Spielberg Eyes Directing Horror Amid Recent Hits

Renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg has expressed a long-held ambition to direct a full-fledged horror movie, a genre he has yet to helm despite delivering iconic scares in films like Jaws and Jurassic Park. In a recent interview with Empire magazine, the 79-year-old director revealed his interest while acknowledging that recent standout horror entries have temporarily quelled his creative urge.

Spielberg, whose career spans over five decades, noted that he has always wanted to explore pure horror but has not yet found the right story. "I haven't directed a horror film yet, and I've always wanted to, and someday I may," he said. He highlighted his involvement in the 1982 supernatural thriller Poltergeist, which he co-wrote and produced but directed by Tobe Hooper, as his closest brush with the genre. Other works, such as the 1971 short Duel, the alien encounters in Close Encounters of the Third Kind from 1977, and the dinosaur terror of Jurassic Park in 1993, incorporate suspense and frights but fall short of what Spielberg considers true horror.

A key factor delaying his entry into the field, Spielberg explained, is the quality of contemporary horror cinema. He specifically...