Jordan Downey

Jordan Downey (born May 16, 1986, in Newark, Ohio) is an American writer-director known for lean, atmospheric genre filmmaking that blends horror, fantasy, and dark humor. Raised in Ohio, he relocated to Los Angeles at 18 to study film at Loyola Marymount University, where he began building industry experience through an internship with Midnight Pictures, the production company co-founded by Wes Craven.

Downey broke out with the cult horror-comedy ThanksKilling, a calling card that showcased his taste for bold concepts and economical storytelling. He also appears in the franchise as the voice of Turkie and in multiple roles in ThanksKilling 3, alongside additional screen credits including uncredited parts in Critters: Bounty Hunter and Day of the Dead 2: Contagium.

Wider recognition followed with the medieval thriller The Head Hunter, which earned festival awards and helped spotlight actor Christopher Rygh with multiple Best Actor wins. Downey later expanded his profile with Stork, his segment in the Critics Choice Award–nominated anthology V/H/S/Beyond.

Continuing to scale up, Downey’s biggest film to date, The Cycle (starring Deborah Ann Woll and Jeffrey Donovan), is set for release via IFC Films and Shudder in 2026. His sci-fi survival thriller Oversear stars Maria Bakalova and Frank Grillo, reinforcing his ongoing fascination with ambitious worlds, heightened emotion, and the stranger edges of genre cinema.