10 Greatest Directorial Debut Horror Movies

A young, hopeful director can often be defined by their first film; It can make or break their entire career. It needs to be something unique and authentically 'them', but also be well-received for any chance of a future. Choosing to make your directorial debut a horror film, a genre peppered with astoundingly bad movies and often a lack of creativity, is a bold decision indeed. But these ten directors did it, and they are about to get the plaudits they deserve.

Some of these directors continued on the dark and twisted path, exploring the horror genre in new and exciting ways, while others broke free from the genre completely and segued into making entirely different films. Likewise, some of these directors went on to have truly impressive careers while others seemed to peak immediately, and all their following work pales horribly in comparison. That being said, each one of these films is a true marvel and the people behind them deserve each and every bit of credit we're about to give them.

Here are the 10 greatest directorial debut horror movies, from the impressive to the seriously mind-blowing.

Coming from YouTube fame where he was a host on a movie talk show, Dan Trachtenberg first caught the eye of J.J. Abrams when he adapted the popular video game series Portal into a seven-minute short. Following this, Trachtenberg was gifted the heavily under-wraps sequel in the Cloverfield franchise for Abrams' Bad Robot production company.

The movie Trachtenberg delivered was vastly different to the original Cloverfield, but equally as brilliant in its own unique way. While Cloverfield was a found-footage Godzilla-esqe romp, 10 Cloverfield Lane was a claustrophobic nightmare, carried by excellent performances from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman. Brimming with Hitchcockian suspense, Trachtenberg proved himself as a talented, young director who could create nail-biting set pieces.

Since his success with 10 Cloverfield Lane, Trachtenberg has segued into television, directing episodes for popular shows such as Black Mirror and Amazon's The Boys. Trachtenberg was recently announced to be helming the fifth instalment in the Predator franchise, which looks to be his next project.