The "elevated horror" moment

Between roughly 2014 and 2024, horror went from the genre critics dismissed to the one carrying the most weight. Robert Eggers, Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, and most recently Coralie Fargeat made films that work as scares and as serious cinema — about grief, race, gender, ego and the family. The label "elevated horror" is mostly marketing, but the films are real.

Watch in this order

  • Start with Get Out — accessible, sharply written, an instant classic.
  • Then Hereditary — slower, denser, devastating.
  • Then The Witch — patient, period, the one that started Eggers' run.
  • Finish with The Substance — the most physical of the bunch. Eat first.