Slasher films have been re-evaluated as art. Video Nasties and seedy B-movies have been reappraised as brilliant. īut the truth is, horror’s golden age has spanned the entire lifetime of cinema, eternally lurking in the shadows like Count Orlok and tempting more respectable cineastes to live deliciously by indulging in their baser emotions.
Jim from the American Office has become a horror icon thanks to his A Quiet Place franchise and former sketch-comedy headliner Jordan Peele netted an Oscar by tapping Rod Sterling and The Stepford Wives for the zeitgeisty Get Out. James Wan keeps cranking out blockbuster funhouse fare like The Conjuring. Indie darlings like David Gordon Green have taken the reins of the Halloween and Exorcist franchises. Boutique distributor A24 has become the paragon of ‘elevated horror‘ thanks to the elegant scares of Hereditary, The Witch and Saint Maude. There’s a lot of patter about how we live in a golden age of fright.
