What remains of Horror in Elevated / Post-Horror?

Abstract

The phrase elevated horror (or post-horror) was coined circa 2014 to define a trend of horror films that, while still intending to scare audiences, strove to display some artistic ambition. Such a label, which has been applied to films ranging from The Babadook (2014) to Long Legs (2024), raises issues about the critical reception and aesthetic appreciation of horror movies. Through an investigation of such categories as ‟art horror” or ‟art cinema”, this paper studies how a certain kind of films, usually disparaged for supposedly targeting and triggering primary affects in the viewer, has managed to acquire an unquestionable social and artistic value. Combining a cultural and an aesthetic approach, it aims to uncover the lasting influence of long-established dichotomies (highbrow vs. lowbrow, art vs. entertainment, cinema vs. movies, authorship vs. genre…) on the construction of pseudo-consensual standards of appreciation, but it also gives evidence that this genre stubbornly resists any attempt to domesticate it.