One of the most anticipated releases of 2022 is Nope, directed by Jordan Peele and hitting cinemas in late July. With only two feature movies released so far, Peele managed to establish himself as one of the most notoriously creative figures in the film industry, especially when it comes to horror.
As a filmmaker, everyone needs to start somewhere, and in some cases directors manage to not only develop a banger debut but also provide a follow-up just as interesting, setting up a promising career and a distinguished status. Here are 10 names that showcase impressive talent with only two feature films so far.
Gia Coppola
Needless to say, the Coppola family counts with some of the most talented, important figures in the movie industry. With prominent names such as Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola, and Nicolas Cage, the promising Gia Coppola shows she’s also one of a kind with her two intimate, particularly dismaying movies.
Gia’s first movie Palo Alto is an emotional coming-of-age drama that focuses on different teenagers facing their own unique difficulties in an unsettling, melancholic atmosphere. Mainstream came out during the pandemic and starred Andrew Garfield in a chaotic, vibrant egocentric show. Her next film is, surprisingly, going to be a documentary about fandom hysteria within pop culture (per Pitchfork).
Eskil Vogt
Eskil Vogt recently left everyone bewildered at his most recent movie, The Innocents, a Norwegian thriller about four children who become friends and discover hidden powers. While exploring their newfound abilities, what starts as an innocent play takes a dark turn and strange things begin to happen.
Vogt’s specialty seems to be dramas with an unsettling atmosphere, something also present in his first feature film Blind. He collaborated with Joachim Trier in movies like The Worst Person in the World and, most remarkably, Thelma, which also addresses supernatural powers escalating into something dark. Fans will certainly hope Eskil Vogt will maintain this eerie, psychological tone in upcoming projects.
Julia Ducournau
Ducournau’s last film Titane was a brutal body-horror movie that made people walk out at Cannes, but her first film isn’t by any means milder. Raw follows a young vegetarian studying to be a vet. After taking part in a collective freshman prank, she develops an insatiable craving for human meat.
Both Ducournau movies are about transiting from girlhood to womanhood, addressing extreme desires in a delicate, yet shockingly visceral way. Instead of going for a sensorial approach, she’s a director that expresses her ideas through the physical, in stories filled with bodily fluids, substances, and blood, evoking the importance of humanity’s deepest, wildest impulses.
Brandon Cronenberg
Brandon Cronenberg is following the path of his father, the renowned David Cronenberg, by delivering movies with disturbing social commentary and characteristic body horror elements, but with a huge hiatus between them. His first movie Antiviral came out in 2012, a psychological sci-fi story about a mysterious business that sells celebrity illnesses to their obsessed fans.
It was 8 years until his second feature film Possessor was released, a much more polished horror film in terms of violence and tension, also taking place in a science fiction setting. In conclusion, the two Cronenberg are dominating the body horror scene, and a collab between them would be incredible.
Panos Cosmatos
Panos Cosmatos’ specialty seems to be the absurd. Beyond the Black Rainbow was his first film and blended a compelling sci-fi setup into a non-stop, terrifying journey into the heart of madness as a young woman desperately tries to escape from a secluded, quasi-futuristic commune.
He returned 8 years later with another highly stylish horror film starring Nicolas Cage, Mandy. The movie is a chaotic, anxiety-inducing festival of insanity and psychedelic colors, and it doesn’t skimp on resources to shock viewers and leave them at the edge of their seats. Cosmatos is set to direct an A24 movie in the near future and rumors point to another mind-bending masterpiece (per Collider).
Ari Aster
Expectations are high regarding Ari Aster’s upcoming Disappointing Blvd., which promises to blend dark humor with horror and will star Joaquin Phoenix. While Aster released lots of interesting short films in the past decade, he came to meet the spotlight after his first movie Hereditary, which ended up being a great success and a marvelous feast for any horror fan.
Ari Aster continued to innovate horror conventions in his second film, Midsommar, which commits to scare and shock viewers with a movie entirely set in bright daylight, a folk horror story following a group of American friends who get caught up amid a disturbing Swedish ritual that quickly becomes a dangerous struggle for survival.
Kogonada
Kogonada used to run a popular video essay Youtube channel about cinema before finally trying out making films himself. In his first feature Columbus, he evokes the delicate, conversational structure so distinctive from Richard Linklater’s movies, a big inspiration to Kogonada. The film is an intimate story about a successful businessman and a young architecture enthusiast who cross paths and strike up a beautiful friendship.
Just as emotionally driven as Columbus, After Yang is a 2022 release and Kogonada’s second feature film, starring Colin Farrell in one of his most heartfelt performances. He plays a distant father trying to piece together his family after the loss of their beloved android Yang.
Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard seems committed to subverting every single trope from horror and thriller films in the most chaotic way. His first movie, Cabin in the Woods, was a divisive satire that discusses what exactly compels audiences so much when it comes to horror. Following five friends on vacation at a remote cabin, the movie starts off as an unpretentious mystery story, then soon takes shape into a slasher, then science fiction, then into something so insanely over-the-top that makes it difficult to describe.
His second feature film, Bad Times At The El Royale, once again reunites a bunch of unconventional characters in a single place, now a decadent hotel, in a mysterious atmosphere of suspicion as each one discloses who they really are.
Jordan Peele
The director of the massive box office hit Get Out will be releasing his third movie, Nope, real soon, late in July. While the disclosed plot is vague in order to sustain the mystery, it will reportedly be in line with Peele’s previous two feature films, presenting an unrelenting mystery and elements of horror, reflected by Nope‘s R rating.
Jordan Peele’s second film, Us, was a supernatural thriller starred by Lupita Nyong’o and way more divisive than Get Out but still compelled most of the viewers, confirming that Peele is one of the most original and influential figures in the field of horror.
Cooper Raiff
Cooper Raif has blessed viewers with two heartfelt, painfully relatable rom-coms, establishing himself as one of the most distinguished aspiring filmmakers to look out for. Only 25 years old, he’s directed two feature films also written, edited, and starred by him: Shithouse, following a college freshman loner trying to fit in, and Cha Cha Real Smooth, which portrays the unexpected bond between an extrovert fresh graduate and a young mother.
According to Deadline, Raiff’s next feature film is called The Trashers with a leading performance from Stranger Things star David Harbour; It will tell the real-life story of Jimmy Galante, trash magnate and associate of the Genovese crime family, marking a huge change in tone when taking Raiff’s two first films into account.
