University of Iowa Honors Graduates Who Directed Horror Movies

If you're like me, you love everything about October and absolutely love horror movies. My uncle put me onto horror as a kid. He told me about A Nightmare on Elm Street, loaned me his VHS copy of Friday the 13th, and even told me about some other scuzzy, underground horror movies I won't repeat here. As terrified as I was watching some of them at a tender age, I was wowed by their ability to make me feel vulnerable yet exhilarated.

To this day, I'm a horror movie junkie. I can talk your ear off about everything from Universal Monster Movies to why the first Jeepers Creepers is one of the saddest horror movies of the last 25 years. Low and behold, a handful of notable individuals behind some of the most topical horror movies of the last two decades are graduates of the University of Iowa!

Iowa took to their Facebook page to highlight some of the achievements in horror cinema from various alumni. Here are some of the most noteworthy names of the five they highlighted!

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods:

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, natives of the Quad Cities, were the writers of the breakout hit A Quiet Place a few years back. They've worked pretty much exclusively in the horror genre, and their most recent movie, Heretic, was one of the best horror films of 2024:

Heretic (2024) is a psychological horror film written and directed by University of Iowa alumni Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the creative minds behind A Quiet Place. The film follows two Mormon missionaries who visit a man’s home, only to find themselves trapped in a chilling test of faith. Starring Hugh Grant, Heretic premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and became both a critical and box office success, earning award nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Actor - per the University of Iowa's Facebook page

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Diablo Cody:

Beyond having one of the coolest pennames in entertainment, Diablo Cody, quite frankly, doesn't get the recognition she deserves. A Lemont, IL native (a stone's throw from where I grew up), she graduated the University of Iowa with a Bachelor's in Media and went on to pen the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated film Juno in 2007.

When it comes to horror, her follow-up, Jennifer's Body, was a deceptively smart film with a feministic angle. It was badly mis-marketed, but has since gone on to be reevaluated; it's a touchstone for female horror, and paved the way for many of the female-centric horror movies we see today:

Diablo Cody is the writer behind Jennifer’s Body and the Oscar-winning film Juno, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2007. While attending the University of Iowa in the late 1990s, she worked at the student radio station KRUI and graduated with a degree in media studies. Her cult classic Jennifer’s Body opens with the unforgettable line “Hell is a teenage girl,” setting the tone for a sharp, darkly funny, and feminist take on horror that continues to resonate today - per the University of Iowa's Facebook page

Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton:

Iowa grads Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton are responsible for two horror franchises. The lesser known of the two is The Collector, an gritty, underrated home invasion thriller that wound up treating audiences who sought it out to something dastardly and fun. More famously, however, the duo were the brains behind the later Saw sequels, including the sixth film, which, in my opinion, is one of the series' best:

Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton met while studying communications at the University of Iowa and went from wearing the Herky mascot uniform to becoming one of Hollywood’s most successful horror duos. “It all happened at the University of Iowa,” says Dunstan. After winning Bravo’s Project Greenlight in 2005 with Feast, they went on to co-write The Collector, The Collection, and Saw IV, V, VI, and Saw 3D. Their chilling scripts, shaped through months of rewrites, helped make Saw the second highest grossing horror franchise in U.S. history, proof that their partnership, born in Iowa City, still leaves audiences screaming - per the University of Iowa's Facebook page

Check out the University of Iowa's Facebook post to see more alumni honored for their contributions to the horror genre.