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Since the early days of film, horrors greatest strength has been its intimacy.
These works put a premium on mood and detail, with few jump scares or none at all.
They are defined by a more dramatic sense of unease roiling throughout the film rather than wall-to-wall gore.
As horror hasgrown in scope, though, the mainstream conversation around the genre has narrowed.
A common complaint about the 2016, grimly construed period pieceThe Witchwas that it was not scary enough.
Filmmakers and stars have also distanced themselves from the genre.
This phenomenon isnt new it has ebbed and flowed through the history of the genre.
Powell resolutely claimedPeeping Tomwasnt horror but a film of compassion, of observation, and of memory, yes!
Its a film about the cinema from 1900 to 1960.
But recently, horror has attracted prestige more consistently, particularly since Jordan Peeles megasuccessGet Out.
Perhaps this collision of so-called high and low culture is what leads to this distancing effect.
And one of the driving forces behind this infuriating dialogue is the difficulty in defining horror as a genre.
How does fear shape the lives of these characters?
