Jordan Peele

Social argument built to work as an actual horror film. Peele's premises are legible as allegory — appropriation, underclass, spectacle — but he refuses to let the metaphor substitute for craft: the scares land on their own terms first.

Signature

• High-concept premise stated plainly, then escalated without wink.
• Comic timing repurposed for dread.
• Black protagonists whose competence drives the plot.
• Set-pieces designed around watching and being watched.

Distinguish from genre spectacle rather than arthouse, despite the thematic ambition — the ride is genuinely the point. Contrast Lynne Ramsay, who shares Psychological Horror but withholds every release Peele delivers.