Aja acted at a very young age in minor roles in his father's films such as '
, and the two ' films. He made his directorial debut at the age of eighteen with the short film
Over the Rainbow, which received a
Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm Award nomination for best short film. In 1999 he directed
Furia, a film based on
Julio Cortázar's short story
Graffiti. From
Furia and his next features, he frequently works with
Grégory Levasseur as writers such as in
The Hills Have Eyes,
Mirrors,
P2, and
Piranha 3D. Levasseur also made his works as production designer too. Aja directed
Haute Tension, which released in 2003 in France and in 2005 in the US, and placed Aja on the map of the
horror movie genre. The French slasher, though sticking to horror conventions, pushed the envelope of gore and tension. The film is an unauthorized reinterpretation of the novel "
Intensity", by
Dean Koontz. Favouring make-up effects over computer-generated imagery, the film quickly found respect among horror fans. It was released in the US as
High Tension, after some editing. The film was nominated for the grand prize at the
Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, and earned Aja awards for Best Direction and Best Fantasy Film at the
Sitges Film Festival. After seeing
High Tension, American director
Wes Craven asked Aja to come up with a concept for the remake of his 1977 film
The Hills Have Eyes. Craven subsequently asked Aja to direct the movie, which was released with an R rating in the US after extensive editing. His next project was a horror film entitled
Mirrors, about a mysterious mirror that brings out the worst aspects of people whenever they look at themselves in it. The film is a remake of the
K-Horror film
Into the Mirror. Aja directed
Piranha 3D, a horror movie about prehistoric piranhas in Arizona. It is a remake of the 1978 film
Piranha. Because Aja was working on
Mirrors, he did not direct
The Hills Have Eyes 2, which was released on 10 March 2007. In 2004, Aja was named by
Variety on the Ten Directors to Watch list. He is a member of the so-called
Splat Pack, a term coined by film historian
Alan Jones in
Total Film magazine for a new wave of directors making brutally violent horror films. The other Splat Pack members are
Darren Lynn Bousman,
Neil Marshall,
Greg McLean,
Eli Roth,
James Wan,
Leigh Whannell, and
Rob Zombie. Aja has been associated with the
New French Extremity film movement. Aja produced
a remake of the 1980 horror slasher
Maniac, starring
Elijah Wood. The film was released in 2012. In 2013, he directed the dark fantasy thriller
Horns, starring
Daniel Radcliffe,
Juno Temple,
Joe Anderson,
James Remar,
Kelli Garner and
Max Minghella. He also produced the 2014 horror film
The Pyramid directed by
Grégory Levasseur and starring
Ashley Hinshaw,
Denis O'Hare, and
James Buckley. Aja produced and directed the 2016 psychological thriller film
The 9th Life of Louis Drax, which is based on a novel by
Liz Jensen. Aja is set to direct a live action adaptation of the manga series
Space Adventure Cobra, and the
Mice and Mystics film for
DreamWorks Animation. In 2019, Alexandre Aja directed his highest grossing and best-reviewed film yet,
Crawl. On February 6, 2026, it was announced that Aja will direct the sequel to the action horror film
Under Paris for
Netflix. On February 13, 2026, it was announced that Aja will co-write the horror film adaptation of
Dead by Daylight with
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick for
Blumhouse Productions,
Atomic Monster and
Behaviour Interactive. ==Filmography==