Chris Peckover (born 1981 or 1982) is an Australian Canadian filmmaker best known for the

horror films Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

'' Undocumented'' and ''

Better Watch Out ''Better Watch Out'' (formerly titled ''Safe Neighborhood'') is a 2016 Christmas psychological horror film directed by Chris Peckover, from a script he co-wrote with Zack Kahn. It stars Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller and Ed Oxenbould. The film ...

''.

Early life

Peckover was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and holds

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

in Canada and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

as his mother is Australian. He was raised in

Rockwall, Texas Rockwall is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the County seat, seat of Rockwall County, Texas, Rockwall County. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that as of 2023, Rockwall's population is 52,918, up from 47,251 in the 2020 census. The name Roc ...

Education

Peckover attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he initially intended to study psychology as a

pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

student before switching to a film studies major. He later graduated from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Career

A year after graduating from the University of Southern California, Peckover sold the script to his first feature film, '' Undocumented''. The finished project was released in 2010. Peckover's second feature, the holiday horror film ''

'', was released in 2016.

Personal life

Peckover identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peckover, Chris 1980s births Canadian people of Australian descent People from Rockwall, Texas Living people Yale University alumni University of Southern California alumni LGBTQ people from Texas Canadian LGBTQ film directors 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Film directors from Montreal Canadian horror film directors