Jordan Peele has been involved in some very scary horror movies since he started working in the genre. It might have come as a surprise to some of his older fans, as he got his start as a comedian in the duo Key & Peele. However, once he began making his own films, horror was the genre he gravitated to.
Once he released his first movie, Jordan Peele was an instant success. Get Out was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, a rare achievement for the genre. He then followed it up with more twisty horror releases and even began producing films for other horror filmmakers. Peele now has seven scary horror movies he has either directed or produced.
Him (2025)
Jordan Peele’s most recently produced movie was Him. Directed by Justin Tipping, the film is a tale of toxic masculinity and a harsh indictment of the brutality of American football. However, it was also a supernatural horror release, as the twist midway through turns everything on its head.
Tyriq Withers stars as Cam Cade, a young football player who gets the chance to train with his idol, a veteran professional football quarterback named Isaiah White. However, once he gets to the secluded compound, he sees the extreme lengths these athletes go through to reach their dreams and has to decide if it is worth it.
This is a horror release, and the big twist involves a cult that creates the best players of all time through a blood ritual, and that is where things really start to get scary. However, when compared to Jordan Peele’s other movies, critics pointed out that Him is more style over substance, and while it looks striking, it isn’t as scary as it could have been.
There are good points, though, with the biggest being Marlon Wayans’ performance as Isaiah White, an award-worthy turn that might have gained more attention in a better horror movie.
Wendell & Wild (2022)
Wendell & Wild is a stop-motion animated movie by Henry Selick, the director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline. Selick co-wrote the script with Jordan Peele, and Peele also starred in the film along with his former comedy partner Keegan-Michael Key.
Key and Peele voice Wendell and Wild, two demon brothers who live in the underworld, who hallucinate about a young girl named Kat at the same time that they learn that the hair cream their demon father uses can also resurrect the dead.
Now a juvenile delinquent attending an all-girls Catholic school, Kat develops a skull-like marking on her hand, making her Wendell and Wild’s “hell maiden.” When they promise to revive her parents from the dead if she summons them to the real world, she does so, and everything goes wrong.
Wendell & Wild received high praise for its story, which critics called ambitious and inclusive, and it was a solid horror story for fans of the genre. While it isn’t as scary as other Jordan Peele movies, it is entertaining and one of the better overall films he was involved with that he didn’t direct.
Abruptio (2024)
Abruptio is one of the least-known Jordan Peele horror movies. Released in 2024, this is an adult puppet horror film that Jordan Peele added his voice talent to, but not a release he had anything to do with outside of being talent for the production.
The cast was incredible, with Peele working alongside James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore), Hana Mae Lee (Pitch Perfect), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), and Sid Haig (The Devil’s Rejects).
The entire movie is a bizarre absurdist horror tale, with Marsters playing Les, a man who learns he has a bomb implanted in his neck and is then forced to carry out horrific and gruesome tasks for a mysterious caller. Peele has a small role as his best friend, who also had a bomb in his neck that detonated early in the film.
This is the complete opposite of a movie like Wendell & Wild, as it is not meant to be a fun ride, but is instead a series of disturbing and oftentimes disgusting moments, where Les has to figure out what is going on before it is too late.
Candyman (2021)
Candyman is the scariest horror movie that Jordan Peele has been involved with that he didn’t direct. Directed by Nia DaCosta (The Marvels), the film is a direct sequel to the 1992 original Candyman and the fourth film in the franchise. The story itself is set 27 years after the events of the original film.
The movie had been in developmental hell for over a decade when Jordan Peele signed on to produce the film, and DaCosta signed on as the director. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Anthony, a young artist who becomes obsessed with the Candyman legend, while Teyonah Parris is Bri, his girlfriend.
The script, co-written by Peele, DaCosta, and Win Rosenfeld, takes the social issues prevalent in the original Candyman and adds in some more modern-day topical references, specifically featuring police violence against the Black community. This turned the new movie into something more than just a slasher flick.
Critics praised Candyman, with an 84% Rotten Tomatoes score. Among the praise was that it helped to deepen the mythology of the original movies while also creating some terrifying moments that help it stand tall as the best film in the franchise since the original.
Us (2019)
Jordan Peele’s second directorial effort was the bizarre Us. This was a psychological horror movie that stars Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as a couple, Adelaide and Gabe, who find doppelgängers terrorizing their family. When they learn this is not an isolated incident, they go on the run for their lives.
There are a lot more mysteries involved in Us than in Peele’s other horror movies, as Adelaide encountered a doppelgänger when she was a child, and the question now becomes why these beings are now trying to take over the lives of their “real people” on the surface world.
There is a lot to love about Us, which is a thriller with lots of twists and some gruesome moments, and some terrifying and claustrophobic events when the story goes underground to the home of the doppelgängers. It also has the best twist ending of any of Jordan Peele’s movies, when the truth was finally discovered.
The movie received positive reviews, although the audience reaction was mixed thanks to the story’s bizarre leanings. However, for pure scares, Peele proved he was no one-hit wonder, as he followed up his debut film, Get Out, with an equally brilliant premise.
Nope (2022)
Nope was Jordan Peele’s lowest-grossing directorial effort at the box office, but it was just as scary as anything else he had made. Instead of a straight horror release, Nope was a sci-fi horror film about an unidentified flying object that shows up over a small California town.
The main characters are OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Em (Keke Palmer), as well as Jupe (Steven Yeun), a former child star whom the Haywood siblings have been selling their family horses to for his theme park. When the Haywood siblings see the UFO, they decide to record proof to profit from its arrival.
The movie then completely goes off the rails, as Jupe has been offering up the horses to the UFO to gain its trust and attempt to revive his fame after losing everything early in his career. Things don’t go well when the UFO attacks and kills countless people before OJ realizes it is actually a predatory creature.
This is the one Jordan Peele movie with an actual monster in it, and he does a brilliant job of keeping it hidden until it is time to spring it on the audience. When the monster finally appears, it is a truly terrifying moment and pays off the slow-burning horror with an outrageous and explosive finale.
Get Out (2017)
Get Out is not only Jordan Peele’s scariest movie he has ever been involved with, but the best of his career in general. The film follows a young man named Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) who goes with his white girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to meet her parents.
What results can best be described as liberal racism. Rose’s family is so enamored with the Black experience that they have been capturing Black people and then transferring the minds of wealthy white people into the Black person’s body to acquire their physical characteristics. Chris was their next target.
The entire situation is terrifying, especially when Rose’s family hypnotizes Chris, and he realizes he can’t do anything to stop them. When he finds other Black people around who are almost zombie-like, he understands what is in store for him if he doesn’t escape.