Art horror

Art horror or arthouse horror (sometimes called elevated horror) is a sub-genre of both horror films and art films. It explores and experiments with the artistic uses of horror.^[1]^[2]^[3]

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]

History

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]

Defining Art-Horror

In his book Art-Horror (2023) Adrian Gmelch identifies 4 aspects that can be an orientation for the definition of art-horror:^[11]

(1) Film historical and artistic imprinting,
(2) horror as a message vehicle,
(3) recurring motifs and stylistic elements, and
(4) unique visual identity and aesthetics.

Notable art horror films

20th century

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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]
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, 1964)^[12]
Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)^[12]
Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1965)^[16]
Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968)^[12]^[17]
Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)^[17]
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)^[18]
Images (Robert Altman, 1972)^[4]
Sisters (Brian De Palma, 1972)^[14]^[13]
Ganja and Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)^[19]
Don't Look Now (Nicloas Roeg, 1973)^[12]
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)^[20]
Flesh for Frankenstein (Paul Morrissey, 1973)^[13]
The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)^[21]
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)^[22]
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)^[23]^[24]
Vengeance Is Mine (Shōhei Imamura, 1979)^[14]
Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979)^[25]
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)^[12]
Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981)^[4]
Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)^[26]
The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983) ^[27]^[28]
Wicked City (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1987)^[29]
Angel Heart (Alan Parker, 1987)^[30]^[31]
The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1988)^[14]^[13]
Santa Sangre (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1989)^[9]
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989)^[32]
Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne, 1990)^[33]
Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991)^[32]
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992)^[14]
Cronos (Guillermo del Toro, 1993)^[14]^[13]
Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)^[34]
Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)^[14]
Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997)^[35]
Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)^[4]^[32]

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21st century

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The Devil's Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)^[36]
Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)^[13]
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)^[12]
Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)^[17]
High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003)^[6]
The Host (Bong Joon Ho, 2006)^[37]
Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)^[12]
Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)^[38]
Frontier(s) (Xavier Gens, 2007)^[6]
Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)^[6]
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)^[39]
Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009)^[40]
Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)^[41]^[13]
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)^[42]
Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2010)^[43]
A Field in England (Ben Wheatley, 2013)^[12]
Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)^[44]
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)^[4]
Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)^[4]
The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)^[45]
It Follows (David Robert Mitchell), 2014)^[46]
The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2015)^[13]
The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)^[2]
The Neon Demon (Nicholas Winding Refn, 2016)^[44]
Shin Godzilla (Hideaki Anno, 2016)^[47]
Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016)^[48]
Kizumonogatari (Tatsuya Oishi, 2016)^[49]
Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017)^[44]
Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)^[50]
It Comes at Night (Trey Edward Shults, 2017)^[51]
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)^[52]
One Cut of the Dead (Shin'ichirō Ueda, 2017)^[53]
Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018)^[54]
Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018)^[55]
Climax (Gaspar Noé, 2018)^[56]
The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier, 2018)^[57]
Possum (Matthew Holness, 2018)^[58]
Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino, 2018)^[18]^[59]
Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018)^[60]
The Wolf House (Cristobal León & Joaquín Cociña, 2018)^[61]
Us (Jordan Peele, 2019)^[62]
Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)^[2]^[63]
The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019)^[40]
Saint Maud (Rose Glass, 2019)^[1]
The Platform (Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, 2019)^[64]
Roh (Emir Ezwan, 2019)^[65]
Relic (Natalie Erika James, 2020)^[1]
Friend of the World (Brian Patrick Butler, 2020)^[66]
Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (Kevin Kopacka, 2021)^[67]
Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson, 2021)^[68]
We're All Going to the World's Fair (Jane Schoenbrun, 2021)^[69]
Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021)^[70]
Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022)^[71]
Barbarian (Zach Cregger, 2022)^[72]
The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022)^[73]
Men (Alex Garland, 2022)^[74]
Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball, 2022)^[75]
Talk to Me (Danny and Michael Philippou, 2022)^[76]
Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023)^[77]
I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024)^[78]
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)^[79]
Longlegs (Oz Perkins, 2024)^[80]
Heretic (Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, 2024)^[81]
Nosferatu (Robert Eggers, 2024)^[82]

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Notable directors

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References

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External links

Template:Horror film Template:Film genres Template:Horror fiction

This article incorporates text from the Wikipedia article "Art horror", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.Retrieved 2026-02-25.

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[5] 10 Best Arthouse Horror Movies, Ranked - Taste of Cinema

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[10] Why Elevated Horror Is an Unnecessary and Elitist Term – Horror Obsessive

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[23] The Driller Killer – Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings – TV Guide

[24] The Driller Killer – Enzian Theater

[25] 11 Art-House Horror Movie To Watch This Halloween Instead Of The Typical Slashers – HuffPost

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[27] Cut by Cut: Parallel Editing in The Hunger (1983) – Horror Movie Reviews – Horror Movieroom

[28] THE HUNGER (1983) – Horror Cult Films

[29] 10 of the Best Asian Arthouse Horror Movies For a Visually Terrifying Halloween|Collider

[30] “I Know Who I Am!”: The Shifting Identities of ‘Angel Heart’

[31] The Artistic Triumph of Sir Alan Parker’s Still Beating ‘Angel Heart’

[watchafterthesubstance-32] 32.0 ^32.1 ^32.2 6 Arthouse Body Horror Films to Watch After 'The Substance' – Bloody Disgusting

[33] The strange, surprising legacy of Jacob’s Ladder — Little White Lies

[34] Pulling Focus: Safe (1995) — Taste of Cinema

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[36] Scary Stories for the Thinking Man – The Austin Chronicle

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[themanual.com-38] 38.0 ^38.1 The 10 Best Arthouse Horror Films to Stream | The Manual

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[42] In 2010, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan Turned Art into Beautiful, Genuine Terror – Consequence of Sound

[joblo.com-43] 43.0 ^43.1 Trippy horror/fantasy Beyond the Black Rainbow gets DVD/Blu-ray release date – JoBlo

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[51] It Comes at Night Shows the Subtle Art of New Horror Films – Time Magazine

[52] ‘Killing of a Sacred Deer’ Review: Arthouse Thriller Would Make Kubrick Proud – Rolling Stone

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[56] Climax (2018): Bringing New Life to the Horror Genre – Medium

[57] Beyond the Arthouse Bait-and-Switch of Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built’, the Director’s Cut – Frieze

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[july2021-61] The Criterion Channel's July 2021 Lineup|The Current|The Criterion Collection

[62] “It's Our Time Now”: The Aesthetics of Horror in Jordan Peele’s Us – The Brooklyn Rail

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[76] 'Talk to Me' Is a Thrillingly Weird Horror-Movie Debut From A24 – Rolling Stone

[77] Beau is Afraid a blood-curdling work of art. Joaquin Phoenix elevates horror to new heights – ThePrint

[78] 'I Saw the TV Glow' review: Queer horror has a new arthouse masterpiece – Mashable

[79] Best Movie Moments of 2024, According to IndieWire's Staff

[80] Longlegs review: Art and anxiety! Horror Os-Good as it gets? – Beyond Bollywood

[81] Heretic review – religious horror with a suave, dapper and evil Hugh Grant – The Guardian

[82] ‘Nosferatu’ Review: Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp Are Riveting, but Director Robert Eggers Rules This Haute-Horror Feast – The Hollywood Reporter

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Art horror

Characteristics

History

Defining Art-Horror

Notable art horror films

20th century

21st century

Notable directors

See also

References

Further reading

External links