10 Greatest Horror Movie Directors Of All Time

Notable films: Cronos, Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth

If Roger Corman showed us how to produce effective Gothic horror on a shoestring budget, Guillermo del Toro took it to the next level, raising the genre up to high art with lavish production values on par with the most extravagant Hollywood movies.

As well as the high production nod to the Gothic style - most evident in Crimson Peak - Guillermo del Toro's movies are infused with an appreciation for folklore and mythology which seeps through both the narratives and production design. Pan's Labyrinth in particular stands as a masterpiece of modern horror-fantasy, blending woodland folk tales with the very real horrors of the Spanish Civil War and living under the Franco dictatorship in Spain.

As has been evident since his debut Cronos, del Toro's mastery of horror lies in his ability to bring a richness of theme and maturity of execution rarely found within the genre, balancing fairy tales monsters with a palpable sense of existential dread in ways that are both nightmarish and emotionally engaging.