Elevated Horror
From about 2014, horror started being discussed under directors' names. The Babadook, The Witch, Get Out, Hereditary, Midsommar. Less that the frightening had changed than what it was for: loss, race, family, community. Jordan Peele has explained that Get Out says about race what Rosemary's Baby said about gender. It was made for $4.5 million, took over $255 million, and won him the screenplay Oscar — the first Black winner in that category.
Here is the thing I most want on this page. The filmmakers dislike the name 'elevated horror', and the ones held up as its examples dislike it most. Ari Aster: I hate the term, especially because it is a sort of box I was put in and horror fans took umbrage. I never coined that phrase, I never used that phrase, and even when it was thrown at me, I bristled. Jordan Peele: I don't want people to think I'm trying to make 'elevated' films — that's a trap, I like making messed-up films. Jennifer Kent: it doesn't make sense to me; I don't think I invented anything new, I just told my version. 'Elevated' says other horror sits below it. This map has told the story of names arriving from outside and after several times — noir, the New Wave, the blockbuster, the documentary, jidaigeki, J-horror. This is the next one, and probably the only one where the people being named have spoken up. So the name of this node is borrowed, and I know it.
One more thing: the generational split is probably wrong too. In December 2014, William Friedkin, who directed The Exorcist, wrote that he had never seen a more terrifying film than The Babadook, and that it would scare the hell out of you as it did him. That was before A24 made the wave. The man at the summit of the older generation found it first.