“Is it over yet?” I ask literally anyone I watch a horror film with, proceeding to squeal anyway at whatever I can see through the gaps in my fingers. Yes, I am THAT annoying person at horror movies. But I love them.

Horror is by no means a new genre, but it has gone through some of the biggest paradigm shifts compared to any other genre, in my opinion. Fear is something that is so dependent on social and cultural contexts, and as these contexts are ever-evolving, what scares people is constantly changing too.

Growing up, I never really thought about horror films that deeply. It seemed to just be something to watch with a couple friends or with family for a fun scare and something to joke around about afterwards. But horror has become so much more over the years. It has become a form of social commentary, satire, a medium through which real world issues can be addressed. The genre is able to bring in elements of drama, often even comedy and combine them with the darker elements of horror. Dread, or the anticipation is what makes good horror. We think the jump-scare is the scariest part, but we all know that the moments leading up to it are what makes us hold our breath. If you think about it, horror movies stick around in your mind long after you’ve watched them, unlike most other genres. Sure any good movie regardless of genre can keep you thinking, but horror really sticks. And that is something that can be taken advantage of for good storytelling, and it is what makes horror an exciting genre to partake in.

Companies like A24 have been stretching the genre of horror, along with directors like Jordan Peele and James Wan. At their core, these films address one over-arching problem or issue, like family conflict or bigger issues like racism, and they use the elements of horror to propagate this message in a jarring and memorable way.

My overall stance on horror is that it is underestimated as a genre for a compelling narrative, and it would be interesting to see more and more different takes on the genre so that its face in popular media can change over time.