Jordan Peele denounces “elevated horror” movies
For many horror fans, Jordan Peele can do no wrong. Ever since his incredible directorial debut, Get Out, Peele has been steadily establishing himself as one of the most interesting artistic voices within the domain of modern horror cinema.
This year, Peele released his latest directorial effort Nope which starred Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who discover an incomprehensible extraterrestrial entity near their ranch. The film received widespread acclaim and strengthened Peele’s already stellar reputation as a filmmaker.
During recent discussions about the current state of the horror genre, many critics have referred to contemporary arthouse horror films as “elevated horror”. Ranging from Peele’s Get Out to Ari Aster’s Hereditary, these films have been clumped under this reductive tag which displays critics’ inherent biases against the horror genre.
In an interview with The Verge, Peele denounced the term and claimed he wanted nothing to do with elevated horror. According to the publication, the director “baulked at the idea of explicitly setting out to make movies that people slap a prestige label onto simply because its subject matter is nuanced.”
Peele explained: “I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to make ‘elevated’ films. I think that’s a trap that I don’t quite appreciate because I, you know, I like making fucked-up films. I like making weird movies that I’m really just not supposed to make — and sometimes challenge people on the other side of things as well.”
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