Art horror or arthouse horror (sometimes called elevated horror)[1][2][3] is a sub-genre of both horror films and art-films. It explores and experiments with the artistic uses of horror.
Characteristics
Art-horror films tend to rely on atmosphere building, psychological character development, cinematic style and philosophical themes for effect – rather than straightforward scares.[4][2][5]
Art-horror films have been described as "a fascinating byproduct of the collision of art and commerce, of genre convention and personal vision".[4] Historically, the genre was loosely related to J-horror and Italian Giallo.[4] In the 2000s, a movement of transgressive films in France known as "New French Extremity" has been described as an arthouse horror film movement.[6]
Although commentators have suggested some horror films have exemplified qualities applicable to "art horror" for many decades, the term became more widely used during the 2010s, with independent film company A24 credited with popularising the genre.[2][3][7] The term "elevated horror" was first used in the early 2010s, and subsequently has been the subject of criticism and debate among film critics as it became more widely used.[8][9][10]
In his book Art-Horror (2023) Adrian Gmelch identifies 4 aspects that can be an orientation for the definition of art-horror (no claim to present a universal definition): (1) Film historical and artistic imprinting, (2) horror as a message vehicle, (3) recurring motifs and stylistic elements as well as (4) unique visual identity and aesthetics.[11]
Notable art horror films
20th century
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)[12]
- Haxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922)[13]
- Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)[12][13]
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)[14]
- M (Fritz Lang, 1931)[14]
- Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)[15][13]
- The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)[12]
- Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)[15]
- The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)[4]
- I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)[15]
- Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1954)
- Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)[12]
- Eyes without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960)[12][13]
- Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)[12]
- The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)[12]
- Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)[12][13]
- Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964)[12]
- Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1965)[12]
- Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)[12]
- Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968)[12][16]
- Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)[16]
- Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)[17]
- Images (Robert Altman, 1972)[4]
- Don't Look Now (Nicloas Roeg, 1973)[12]
- Flesh for Frankenstein (Paul Morrissey, 1973)[13]
- Ganja and Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)[18]
- Sisters (Brian De Palma, 1973)[14][13]
- Blood for Dracula (Paul Morrissey, 1974)[13]
- Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)[13]
- Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)[12][13]
- Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977)[19]
- Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)[12][13]
- Hausu (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977)[12][13]
- The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)[14][13]
- The Driller Killer (Abel Ferrara, 1979)[20][21]
- Vengeance Is Mine (Shōhei Imamura, 1979)[14]
- Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979)[22]
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)[12]
- Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981)[4]
- Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)[23]
- The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983) [24][25]
- Wicked City (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1987)[26]
- The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1988)[14][13]
- Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne, 1990)[27]
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992)[14]
- Cronos (Guillermo del Toro, 1993)[14][13]
- Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)[28]
- Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)[14]
- Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997)[29]
- Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)[4]
21st century
- The Devil's Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)[30]
- Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)[13]
- Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)[12]
- Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)[16]
- High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003)[6]
- Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)[31]
- Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)[12]
- Frontier(s) (Xavier Gens, 2007)[6]
- Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)[6]
- Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)[32]
- Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009)[33]
- Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)[34][13]
- Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)[35]
- Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2010)[36]
- A Field in England, (Ben Wheatley, 2013)[12]
- Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)[37]
- Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)[4]
- Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)[4]
- The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)[38]
- Goodnight Mommy (Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, 2014)
- It Follows (David Robert Mitchell), 2014)[39]
- Evolution (Lucile Hadžihalilović, 2015)
- The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2015)[13]
- The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)[2]
- The Neon Demon (Nicholas Winding Refn, 2016)[37]
- Shin Godzilla (Hideaki Anno, 2016)[40]
- Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016)[41]
- Kizumonogatari (Tatsuya Oishi, 2016)[42]
- Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017)[37]
- Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)[43]
- It Comes at Night (Trey Edward Shults, 2017)[44]
- The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)[45]
- One Cut of the Dead (Shin'ichirō Ueda, 2017)[46]
- Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018)[47]
- A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018)[9]
- Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018)[48]
- Climax (Gaspar Noé, 2018)[49]
- The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier, 2018)[50]
- Possum (Matthew Holness, 2018)[51]
- Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino, 2018)[17][52]
- Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018)[53]
- The Wolf House ( Cristobal León & Joaquín Cociña, 2018)[54]
- Us (Jordan Peele, 2019)[55]
- Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)[2][56]
- The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019)[33]
- Saint Maud (Rose Glass, 2019)[1]
- Roh (Emir Ezwan, 2019)[57]
- Relic (Natalie Erika James, 2020)[1]
- Friend of the World (Brian Patrick Butler, 2020)[58]
- Cryptozoo (Dash Shaw, 2021)[59]
- Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (Kevin Kopacka, 2021)[60]
- Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson, 2021)[61]
- We're All Going to the World's Fair (Jane Schoenbrun, 2021)[62]
- Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021)[63]
- Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022)[64]
- The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022)[65]
- Men (Alex Garland, 2022)[66]
- Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball, 2022)[67]
- Talk to Me (RackaRacka, 2022)[68]
- Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023)[69]
- I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024)[70]
- The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)
Notable directors
- Alexandre Aja[6]
- Joko Anwar[71][72]
- Dario Argento[15][13][16]
- Ari Aster[11][37][56]
- Mario Bava[15]
- Ingmar Bergman[16]
- Panos Cosmatos[36]
- David Cronenberg[14][31][16]
- Brian de Palma[16]
- Guillermo del Toro[14][12][16]
- Claire Denis[16]
- Julia Ducournau[41]
- Robert Eggers[2][11][73]
- Abel Ferrara[74]
- Georges Franju[13]
- Michael Haneke[14]
- Herk Harvey[14][16]
- Werner Herzog[4]
- Alfred Hitchcock[12][14]
- Richard Kelly[16]
- Stanley Kubrick[15]
- David Lynch[16][13]
- Takashi Miike[4]
- Paul Morrissey[16]
- Jordan Peele[75]
- Oz Perkins[11]
- Roman Polanski[12][17]
- Nicholas Roeg[76]
- George A. Romero[16]
- Jacques Tourneur[4]
- Marina de Van[6]
- Lars von Trier[77][16]
- Peter Weir[16]
See also
References
Further reading
External links
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