James Wan doesn’t believe in the term “elevated horror”

Marketing departments and press release writers have been trying hard in recent years to get the public to latch on to the term “elevated horror”. This term has been heard so much lately, it was even referenced in last year’s Scream sequel, where a snooty character said she preferred “elevated horror” because “it’s scary but with complex emotional
and thematic underpinnings.” But the term has had trouble catching on because a lot of horror fans find it to be insulting to the overall genre. As Joe Bob Briggs said, “Elevated horror is a term used by people who hate horror to describe horror films that they like.” John Carpenter has no interest in it, saying, “I don’t know what that term means.” And now James Wan, who has directed and/or produced some of the most popular horror films of the last twenty years, has said that he doesn’t believe in the term “elevated horror”.

Speaking with SlashFilm, Wan said, “I don’t believe in that term elevated horror, because I think every horror is elevated, as far as you ask me. So I love the Robert Wise’s The Haunting all the way down to whatever. To me, there’s none of this [elitism]. They’re all at the same level.“

To prove his point, Wan mentioned Chopping Mall and Night of the Creeps as a couple of favorites that he would love to remake.

I have to agree with both Wan and Joe Bob on this one. I hate the term “elevated horror”. Horror has always had its complex emotional films, its films with cultural relevance, its jump scare movies, and its goofball movies. Horror is a lot of different things, and putting down the genre by calling a movie “elevated” doesn’t make it any more special or important than any other horror movie out there. It just makes it sound pretentious.

What are your thoughts on the term “elevated horror”? Do you think its meaningful or nonsensical? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Wan’s most recent film is the sci-fi thriller M3GAN (read our review HERE), which he produced after coming up with the story idea. M3GAN is in theatres now.