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Which Filmmakers We'd Like To See Contribute To Guillermo del Toro's Netflix Horror Anthology Series

By Kristy Puchko | Streaming | May 15, 2018 |

By Kristy Puchko | Streaming | May 15, 2018 |


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Guillermo del Toro is a filmmaker so obsessed with monsters and horror that a whole museum exhibit was made out of his personal collection of the macabre. His imagination and ambition have spurred so many possible projects, it’s impossible to keep track. But Netflix has given a new home to his twisted tales with the upcoming anthology Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight.

Clearly pleased with Netflix’s brand of collaboration on his animated series Trollhunters, del Toro has signed on to write and direct several episodes of this show’s frightening first season. The rest will be created by those hand-selected by the Shape of Water helmer. For now, we know nothing about whom del Toro will bring to the table. But here’s some filmmakers we’d love to see take a shot at Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight.

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Jennifer Kent
This daring writer/director (pictured with actress Essie Davis) made a jaw-dropping debut with a mind-bending mythos and a spine-tingling monster in The Babadook. Later this year, Kent will reveal her follow-up, a Tasmania-set revenge tale called The Nightingale. With her talent for creating deeply chilling visuals, she’d be a perfect pick for a short and scary story in del Toro’s first season.

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Alice Lowe
The English actress snagged small roles in Edgar Wright films before astounding critics with the pitch-black horror-comedy Sightseers, which she co-wrote and starred in, while Ben Wheatley directed. (Both are pictured above.) From there, Lowe was offered a chance to write and direct her own movie, and in a shockingly short turnaround made the menacing and viciously hilarious Prevenge, which follows a pregnant mother who murders to satisfy her commanding fetus’s bloodlust. A bit of deep dark humor could be a masterful flavor to add to del Toro’s brewing stew of terror.

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Jordan Peele
Duh, right? Who wouldn’t want to see what the mind behind Get Out could bring to anthology horror? The thing is Peele definitely won’t be a part of Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight, as he’s got his own anthology in the works, resurrecting the Twilight Zone for CBS.

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Mike Flanagan
This writer/director/editor has churned out such stomach-roiling horror as the deadly silent Hush, the should-have-been crap but was totally terrifying prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil, and the deeply grisly Stephen King adaptation Gerald’s Game. And the last of those was for Netflix, so he’s sort of in-house talent. Give him an ep and brace yourself for practical effects that’ll have you shrieking in shock.

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Jee-woon Kim
This South Korean filmmaker is the grim genius who created I Saw The Devil, a serial killer thriller so frightening that it caused my fight or flight response to kick in. No joke. I kicked out a leg during a particularly intense scene. (Thankfully, I was in the screening room’s front row.) He’s made the gonzo Western, The Good, The Bad, and The Weird and the haunting Tale of Two Sisters, both were acclaimed but neither widely known. Del Toro could introduce Kim to his biggest audience yet.

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Ana Lily Amirpour
Breaking onto the scene with the killer cool A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, this daring writer/director showed a flare for blending high and lowbrow influences to create a surreal and mesmerizing vampire tale. With her polarizing follow-up, The Bad Batch, Amirpour blended a post-apocalyptic landscape with rave culture, cannibals, and a smirkingly twisted wit. Beyond totally bonkers, I don’t know what to expect should she channel her creativity into an anthology episode. And that’s part of why the prospect is so damn thrilling.


Which filmmaker would you like to see participate in Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight? Tell us in comments.