Critics and Horror

I feel critics are very picky when it comes to horror, that many films feel the need to disguise themselves as a "suspense thriller" to get critical praise. Some exceptions exist such as Suspiria, Get Out, or It Follows, but they are few and far. What are your thoughts on this?

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“I really have to feel that I could make a difference in the movie, or I shouldn't be doing it.“
Joe Dante

Yeah. Can you believe Eyes Without a Face was poorly received upon release for being horror?

Feels like that film gained better praise as it got older, I heard one critic was attacked for giving it a good review in a sea of bad reviews when it was released.

Mark Kermode and Walter Chaw are exceptions to this rule if you're looking for critics who don't consider horror to be a lesser genre. Kermode, for instance, considers The Exorcist to be the best movie ever made and has chosen horror movies like Raw to be the best ones of their release year.

I tip my hat to them. We need more people like that.

Ebert trashing Friday the 13th movies always comes to mind

I think Ebert caused more damage then good for film. He's calling them schlock when he wrote Beyond The Valley of The Dolls, not the most Oscar worthy film. I never got his hate for them, then again their some of my favorite movies so that may explain. His bad reviews made people want to see these films though.

I love Ebert a good bit, but I've never been a fan of how he dismissed so many horror movies.

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IMDb
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In the words of Rodney Dangerfield, he gave them

My roommate did a similar thing as he hated just about every single horror film he ever saw since they didn't scare him all while showing no appreciation of any of the craft which went into these films. It always disappointed me.

I agree with Ebert on a lot of things but sometimes our opinions are grossly different.

Sounds like my dad lol

Horror is a vast genre that takes so much effort to do, from the directing and acting to the set design and special effects, I have more respect for horror filmmakers then I do other filmmakers.

Yeah, I love genre films, personally (horror, science fiction, and action). They rarely make in into GOAT lists, but I love a handful of them from each genre and would be happy to include them in a GOAT list if I were to make one.

He was very picky at times I notice.

What's not to love?

I maintain action cinema is some of the most incredible cinema ever put to screen, almost by definition. Hard not to watch the feats of stuntwork and choreography that go into those movies in complete awe.

Definitely, it's why I am a huge John McTiernan fan

The critical hatred of horror films is one of the many examples of why most establishment criticism is completely lost to me. They are probably one of the most purely cinematic genres that exist, offering constant stylistic innovations, frequently making profound observations on the human condition, and yet they are considered lesser. Nonsense.


To me this has always reeked of the worst kind of pseudo intellectualism. An unwillingness to look under the hood of the films creation and intentions a little and recognize how much they offer both beyond their (sometimes) deceptively juvenile and childish appearances. Critics are terrified of promoting anything with the sheen of 'low art'. Moral cowards, I say!


Ebert was a great critic, but he was just dead wrong about a lot of things repeatedly throughout his career. No error of his was as consistently terrible as his dismissal of horror. It actually surprised me sometimes how off he was on this, considering how he generally had little fear of promoting populism in film. Oh well. I'll live. There is great joy to be found in being a contrarian, especially when you are correct.


*Pats self on back vigorously*

His dismissal of video games ?

Though I believe he did like one.