The New Director of Under Paris 2 Has Already Made Four Horror Classics
Netflix has officially announced that Under Paris 2 is in production, with Alexandre Aja stepping in as director.
If you’ve seen his work, this is a very good sign.
Aja has built a filmography that balances brutal horror, tension, and just enough chaos to keep things fun when they need to be. Here are four films that show exactly why he’s the right choice for the next chapter.
High Tension (2003)
Going in release order, High Tension is where we’ll start, even if it’s probably my least favorite of the four, BUT there’s still a lot to like here.
As the name suggests, this movie is built on tension. It features some genuinely intense sequences, strong chase scenes, and some very gruesome practical effects.
The story follows a home invasion in rural France that spirals into murder and kidnapping, as a killer tears through a family and abducts the lone survivor. From there, it becomes a pursuit, with her friend chasing them down as the body count rises.
It’s great filmmaking throughout, but there’s a twist at the end that really risks ruining the entire experience so be warned about that. It can also be pretty grotesque at parts.
Still, it’s an early showcase of what Aja can do behind the camera.
If you want to check it out, you can find it here.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Three years later, Aja released The Hills Have Eyes, a remake of the The Hills Have Eyes from Wes Craven.
The bar for this one was incredibly high.
It landed right in the middle of the mid-2000s remake wave, where just about every horror classic was getting revisited with mixed results. This is one of the rare ones that absolutely works.
The original introduced an inventive premise with an iconic group of characters and villains, including Michael Berryman as Pluto.
This version builds on that foundation and takes things further.
It leans harder into the brutality, pushes the tension further, and makes the threat feel much more immediate. The setting itself becomes part of the horror, expanded into something that feels almost like a live-action version of Nuketown.
The cast is stacked, including Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Emilie de Ravin, and Aaron Stanford, along with a redesigned and memorable set of villains that stand on their own.
And yeah, this might be blasphemous, but I actually like the remake more.
Now that both versions exist, this is the one I tend to go back to. You can’t really talk about desert horror without it.
And it also gives us Beast, one of the best dog characters in horror. As a German Shepherd owner, I appreciate that.
This is one I come back to often. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here.
Piranha 3D (2010)
Then there’s Piranha 3D.
This one is just a blast.
From start to finish, you can tell everyone involved is having fun with it. It leans fully into the mayhem, the gore, and the absurdity.
The cast alone is wild, featuring Richard Dreyfuss, Elizabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, Jerry O'Connell, Eli Roth, Dina Meyer, and more.
The setup is simple: an earthquake unleashes swarms of man-eating fish into a national park lake packed with partygoers.
What follows is exactly what you’d expect: over-the-top chaos.
The effects aren’t trying to be realistic, and that’s kind of the point. It’s full-on gross-out, anything-goes horror, and it works because it commits to that tone completely.
This is the kind of movie you throw on with a group of friends and just enjoy.
If that sounds like your kind of movie night, you can find it here.
Crawl (2019)
Finally, there’s Crawl.
This might be the best showcase of Aja’s ability to balance tension and accessibility.
The story follows a woman returning home during a hurricane to check on her father, played by Barry Pepper, only to find herself trapped in a flooded house with alligators closing in.
It’s simple, contained, and incredibly effective.
The film is packed with tense sequences and just enough side characters to keep the stakes high and the carnage coming.
It’s also been greenlit for a sequel, which Aja is expected to return for, further proving how well this one landed.
If you’re into tight, tension-driven creature horror, this is absolutely worth checking out here in glorious 4K!
Why This Matters for Under Paris 2
If you’ve seen Under Paris, you know it’s a shark movie that leans hard into tension and actually turned out to be one of my favorite shark movies of recent memory.
I actually talked about that one in a podcast episode, Our Favorite Shark Movies with Under Paris Review, if you want to hear more about it.
With Aja stepping in, you’re getting a director who:
Knows how to build tension
Understands creature horror
Isn’t afraid to push things into chaos when it works
That’s exactly what this kind of sequel needs.
Final Thoughts
If this lineup is any indication, Under Paris 2 is in very good hands.
Aja has shown he can handle brutal horror, high-concept setups, and pure, chaotic fun.
This next film could end up being something really special if it hits that same balance.
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