Jeremy Saulnier is quickly turning into one of the most interesting and challenging horror directors of this generation, but his entire filmography highlights his growth as a filmmaker.
Jeremy Saulnier has quietly been working away on mature, atmospheric horror films that have helped him become a master of the genre. Saulnier’s films are all more interested in the darkness that lies in humans and the dangerous situations that can creep into everyday like as opposed to grander spectacles like monster movies. It’s this precise ability to look at society’s underbelly that made him such an asset in the third season of True Detective.
Each of Saulnier’s movies have tackled more intense subject matter and every time the director is able to rise to the occasion and provide a unique look at these terrifying breakdowns in humanity. The director excels with claustrophobic, more intimate horror stories, but Saulnier’s career is just getting started. Saulnier is hard at work on getting his next film, Rebel Ridge ready, so in the meantime here’s a refresher on Saulnier’s current films and how they rank.
4. Murder Party (2007)
Jeremy Saulnier’s debut feature film, Murder Party, is the director’s loving ode to the broader slashers of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but it’s also his silliest and the most playful of his horror films. The tongue-in-cheek slasher sees a social outcast become an unsuspecting victim for a bunch of amateur murderers-in-the-making. The cheeky slasher is filled with eccentric characters, wild Halloween costumes, and a healthy dose of gore. The film highlights plenty of Saulnier’s skills and a self-aware love of the genre, but it still suffers from issues like a protagonist that’s too passive and a plot that becomes a little too loose at times.
3. Hold The Dark (2018)
Hold the Dark is Saulnier’s most recent cinematic contribution and it’s by far his most mature and cerebral of his horror films, for both better and for worse. Hold the Dark is a painful story of revenge where a reclusive writer and wolf expert (Jeffrey Wright) gets tasked to take out the wolves that a mother suspects of killing her missing child. The film has a very simple premise, but Saulnier creates a painful, moving film that features some of Wright’s best work. Hold the Dark has a surprising final act that’s open for interpretation, but in spite of the moody film’s strengths it periodically loses its way and focus.
2. Blue Ruin (2013)
Horror films that focus on revenge often turn out to be highly emotional stories and Blue Ruin is one of the better examples of what can happen when one bad decision spirals horribly out of control. The small-scale film looks at a distraught man who returns to his childhood home to enact some vengeance after the traditional means of justice fail him. An assassination attempt goes amiss and Blue Ruin sees its out of its league protagonist constantly trying to recover from the avalanche of problems that follow him. It’s a powerful movie about how strong rage and grief can be, especially when they’re left unchecked.
1. Green Room (2015)
Of all of Jeremy Saulnier’s accomplished films, Green Room is the one that’s earned him the most attention and alerted the world that this is a name in horror that needs to be watched. Green Room is another movie that tells a very simple story where ordinary people are trapped in an increasingly tense situation that becomes more volatile due to human nature and prejudice, not anything supernatural. Unflinching violence and fearless performances from Anton Yelchin and Patrick Stewart help Green Room pack a tremendous punch and deliver an unconventional story that’s hard to forget.