Buzzwords

I swear, I just read about three articles on Blood Disgusting where some producer, director, studio head... whatever... tries describing their new horror film by calling it "elevated horror"...  see they called these films "smart horror" back in 2015, before they had these new, nifty buzzwords for it.

But this is just the latest in a long trend. 

See, back when I attended the (now defunct) PitchFest in Burbank, CA. the big buzzword was "Grounded" horror. I talked about it during my coverage of PitchFest 2015, but basically I decoded what agents, producers and execs were saying thusly: "... by 'grounded horror' I guess they mean a story with a family dynamic or some kind of dysfunctional character (melodrama, basically) where, if you take away the supernatural element, you still have a low-budget film about screwed up people; a story where the horror element is expendable and easily removable, essentially; a horror film that does not focus or rely on the horror…"

See these agents/producers/execs used the buzzword "grounded horror" without giving me a definition or explanation as to what that meant. They did, however, give me examples: It Follows, Babadook and The Conjuring... all movies I hated. 

Anyhow, "grounded horror" is still a bit of a buzzword. 

But others have replaced it now.  

"Folk horror" (which kind of means horror that it tied into folklore and folk tales... but really just describes any period-piece horror film) is big right now... largely due to the work is Robert Eggers.

"Body horror" is also having its first moment without David Cronenberg or Brian Yuzna starting the conversation. This is entirely thanks to the success of The Substance. 

And, finally, "queer horror" is having a moment. Mostly as an outlet for queer filmmakers who grew up on genre films, but for sis straight filmmakers, producers, execs, etc. it is basically a term they throw around to make themselves sound (and feel) very metropolitan and progressive. 

But more than anything studios want "elevated horror".

And what does that mean? 

Sure, it can mean "smart horror"... but really I've taken it to mean "pretentious horror". Horror that pretends not to be horror.

Or a horror film that isn't such a horror film, you know?

Basically a horror film that someone doesn't have to feel ashamed while watching or telling someone that they saw it. 

It, supposedly, speaks to a "higher minded" (they would say "sophisticated"... I'd say "pretentious" yet again) audience.

I suppose A24 are the undisputed "kings" of "elevated horror".

I don't know.

It's all just grandiose, pompous nonsense to me.

But, whatever.

I'll start calling Personal Demons "elevated" or "grounded" horror in meetings and in my cover letter.

I don't care.

Whatever gets me into the door.