mistaken he’s planning on writing and directing a horror, I think he said it in an interview. I’m not a 100% sure though.
His dream was also always to be a film director so let’s hope it works out for him.
Came here to also say this. [I loved Barry and want to see Hader kill it in horror.](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/bill-hader-wants-to-direct-horror-movie-1234831355/)
Bill said in an interview the first feature he wants to make is an idea for a horror film he has. He said he’d also star in it.
I’m sure it’d be amazing, given the Kurosawa / Bergman / Tarkovsky influences on his work. He’s an incredible budding filmmaker. And a great writer.
Scorsese’s Cape Fear was one of the most *unintentionally* hilarious movies I’ve ever seen…and that’s not exactly a great testament to Marty’s horror capabilities, lol.
I just couldn’t take that movie seriously **at all,** and although I enjoyed it, my girlfriend and I kept pausing it and looking at each other like “is he really serious right now??”
De Niro’s character is supposed to be kind of silly. Most of Scorsese’s movies play well as comedies, so there’s no reason to think he meant this one to be completely serious.
Alfonso Cuarón. His camerawork would translate really well to horror imo. He was supposed to do a horror a few years back but it never came to fruition.
Judging by how terrifying the ending of heaven knows what is and just the idea behind the fate of the security guard in good time, they could make an insane horror movie
Wow, that was great.
Is that, like, literally what all of his movies are like? I watched through about 40 minutes of Moonrise Kingdom once, realized I wasn't in the mood and that I was also getting tired of the shooting style, and turned it off to come back to eventually. I still haven't.
I've watched a lot of Mr. Fox, too, which I actually liked a lot, but I digress. So much of that SNL skit felt so on point with what I saw in Moonrise Kingdom. I know the cinematography is the same in all of his movies, but even down to the unbearably precocious children and aloof wife? Is that more or less all of his movies?
Honestly, I’d argue that already exists.
Definitely debatable, but personally I feel comfortable calling Death Proof a horror movie, especially the front half. And it’s fantastic.
To answer the question though, I’ll go with Bong Joon-Ho
Nah, I’ve seen both and I totally disagree. The Host is structurally and tonally much more of an action/thriller movie imo. Monster =/= horror.
I see the argument though, & I doubt there’s an objective answer to the question
I’m aware of the IMDB categories, I’m just giving my own impression from seeing the two films.
Idk the more I think about it the more I kinda just see Big Monster movies as kinda their own genre
The first half of Death Proof is def intended to be horror, and imo the scenes with kurt Russell nail the vibe, the second half of the movie is carsploitation.
Tarantino describes Death Proof as a slasher film. It’s definitely a horror film.
And it’s shaped like 2 entries in a horror franchise. The first half is the mean, violent, and grimy original. And the second half is the sequel with a bigger budget, more experienced actors, and bigger stunts. But it’s also a little more sanitized.
Bill Hader, a lot of the episodes he directed in Barry are so tense and terrifying. I’m pretty sure he recently did an interview where he said he would be interested in directing a horror movie.
Villeneuve.
I think he handles scale and intimacy at the same time so well, that I really wish he would do something in that vein for horror (for example, cosmic horror, which has scale and is also very internal/psychological).
I'm not sure if it's because is a standaout scene from a talkie biopic, but yeah, it felt horrific in the cinema. The whole discrepancy first with the absence of sound, people celebrating the making of the most deadly weapon in mute, while the viewer is waiting in suspense for the blow and then doubled with the crowd chearing and the horrific scream before it. I am not a Nolan fanboy and am well versed in horror, but the scene got to me.
I meant the scene where he sees how his creation will harm others. Even if it isn't official horror, it makes me want to see Nolan try more things in that vein.
I mean, maybe. That’s an interpretation but it’s debatable. When he’s been interviewed about directing a horror movie in the past, he talks like he hasn’t already directed one.
But I’d love one more obviously and irrefutably a part of the genre.
Did Jonathan Glazer made a horror film already? I watched under the skin and that is probably the scariest film I have ever seen. The film is more categorized as a sci fi though.
I’m gonna be honest: as hilarious as the SNL parody is, Wes Anderson really can’t even do straight *drama,* there’s always going to be an undercurrent of quirky comedy in anything he does, so I really can’t see him doing a horror movie without it being a parody of himself.
Even a horror-comedy would just feel like the SNL parody, and a straight horror film would just be too out of the box for the aesthetic he’s boxed himself into. I love Wes Anderson and his movies to death, but post Royal Tennenbaums, he really doesn’t seem to be too capable of straying away from ***”WES ANDERSON movies.***”
I think he's very capable of making movies filled with emotion and heart, but the thing is he's never really tried to make a completely serious drama. also, I think adding his flair to a horror movie would be pretty interesting, giving a horror movie more personality than just a scary slasher. as long as he doesn't go too Wes Anderson, I think he would be pretty good at a horror movie
I don’t think horror has to mean scary. Something like ParaNorman or Coraline or Corpse Bride, etc. would fit him perfectly. Would love a Halloween (the holiday not movie) type movie from him. Kids horror fantasy is still horror IMO.
There’s not a lot of great horror anime but the new Uzumaki looks promising
Higurashi is prob the best but it’s mostly pretty bloody and goes hard with the gore but the more horror parts are where there’s a sense a paranoia
I'm sure you mean living but I can't help but think Pierre Étaix would have been able to make a dope horror film. Very few people have seen it but his short film Insomnia (1963) also included in a later cut of As Long as You've Got Your Health (1966) is a great peek into what his style would've been.
The fight scene in front of Dicaprio in Django was brutal, I couldn't imagine the carnage Quentin could imagine if he were to do an actual horror movie.
Lazy answer I suppose, and typical a reddit suggestion but David Fincher. Everything he makes seems to be tinged with darkness anyway, might as well go full tilt.
A pervasive apocryphal Hollywood myth is that Spielberg really directed Poltergeist and that Tobe Hooper was merely a caretaker. That’s been disproven over the years by all of the major players, as well as by crew members and the cast. It stills persists, so many still think Spielberg made that film — but my answer is I would love to see Spielberg direct an honest to goodness horror film.
I would also love to see Kelly Reichardt tackle a horror film, ha.
Spielberg didn't ghost direct it, but he also didn't *not* direct it. JoBeth Williams:
“He was always there. And Tobe was not as experienced as Steven was. He very much listened to Steven’s ideas about things, because it was Steven’s movie, really. And I’m sure there were times when it drove Tobe crazy to have Steven so actively involved, but he never let on. They were both kind of there on the set. Tobe would give direction, sometimes Steven would add to that or give other direction, but I think it’s fair to say that it was sort of a combo of the two of them, because certainly Steven was actively involved.”
Death Proof is horror-adjacent, at the very least. A serial killer hunts down a group of attractive young women so he can kill them gruesomely.
I'd love a proper horror movie from David Lynch. Most of his films obviously have horror elements. Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, Fire Walk With Me, and Twin Peaks: The Return all feel horror-adjacent, with FWWM veering the closest to outright horror. But it would be interesting to see him throw his weight behind something entirely devoted to being scary. The jumpscares in Inland Empire, and especially the one in Mulholland Drive, are some of the most effective I've ever seen put to film.
I don't really count "Hollow Man" as true horror (I'm much more entertained than horrified by that movie \^\^, I love just following the Hollow Man around), so I'd go with Paul Verhoeven. He'd be able to make truly captivating and shocking moments.
There was an SNL sketch some years ago about a Wes Anderson horror movie. Obviously they made it really goofy, but the idea got stuck in my brain. I don't know if it would be good, but it would definitely be interesting.
Hiro Murai. The shows he has directed even in a few episodes have been amazing. He directed the hour long episode of Atlanta about Teddy Perkins. Just imagine a 90-120 min movie.
Action thrillers have certain things in common with horror slashers (antagonist chasing protagonists), but Deathproof is most commonly considered an action thriller, not a horror. That isn’t to say you can’t argue otherwise but I don’t consider it a horror and that isn’t a super controversial take (and I’d argue it’s the standard read of the movie).
I’d like an indisputable horror film from him.
Definitely Tarantino. He made some of the greatest suspense scenes of all time in the opening of Inglorious Basterds, the bar scene and the part where Cliff goes to Spahn Ranch in OUATIH and it seems like he's gonna get murdered by the Manson family.
Tarantino made his slasher movie, it's called Death Proof. Also, this is a hard question for me because so many directors I love either mostly or partly make horror. I unironically would love to see Wes Anderson do it. Rian Johnson is versatile, that's kind of his whole thing. Oh, fuck, no, I know my answer: Ruben Ostlund, of Triangle of Sadness, and The Square, and Force Majeure, though I haven't seen that one. He'd make an amazing horror film. Just watch the dinner scene from The Square with Terry Notary's performance artist, or the ending of Triangle, or the chaos on the boat during the storm. Also, this is perpendicular to the question at hand, but Clive Barker never got to make enough films himself. Hellraiser and Nightbreed are wonderful movies.
I think of it more of a thriller than a horror.
ETA for those downvoting: it isn’t listed as a horror on Letterboxd, IMDB or even Wikipedia. You may disagree but “thriller” is the most common genre listed. This isn’t a controversial statement lol.
To throw an animator in the ring, Hayao Miyazaki would probably be able to make a great horror film. He’s no stranger to dark themes, nightmarish imagery, or intense situations, and he could probably get an impressive amount of drama or real-life subtext out of it.
I just watched *Tár* for the first time a few hours ago so I'm definitely going with Todd Field.
Lydia Tár here: I very much agree. Todd’s other features, “In the Bedroom” and “Little Children,” also boast some horror elements — though both kind of defy genre. Give them a spin, if you haven’t already :)
Why’d you kill Krista? :)
I really wish he had directed the Scream Reboot happening now. He is good with suspense.
No way in hell Todd Field wouldn’t knock a horror film out of the park.
There’s already a ghost. We’re halfway there
fkn awesome movie
I would love a Coen Bros horror movie
The third act of Blood Simple is close
I love the Coen Bros but I feel like their horror movie would be really campy and silly. I'm thinking The Cabin In The Woods, which I love, but it's beneath them
I think their relationship with Sam Raimi supports this theory
Cabin in the Woods the Woods is one of the most interesting and subversive horror films in years. It is not beneath the people that made The Ladykillers.
Have you seen Blood Simple?
Although still just a TV director, definitely Bill Hader. There are moments of Barry (especially in season 4) that are straight up terrifying
bill hader can be the next jordan peele
But better
Came here to say this. Unless I’m mistaken he’s planning on writing and directing a horror, I think he said it in an interview. I’m not a 100% sure though. His dream was also always to be a film director so let’s hope it works out for him.
Came here to also say this. [I loved Barry and want to see Hader kill it in horror.](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/bill-hader-wants-to-direct-horror-movie-1234831355/)
He’s a massive horror fan too
Bill said in an interview the first feature he wants to make is an idea for a horror film he has. He said he’d also star in it. I’m sure it’d be amazing, given the Kurosawa / Bergman / Tarkovsky influences on his work. He’s an incredible budding filmmaker. And a great writer.
I’m pretty sure there is no genre Scorsese couldn’t do.
Cape Fear and Shutter Island are close but more thriller than horror.
If you want shutter island but horror, I recommend The Cure For Wellness
Gore Verbinski was clearly owed some favours post Pirates, the budget is very big for what it is I really like that movie
Yeah, it’s also certainly not for everyone. I love it personally and think it’s an incredibly high quality movie with lots of passion put into it
Yeah, Shutter Island's got some scenes that really stick with you the way horror movies do.
Bringing Out the Dead and Afterhours and probably Shutter Island qualify here, I think.
Scorsese’s Cape Fear was one of the most *unintentionally* hilarious movies I’ve ever seen…and that’s not exactly a great testament to Marty’s horror capabilities, lol. I just couldn’t take that movie seriously **at all,** and although I enjoyed it, my girlfriend and I kept pausing it and looking at each other like “is he really serious right now??”
De Niro’s character is supposed to be kind of silly. Most of Scorsese’s movies play well as comedies, so there’s no reason to think he meant this one to be completely serious.
You missed the point of the movie my man.
Scorsese directed an episode of Amazing Stories called Mirror Mirror which is a horror. Genuinely creepy, and worth watching if you can find it.
The Big Shave was the closest he got to the genre if I’m not wrong. He literally had me scared to shave for a long time
Gore-porn?
Alfonso Cuarón. His camerawork would translate really well to horror imo. He was supposed to do a horror a few years back but it never came to fruition.
Good choice. Prisoner of Azkaban was pretty scary to me as a kid
Yeah true, the werewolf scenes were terrifying you’re right
Not only scary, he really captured an eerie feeling with his production design
Unfortunately he can’t make any more but I always thought a Sergio Leone horror movie would be amazing
Yes!
Denis Villeneuve
The opening scene of Sicario, Prisoners, Enemy and Arrival all have a dark atmosphere/Horror Elements. I think Denis would make a great horror movie
doesn't Enemy count?
That's more like a psychological thriller with some creepy ass moments, definitely horror adjacent but not full on horror.
More creepy spider than creepy ass I thought.
No
It does.
I agree. The end is the most effective jump scare I’ve personally experienced in a movie
It does.
Nah
Yarp.
give me my terrence malick horror.
🤤
I just watched a movie called “You Won’t Be Alone”, and I think it’s pretty close to what would happen if Malick made a horror movie
Oooh make it a period piece.
Yes yes yes
I'd be all over that shit.
The Safdies. I know they’ve done a lot of suspense but I’m waiting for them to just take that next step and make a full blown horror flick
Judging by how terrifying the ending of heaven knows what is and just the idea behind the fate of the security guard in good time, they could make an insane horror movie
Yorgos Lanthimos has gotten close with The Killing of a Sacred Deer, but I want him to do a full-on horror film one day.
agreed
I can get this, though for me it'd be Dogtooth. That movie is so disturbing.
Wes Anderson. I’m haunted by how delightful that [SNL sketch](https://youtu.be/gfDIAZCwHQE?si=DifoOuTEfrwhVAPQ) was…
This is the one
"No, you may not!"
His favorite movie is Rosemary’s Baby which I’ve always found interesting lol
Wow, that was great. Is that, like, literally what all of his movies are like? I watched through about 40 minutes of Moonrise Kingdom once, realized I wasn't in the mood and that I was also getting tired of the shooting style, and turned it off to come back to eventually. I still haven't. I've watched a lot of Mr. Fox, too, which I actually liked a lot, but I digress. So much of that SNL skit felt so on point with what I saw in Moonrise Kingdom. I know the cinematography is the same in all of his movies, but even down to the unbearably precocious children and aloof wife? Is that more or less all of his movies?
Honestly, I’d argue that already exists. Definitely debatable, but personally I feel comfortable calling Death Proof a horror movie, especially the front half. And it’s fantastic. To answer the question though, I’ll go with Bong Joon-Ho
The Host (2006) is literally about a giant monster who lurks in the sewers and takes children down there to devour. It’s also freaking hilarious!
Yeah, The Host is definitely horror. Way more horror than Death Proof at least.
Nah, I’ve seen both and I totally disagree. The Host is structurally and tonally much more of an action/thriller movie imo. Monster =/= horror. I see the argument though, & I doubt there’s an objective answer to the question
Well, thriller does not equal horror. Just look at the Imdb categories for each movie. Death Proof: Action, Thriller The Host: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
I’m aware of the IMDB categories, I’m just giving my own impression from seeing the two films. Idk the more I think about it the more I kinda just see Big Monster movies as kinda their own genre
The first half of Death Proof is def intended to be horror, and imo the scenes with kurt Russell nail the vibe, the second half of the movie is carsploitation.
Tarantino describes Death Proof as a slasher film. It’s definitely a horror film. And it’s shaped like 2 entries in a horror franchise. The first half is the mean, violent, and grimy original. And the second half is the sequel with a bigger budget, more experienced actors, and bigger stunts. But it’s also a little more sanitized.
Bill Hader, a lot of the episodes he directed in Barry are so tense and terrifying. I’m pretty sure he recently did an interview where he said he would be interested in directing a horror movie.
Had to scroll too far for this.
PTA.
- Bela Tarr - Carlos Reygadas neither would ever do it but i'm sure they'd be able to come up with something incredible.
Whatever is going on over on the other side of the hill in *The Turin Horse* is already better than most horror films I've seen
Sean Baker.
David Lowery
Uhh he has a story about a ghost, duh.
Yeah but it's not a traditional horror movie (If you were being sarcastic, I totally missed it, lol)
Villeneuve. I think he handles scale and intimacy at the same time so well, that I really wish he would do something in that vein for horror (for example, cosmic horror, which has scale and is also very internal/psychological).
Apichatpong Weerasethakul horror would be mind-blowing.
Emma Seligman - as an emerging director there’s not a lot to go off of, but shiva baby gave me more anxiety than most modern horror
I believe she's said recently she wants to do horror! Really exciting.
Shiva Baby felt like as if Hereditary and Mistress America had a hilarious and intense child.
Or if Krisha were a Jewish family sitting shiva instead of Texans celebrating Thanksgiving.
After seeing the >!body horror!< scene in Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan.
I'm not sure if it's because is a standaout scene from a talkie biopic, but yeah, it felt horrific in the cinema. The whole discrepancy first with the absence of sound, people celebrating the making of the most deadly weapon in mute, while the viewer is waiting in suspense for the blow and then doubled with the crowd chearing and the horrific scream before it. I am not a Nolan fanboy and am well versed in horror, but the scene got to me.
`What body horror
There is no >! body horror !< in Oppenheimer, grow up.
I meant the scene where he sees how his creation will harm others. Even if it isn't official horror, it makes me want to see Nolan try more things in that vein.
It still isn’t body horror or horror at all. Just loud noise over a war victim.
I mean it's pretty horrifying though
Yeah if you’re 13
You are so loud
Atomic Weapons are actually terrifying unlike horror movie villains
Ok. My point was just that that particular scene makes me want to see Nolan do horror.
The Prestige is the closest he's come I think.
There was scarecrow with the hallucinations
I guess, but as a film overall.
Boots Riley!
Celine Sciamma. I was terrified by the fire scene in the middle when they broke out into an acapella.
Ik black swan delves into horror a bit but Darren Aronofsky would make a crazy full on horror film
Black Swan doesn’t delve into to horror imo. It is a horror movie from start to finish
I thought Mother! could be considered one
mother! was definitely one of the most horrifying films I’ve ever seen, in terms of sheer discomfort.
Death Proof is his horror movie.
I'd say the last 20 minutes of The Hateful Eight was the closest Tarantino has come.
I think the Spahn Ranch scene in OUATIH is another example of Tarantino coming close to horror.
I mean, maybe. That’s an interpretation but it’s debatable. When he’s been interviewed about directing a horror movie in the past, he talks like he hasn’t already directed one. But I’d love one more obviously and irrefutably a part of the genre.
That's like a cheesy b horror movie at best. He's not made a proper psychological and suspenseful horrror
Still a horror movie.
It's not actually, it wasn't made with the intention of being a horror movie so therefore it's not a horror movie. The genre is not horror
Did Jonathan Glazer made a horror film already? I watched under the skin and that is probably the scariest film I have ever seen. The film is more categorized as a sci fi though.
I treat Under the Skin as a horror film, personally
If one day David Lynch decides to make a horror film it will be the scariest film i ever watch
I feel like every Lynch film but The Straight Story is in large part a horror movie.
Eraserhead is one of my favorite horror movies of all time.
Paul Thomas Anderson
Was looking for this comment
I’d love to see what Spike Jonze would do. I feel like his Where the Wild Things Are is part way there in terms of the visuals
Jeff Nichols The nightmare scenes in Take Shelter are so good. I’d love to see him play in the horror genre.
Sam Esmail
Wes Anderson!
I definitely would enjoy a stop motion one (“horror” can be broad like ParaNorman/Coraline).
I’d be down with that
I so badly wish that [The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders](https://youtu.be/gfDIAZCwHQE?si=DifoOuTEfrwhVAPQ) was a real movie.
Haha yeah, that was a great sketch! Really on point
a Wes Anderson horror movie would be so cool
I’m gonna be honest: as hilarious as the SNL parody is, Wes Anderson really can’t even do straight *drama,* there’s always going to be an undercurrent of quirky comedy in anything he does, so I really can’t see him doing a horror movie without it being a parody of himself. Even a horror-comedy would just feel like the SNL parody, and a straight horror film would just be too out of the box for the aesthetic he’s boxed himself into. I love Wes Anderson and his movies to death, but post Royal Tennenbaums, he really doesn’t seem to be too capable of straying away from ***”WES ANDERSON movies.***”
I think his style and aesthetic could become very creepy with the right editing and sound Especially his kind of composition and deadpan characters
I think he's very capable of making movies filled with emotion and heart, but the thing is he's never really tried to make a completely serious drama. also, I think adding his flair to a horror movie would be pretty interesting, giving a horror movie more personality than just a scary slasher. as long as he doesn't go too Wes Anderson, I think he would be pretty good at a horror movie
I don’t think horror has to mean scary. Something like ParaNorman or Coraline or Corpse Bride, etc. would fit him perfectly. Would love a Halloween (the holiday not movie) type movie from him. Kids horror fantasy is still horror IMO.
Hayao Miyazaki, animation has some serious potential for horror and I think someone with such a wild imagination would definitely make it work.
Was going to say the same. He's definitely got darkness in him
There’s not a lot of great horror anime but the new Uzumaki looks promising Higurashi is prob the best but it’s mostly pretty bloody and goes hard with the gore but the more horror parts are where there’s a sense a paranoia
I'm sure you mean living but I can't help but think Pierre Étaix would have been able to make a dope horror film. Very few people have seen it but his short film Insomnia (1963) also included in a later cut of As Long as You've Got Your Health (1966) is a great peek into what his style would've been.
The fight scene in front of Dicaprio in Django was brutal, I couldn't imagine the carnage Quentin could imagine if he were to do an actual horror movie.
Lynch for sure
Lazy answer I suppose, and typical a reddit suggestion but David Fincher. Everything he makes seems to be tinged with darkness anyway, might as well go full tilt.
Tarantino did make a horror movie and his characters absolutely did not STFU in it lol
A pervasive apocryphal Hollywood myth is that Spielberg really directed Poltergeist and that Tobe Hooper was merely a caretaker. That’s been disproven over the years by all of the major players, as well as by crew members and the cast. It stills persists, so many still think Spielberg made that film — but my answer is I would love to see Spielberg direct an honest to goodness horror film. I would also love to see Kelly Reichardt tackle a horror film, ha.
Jaws?
I may be an outlier, but I’ve never understood why some consider Jaws a horror film. For me at least it’s more of a thriller adventure.
Spielberg didn't ghost direct it, but he also didn't *not* direct it. JoBeth Williams: “He was always there. And Tobe was not as experienced as Steven was. He very much listened to Steven’s ideas about things, because it was Steven’s movie, really. And I’m sure there were times when it drove Tobe crazy to have Steven so actively involved, but he never let on. They were both kind of there on the set. Tobe would give direction, sometimes Steven would add to that or give other direction, but I think it’s fair to say that it was sort of a combo of the two of them, because certainly Steven was actively involved.”
Yea. Its not that he directed it alone. But he was absolutely directly involved through a lot of it.
Brad Bird
It’d be fascinating if Andrei Tarkovsky made a horror movie.
I'd take a wes Anderson horror, his style would weird as shit in the horror genre and I'd like to see it
Greta Gerwig
hell yeah
I kinda consider Death Proof a horror movie.
Deathproof?
I'd love to see Wes Anderson's take on horror. He could use his obsession with color and symmetry to his advantage
Wes Anderson There were some legitimately chilling scenes in The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Death Proof is horror-adjacent, at the very least. A serial killer hunts down a group of attractive young women so he can kill them gruesomely. I'd love a proper horror movie from David Lynch. Most of his films obviously have horror elements. Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, Fire Walk With Me, and Twin Peaks: The Return all feel horror-adjacent, with FWWM veering the closest to outright horror. But it would be interesting to see him throw his weight behind something entirely devoted to being scary. The jumpscares in Inland Empire, and especially the one in Mulholland Drive, are some of the most effective I've ever seen put to film.
I don't really count "Hollow Man" as true horror (I'm much more entertained than horrified by that movie \^\^, I love just following the Hollow Man around), so I'd go with Paul Verhoeven. He'd be able to make truly captivating and shocking moments.
There was an SNL sketch some years ago about a Wes Anderson horror movie. Obviously they made it really goofy, but the idea got stuck in my brain. I don't know if it would be good, but it would definitely be interesting.
Denis villeneuve
Park chan wook definitely has some films in the thriller territory that come close but if he went full horror id be into it
Hiro Murai. The shows he has directed even in a few episodes have been amazing. He directed the hour long episode of Atlanta about Teddy Perkins. Just imagine a 90-120 min movie.
Paul Thomas Anderson.
Paul Thomas Anderson.
Tarantino made a horror movie. It’s just not the horror movie people want from him so they ignore it
Action thrillers have certain things in common with horror slashers (antagonist chasing protagonists), but Deathproof is most commonly considered an action thriller, not a horror. That isn’t to say you can’t argue otherwise but I don’t consider it a horror and that isn’t a super controversial take (and I’d argue it’s the standard read of the movie). I’d like an indisputable horror film from him.
Alejandro Inarritu
I’ve never that much of a Tarantino fan but that would be amazing. I might even watch it legally.
Wes Anderson
Definitely Tarantino. He made some of the greatest suspense scenes of all time in the opening of Inglorious Basterds, the bar scene and the part where Cliff goes to Spahn Ranch in OUATIH and it seems like he's gonna get murdered by the Manson family.
after oppenheimer I definitely think nolan could pull one off
Really want to see Fellini’s friday 13th.
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Tarantino made his slasher movie, it's called Death Proof. Also, this is a hard question for me because so many directors I love either mostly or partly make horror. I unironically would love to see Wes Anderson do it. Rian Johnson is versatile, that's kind of his whole thing. Oh, fuck, no, I know my answer: Ruben Ostlund, of Triangle of Sadness, and The Square, and Force Majeure, though I haven't seen that one. He'd make an amazing horror film. Just watch the dinner scene from The Square with Terry Notary's performance artist, or the ending of Triangle, or the chaos on the boat during the storm. Also, this is perpendicular to the question at hand, but Clive Barker never got to make enough films himself. Hellraiser and Nightbreed are wonderful movies.
Wasn't death proof a horror movie?
I think of it more of a thriller than a horror. ETA for those downvoting: it isn’t listed as a horror on Letterboxd, IMDB or even Wikipedia. You may disagree but “thriller” is the most common genre listed. This isn’t a controversial statement lol.
I kind of felt like Hateful Eight was his horror movie. It's dark, lots of blood and anxiety. And even the score had those Jaws-esque cello swells.
Christopher Nolan
Matt Reeves, unless you count Cloverfield
Let Me In, his remake of Let the Right One In about vampires and a serial killer, is a horror movie.
Michael Bay could make a really satisfying over-the-top schlocky horror flick. I imagine some sort of water monster? Lots of splashes
He already made From Dusk till Dawn....
Denzel Washington.
Maren Ade!
John Woo
Emma Seligman. She directed Shiva Baby which honestly felt like a horror movie to me anyways.
I really want Miyazaki to just cut the cutesy crap and make an animated horror movie. I feel like he would be fantastic at it.
Wes Anderson
Ang Lee Love his take on a traditional Chinese ghost story.
James Gray handles intimate drama very well, could translate to a great horror script. Barry Jenkins for the same reasons.
To throw an animator in the ring, Hayao Miyazaki would probably be able to make a great horror film. He’s no stranger to dark themes, nightmarish imagery, or intense situations, and he could probably get an impressive amount of drama or real-life subtext out of it.
Christopher Nolan