Hot Takes on Horror - Elevated Horror
by Elizabeth Trail
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Introduction
Over the past decade the term “Elevated Horror” has come to prominence. It is intended to be a label for a subgenre of horror, often stated to contain movies like Hereditary (2017), It Follows (2014), and The VVitch (2015). The actual definition of the subgenre is incredibly inconsistent, but after asking friends how they would define it, I got something like this:
Elevated horror is a subgenre of horror focused on the psychology of its characters and its themes with little emphasis on jump scares, sex, and gore.
I intend to display why I view this to be insulting to the horror genre as a whole, and inaccurate to the movies it is intended and used to describe.
The Babadook (2014)
The Babadook (2014)
The Babadook is great. It is viscerally uncomfortable, deeply disturbing, and deserving of its high regard. The film is focused on a single mother and her son, going into depth on the societal and internal pressures they are experiencing. It is one of the films most pointed towards when referring to elevated horror, but I would consider the generic definition to be inaccurate.
The movie has several effective jump scares and is quite violent. The movie's themes and message about parenting, abuse, and neurodivergence are well tackled, as well as being very easy to understand. I believe the obvious themes lead the movie to be treated better by people who ignore the horror genre, likely being one of the few horror movies in which they've seen these themes. The Babadook is a great film, but does not separate itself from other supernatural and psychological horror films to be put into a new subgenre of “Elevated Horror”.
The film is outstanding, although, I would warn prospective viewers of disturbing content about abuse and trauma. The acting, writing, and pacing are incredible, it has a surreal visual style, and great cinematography. I would give it a rating of 8/10.
Midsommar (2019)
Midsommar (2019)
Midsommar is a masterpiece. It has outstanding acting, art direction, writing, and cinematography. It is an in-depth analysis of its central character, but also excellently fleshes out every character in the story. Outside of its characters, it excellently shines a light on our culture, through the lens of the commune, and skillfully depicts the commune itself.
Midsommar is brutally, but not comically, violent, more than most other films I’ve seen. Its bright and sunny art direction makes the violence consistently hit hard, even when you expect it. It is also graphically sexual, but those elements are used to develop the plot, characters, and themes. All of this is contrary to the popular idea of “elevated horror”, with the sex and violence frequently being used to push forward the film’s criticisms of toxic masculinity and our non-confrontational culture.
I cannot recommend Midsommar enough, after watching the film it has quickly become a personal favorite. It is outstanding, with literally every element being absolutely outstanding. I cannot give it anything other than an impeccable 10/10
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a classic. It has deep political themes, criticizing conservative institutions and the rot of American, specifically Texan, culture. The movie is focused on a group of kids going to their property in Texas and stumbling upon a family of cannibals, who proceed to pick them off one by one. The family all fulfill roles in the nuclear family (in the case of Leatherface, multiple), which are used to criticize and parody dominant American culture.
This film is much less explicitly violent than the other two, but it excellently makes you imagine what could be happening, using its low budget to make “effects” which feel just as real as many a higher budget film. The psychology of the cannibalistic family is primarily from an outside perspective, but is still well developed, showing how they think and interact with each other. Thematically it is just as resonant as the other two, with focus on the nature of fear, random acts of violence, and the rot of the nuclear family.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a movie which I highly recommend. The movie has outstanding acting, makeup, cinematography, and writing. It succeeds in almost every regard, deserving the same rating as Midsommar, a 10/10.
Conclusion
Despite what I described in the section above, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is not considered “elevated horror”. The main and obvious reason is that it came out long before Midsommar and Babadook. That idea is reasonable, but it brings up the question of what is “Elevated Horror” elevated above?
Yes, there are bad horror movies, but there are also bad films from every single genre! There are plenty of incredible horror movies from plenty of points in time, from Halloween to The Birds. But what about more extreme violence than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Is that what elevated horror is supposed to be above? And, why would that be an improvement? Violence does not inherently make a film worse, only making a film worse when handled poorly. Films like Hostel poorly handle its violence, while films like Nightmare on Elm Street handle it excellently. This follows through on almost everything that one could bring up as being “Elevated”. No, not everyone will love horror, and no, not everyone will enjoy violent horror, but that does not make the film worse, and it does not mean the movies that are either less violent, or violent in a way you can handle, are elevated above the rest of the genre.
The only significant connection between “Elevated Horror” films is generally positive reception among critics, and having come out since 2014.
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