Steven Spielberg Teases Possible Interest in Returning to Horror

Steven Spielberg is nothing short of a living legend, solidifying himself as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time in a variety of genres, though he got his start directing with horror films like Duel and Jaws. While accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin International Film Festival, Spielberg reflected on his past, referencing both Duel and Jaws throughout his acceptance speech, and even teased that, since he shows no sign of slowing his output, he has some interest in “scaring the sh-t” out of audiences, along with himself. While there’s no concrete plan to get back into the world of horror, Spielberg’s staggering cinematic output, which sees him releasing a new film every year or two, could mean that he could develop a frightening film in the coming years.

“I feel a little alarmed to be told I’ve lived a lifetime because I’m not finished. I want to keep working. I want to keep learning and discovering and scaring the sh-t out of myself and sometimes the sh-t out of you,” the filmmaker quipped. “I gotta get back to some of those earlier scary movies but that’s another story for later on.”

While Duel and Jaws might be the only films in his filmography to be classified abjectly as “horror,” a number of his other films have terror in their DNA. Films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and his Jurassic Park films all demonstrate his skills at amplifying tension to keep audiences on edge, relieving that tension with shocks. A key fixture in all Spielberg films, however, is that he blends together drama, humor, suspense, and action to create spectacular experiences that deliver on a number of tones. 

In the early 2000s, Spielberg had a brief return to horror-adjacent experiences, as films like A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and War of the Worlds all explored the realm of horror, but the nature of these narratives tipped further into the realm of sci-fi than Duel or Jaws. With Spielberg also having worked closely with filmmaker Tobe Hooper to bring Poltergeist to life, we couldn’t rule out Spielberg developing a horror movie with a collaborator, even if he doesn’t direct it himself.

Stay tuned for details on Spielberg’s future projects.

Would you like to see Spielberg make another horror movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!