The horror genre is often underappreciated by movie aficionados. However, many famous and lauded film directors know the skill and talent that goes into creating a horror movie and give them the respect and honor that they deserve. Many modern-day filmmakers even recognize those earlier movies that influenced their own careers.
When it comes to horror movie makers, they often wear their favorite horror movies on their sleeves. However, when it comes to directors who specialize in dramas, quirky indie fare, or even big-budget action movies, there are many horror releases that have a special place in their hearts.
Wes Anderson - Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Wes Anderson released his 10th movie in 2021 with The French Dispatch and all his movies have been quirky indie-styled comedies. While nothing he has ever directed might hint at a love of horror movies, the director does have a favorite from the genre. Anderson told Rotten Tomatoes he loves Rosemary's Baby.
Roman Polanski directed Rosemary's Baby in 1968, a movie about a woman who might be pregnant with the devil's spawn. Critics label the movie one of the best in horror history and Anderson said that it "has always been a big influence on me, or a source of ideas."
John Carpenter - The Exorcist (1973)
John Carpenter helped change horror movies in the 1970s when he directed Halloween. It helped usher in and solidify the slasher movies, which dominated the genre for the next decade. When looking at what horror movies influenced him, he chose one that came out only a few short years before Halloween.
Carpenter told The Fader that his favorite scary movie was The Exorcist. The movie told the story of two priests called in to exorcise a demon from a young girl. Carpenter said he originally feared the devil in The Exorcist but also credited "the things that they did back then, with this little girl, they broke a bunch of taboos, my god. It’s pretty damn good.”
Guillermo del Toro - Eyes Without A Face (1960)
Guillermo del Toro is one of the best Spanish filmmakers in the industry, not only creating some great blockbusters in America but also delivering some scary Spanish-language movies, including Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone. Del Toro has always worn his influences on his sleeve, but he has one specific favorite horror movie.
Del Toro told Criterion that his pick is Eyes Without a Face. The movie is about a girl involved in an accident that receives a new face, but it came with a great cost. Del Toro explained that "the clash of haunting and enchanting imagery has seldom been more powerful."
Quentin Tarantino - Audition (1999)
Quentin Tarantino has created some of Hollywood's top critically acclaimed movies and he himself is a film lover, harkening back to his days as a video store clerk. However, he said his favorite horror movie is one that came out after he was already a star, years after he released Pulp Fiction.
Tarantino gave his love to the Takashi Miike 1999 horror movie Audition. The movie is about a widower who holds a fake movie audition to find a new girlfriend and gets more than he bargained for. Tarantino wrote that the movie was a "true masterpiece."
Martin Scorsese - The Innocents (1961)
Martin Scorsese made his name with the gangster genre, and while he has always been a genre filmmaker, he has often trumpeted all cinema. A true connoisseur, Scorsese has made it his life's calling to bring lesser-known movies to fans' attention. When asked about his favorite scary movie, he pointed to the classic black and white movie The Innocents.
The Innocents is an adaptation of The Turning of the Screw and tells the story of a woman becoming a governess of two children who hold a dark secret. Scorsese wrote that the movie is "one of the rare pictures that does justice to Henry James. It’s beautifully crafted and acted, immaculately shot (by Freddie Francis), and very scary.”
Andy Muschietti - Near Dark (1987)
Andy Muschietti is one of the younger directors on the scene, helming the very scary Mama and both parts of the new adaptation of Stephen King's It. When looking at his favorite scary movie, he picked out a vampire movie from 1987. This wasn't The Lost Boys but the Katherine Bigelow movie Near Dark.
Near Dark tells the story of a young man who is bitten and turned into a vampire and the pack of bloodsuckers he ends up connected with. Muschietti told Shortlist that "trashy vampires was just mind-blowing for me. I had never seen anything like that. And there’s a lot of very dark and obscure humor in it." He also called it "terrifying."
Jordan Peele - Misery (1990)
Jordan Peele has become one of the most important horror filmmakers working today. He directed the Oscar-nominated Get Out and the genre-bending Us, while also helping get the Candyman sequel off the ground. When talking about his favorite horror movie, he chose a Stephen King adaptation.
Peele told USA Today that he loved the 1990 Kathy Bates' starred, Misery. The movie told the story of a popular author who is involved in an accident and then is cared for by his biggest, and most-obsessed fan. Peele said that it's "a movie where the acting and the performance and the script and the dialogue is where the fear in the movie lies. I love that kind of technique."
Sam Raimi - Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Sam Raimi became a star thanks to his drive to make an independent horror movie with practical effects and nothing but heart and desire. That movie was The Evil Dead and catapulted Raimi into a role as a big-time genre director. It makes sense that he would idolize another horror director that started out as an indie filmmaker.
Raimi told Den of Geek that his favorite horror movie was George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. "I was screaming and shrieking, begging my sister to take me home, and she was trying to shut me up," Raimi remembered. "I’d never experienced horror like that before."
Christopher Nolan - Alien (1979)
Christopher Nolan is one of the most successful mainstream filmmakers working today. He has critically acclaimed movies with Memento and box office blockbusters with The Dark Knight Trilogy. He also has a strong grasp of storytelling and filmmaking techniques and his favorite horror movie is one by another expert in the field, Ridley Scott.
Alien is a movie that is basically a haunted house story in outer space, with a space crew hunted by an alien. Nolan told Media Company that he is a huge fan of Scott. "The director I have always been a huge fan of… Ridley Scott and certainly when I was a kid," Nolan said. "Alien, Blade Runner just blew me away because they created these extraordinary worlds that were just completely immersive."
James Wan - The Others (2001)
James Wan has built his career on the backs of low-budget horror movies. With movies like Saw and Insidious, he proved he knew how to present a scary story, with such a minimal amount of money that his movies were guaranteed to make a profit. However, his favorite horror movie was a lesser-known atmospheric ghost story.
The Others starred Nicole Kidman as a woman who moved into an old manor with her children, both of which had light sensitivity, only to find the house haunted. Wan told The Hollywood Reporter that "it’s truly one of the finest ‘bump in the night’ Victorian ghost stories ever committed to film."