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.
Characteristics Art-horror films tend to rely on atmosphere building, psychological character development, cinematic style and philosophical themes for effect – rather than straightforward scares.10 Best Arthouse Horror Movies, Ranked - Taste of Cinema
History Art-horror films have been described as "a fascinating byproduct of the collision of art and commerce, of genre convention and personal vision". Historically, the genre was loosely related to J-horror and Italian Giallo. In the 2000s, a movement of transgressive films in France known as "New French Extremity" has been described as an arthouse horror film movement.
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.Best Horror Movies – 100 Scary Movies To Watch Now, Ranked By... Time Out 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.Why Elevated Horror Is an Unnecessary and Elitist Term – Horror Obsessive
Definition In his book Art-Horror (2023) Adrian Gmelch identifies 4 aspects that can be an orientation for the definition of art-horror: (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
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920) Haxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922) Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922) The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) M (Fritz Lang, 1931) Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932) The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942) The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960) Eyes without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960) Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)The Criterion Channel's October 2023 Lineup|Current|The Criterion Collection Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964) Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964) Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965) Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1965) Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968) Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968) Images (Robert Altman, 1972) Sisters (Brian De Palma, 1972) Ganja and Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973) Don't Look Now (Nicloas Roeg, 1973) The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) Flesh for Frankenstein (Paul Morrissey, 1973) The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973) Blood for Dracula (Paul Morrissey, 1974) Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975) The Tenant (Roman Polanski, 1976) Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman, 1977)Boorman and the Devil (2026)|Swampflix Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977) Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) House (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977) The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979) The Driller Killer (Abel Ferrara, 1979)The Driller Killer” (1979): Grindhouse, Arthouse, & Rock ‘n’ Roll Combine in Abel Ferrara’s Feature Debut – Gruesome Magazine Vengeance Is Mine (Shōhei Imamura, 1979) Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979)11 Art-House Horror Movie To Watch This Halloween Instead Of The Typical Slashers – HuffPost The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981) Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983) The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983)Cut by Cut: Parallel Editing in The Hunger (1983) – Horror Movie Reviews – Horror MovieroomTHE HUNGER (1983) – Horror Cult Films Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (John McNaughton, 1986) Trailer Trauma 3: 80s Horrorthon Wicked City (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1987)10 of the Best Asian Arthouse Horror Movies For a Visually Terrifying Halloween|Collider Angel Heart (Alan Parker, 1987)“I Know Who I Am!”: The Shifting Identities of ‘Angel Heart’The Artistic Triumph of Sir Alan Parker’s Still Beating ‘Angel Heart’ The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1988) Santa Sangre (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1989) Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989) Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne, 1990)The strange, surprising legacy of Jacob’s Ladder — Little White Lies Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991)6 Arthouse Body Horror Films to Watch After 'The Substance' – Bloody Disgusting The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992) Cronos (Guillermo del Toro, 1993) Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995) The Addiction (Abel Ferrara, 1995) Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997) Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997) Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)
21st century
The Devil's Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001) Scary Stories for the Thinking Man – The Austin Chronicle Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001) Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001) High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003) The Host (Bong Joon Ho, 2006) Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006) Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)The 10 Best Arthouse Horror Films to Stream | The Manual Frontier(s) (Xavier Gens, 2007) Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008) Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009) Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009) Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010) In 2010, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan Turned Art into Beautiful, Genuine Terror – Consequence of Sound Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2010)Trippy horror/fantasy Beyond the Black Rainbow gets DVD/Blu-ray release date – JoBlo A Field in England (Ben Wheatley, 2013) Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013) Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013) Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, 2013) The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) It Follows (David Robert Mitchell), 2014)'It Follows' Box Office: How Indie Horror Film Became Cult Sensation – Deadline The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2015) The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015) The Neon Demon (Nicholas Winding Refn, 2016) The Love Witch (Anna Biller, 2016) Shin Godzilla (Hideaki Anno, 2016) Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016) Kizumonogatari (Tatsuya Oishi, 2016) Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017) Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017) It Comes at Night (Trey Edward Shults, 2017) It Comes at Night Shows the Subtle Art of New Horror Films – Time Magazine The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017) ‘Killing of a Sacred Deer’ Review: Arthouse Thriller Would Make Kubrick Proud – Rolling Stone One Cut of the Dead (Shin'ichirō Ueda, 2017) Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018) A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018) Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018) Climax (Gaspar Noé, 2018) Climax (2018): Bringing New Life to the Horror Genre – Medium The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier, 2018) Beyond the Arthouse Bait-and-Switch of Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built’, the Director’s Cut – Frieze Possum (Matthew Holness, 2018) Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino, 2018) Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018) The Wolf House (Cristobal León & Joaquín Cociña, 2018)The Criterion Channel's July 2021 Lineup|The Current|The Criterion Collection Us (Jordan Peele, 2019) “It's Our Time Now”: The Aesthetics of Horror in Jordan Peele’s Us – The Brooklyn Rail Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019) The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019) Saint Maud (Rose Glass, 2019) The Platform (Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, 2019) Roh (Emir Ezwan, 2019) Relic (Natalie Erika James, 2020) Friend of the World (Brian Patrick Butler, 2020) Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (Kevin Kopacka, 2021) Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson, 2021) We're All Going to the World's Fair (Jane Schoenbrun, 2021) Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021) Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022) Barbarian (Zach Cregger, 2022) The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022) Men (Alex Garland, 2022) Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball, 2022) Talk to Me (Danny and Michael Philippou, 2022) 'Talk to Me' Is a Thrillingly Weird Horror-Movie Debut From A24 – Rolling Stone Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023) Beau is Afraid a blood-curdling work of art. Joaquin Phoenix elevates horror to new heights – ThePrint Emesis Blue (Chad Payne, 2023)Mercs and Mortality: Emesis Blue, a Fan-Made Team Fortress 2 Horror Flick Late Night with the Devil (Colin and Cameron Cairnes, 2023)David Dastmalchian on Late Night With the Devil: Interview|Consequence I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024) 'I Saw the TV Glow' review: Queer horror has a new arthouse masterpiece – Mashable The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)Best Movie Moments of 2024, According to IndieWire's Staff Longlegs (Oz Perkins, 2024)Longlegs review: Art and anxiety! Horror Os-Good as it gets? – Beyond Bollywood Heretic (Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, 2024) Heretic review – religious horror with a suave, dapper and evil Hugh Grant – The Guardian Nosferatu (Robert Eggers, 2024) ‘Nosferatu’ Review: Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp Are Riveting, but Director Robert Eggers Rules This Haute-Horror Feast – The Hollywood Reporter Bring Her Back (Danny and Michael Philippou, 2025) The Holy Boy (Paolo Strippoli, 2025)
Notable directors
Alexandre Aja Joko Anwar Dario Argento Ari Aster Mario Bava Ingmar Bergman Panos Cosmatos David Cronenberg Danny and Michael Philippou Brian de Palma Guillermo del Toro Claire Denis Julia Ducournau Robert Eggers Abel FerraraAbel Ferrara interview: Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant, Body Snatchers|Den of Geek Georges Franju Michael Haneke Herk Harvey Werner Herzog Alfred Hitchcock Richard Kelly Stanley Kubrick David LynchArt-House Horror - The Criterion Channel Takashi Miike Paul Morrissey Jordan Peele Oz Perkins Roman Polanski Nicholas Roeg George A. Romero Jacques Tourneur Marina de Van Lars von TrierAntichrist|Austin Film Society Peter Weir
See also Arthouse animation Social thriller New Hollywood New French Extremity Arthouse musical Arthouse science fiction film Arthouse action film Vulgar auteurism Extreme cinema Postmodern horror Comedy horror
References
Further reading
Stuart Hanscomb (2010). "Existentialism and Art-Horror", Sartre Studies International 16:1, pp. 1–23.
External links List of art-horror films – Taste of Cinema blog "The Ultimate List of Art-house Horror" – IMDB