What is elevated horror and why do filmmakers hate the term?
In the 2010s, a new term began to be attached to movies from the horror genre. Suddenly, critically acclaimed films like Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Ari Aster’s Hereditary, and Robert Eggers’ The Witch were dubbed “elevated horror.” To many observers, it seemed to be a function of critics and audiences trying to parse what made these films more thematically rich and artistically challenging than most gore-soaked scary flicks.
However, over time, filmmakers began to distance themselves from the label, and some critics also wrote long diatribes arguing that introducing different levels of “importance” to the genre is actually a bad thing. These critics also contended that horror has always tackled relevant cultural and societal topics through a frightening lens, and the idea that this only began happening recently was offensive to the filmmakers and creatives who came before.
Interestingly, the term “elevated horror” rose to prominence at the same time as A24, the independent arthouse studio behind Everything Everywhere All At Once, Uncut Gems, and Moonlight. Alongside these unique pictures, A24 built much of its reputation on releasing horror films from independent filmmakers that tackled themes of race, trauma, abuse, and sexism.
Films like Midsommar, Saint Maud, It Comes At Night, Men, and Talk to Me were all compellingly new, original movies that aspired to prompt discussion as much as they made an audience shriek in fear. However, the term “elevated horror” definitely stuck most tightly to Get Out, which rode its new designation all the way to Oscar glory. However, its director didn’t like the implication that his films were somehow better or more worthy than the majority of the genre.
“I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to make ‘elevated’ films,” Peele told The Verge. “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.”
Similarly, Censor director Prano Bailey-Bond took issue with the term because it seemed to imply that the horror genre had never dealt with complicated issues before. She told Far Out, “There’s something quite snobby about the term ‘elevated horror’. Horror has always been the genre that’s gone to the difficult places and been tackling complicated psychological or sociological ideas.”
What makes elevated horror movies different?
In truth, there is no official definition of what is and isn’t an “elevated” horror film. It came along during a time in which several horror films were released that had a more leftfield approach than a typical studio-driven slasher, ghost story, or monster movie. It just so happened that the movie landscape and our real-world concerns were more ready to give these movies mainstream attention than ever before.
Consequently, perhaps critics and audiences who mightn’t have previously gravitated to the genre were drawn in. Maybe they felt the need to separate these films from the rest of the pack because they believe most horror films are trashy or low-rent. In this way, Bailey-Bond is 100% correct: “elevated horror” is a snobby term.
Overall, the reason so many filmmakers hate being associated with “elevated horror” is that it’s an elitist term that doesn’t mean anything. You only need to look back at movies like Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, and Jacob’s Ladder to see that horror has always included entries made in an arthouse style. There isn’t any difference between a horror movie and an elevated horror movie. It’s simply a case of some horror movies being good and having something to say, while others are just the opposite – not unlike every other genre of storytelling.
