Arthouse as a genre...

I never really had a clear definition of what it is. I usually assume it's a dialogue-driven film with elements of the psychological drama, experimental film, surrealism, and occasional slow cinema. My best examples are The Mirror, Stalker, Persona, Solaris, and Satantango. I could be wrong, but Google's been a bitch about it. Blade Runner, maybe. Empire Strikes Back? NOOOO.

I on a feature film for a director, a low budget indie movie, and it was very arthouse. One of the people asked him what the genre was, and he responded "It's European", as a joke, as if it was a genre.

Not really a genre so much as films aiming for a certain market that are more likely to feature certain material in them.

Arthouse is not a genre as much as it is opposed to the genre film, and it encompasses many film movements, which are different in character, from the contemplative cinema of Tsai Ming-Liang to the dialogue driven films of Eric Rohmer.

Arthouse film is more about the auteur, then the narrative character and as a defining character, its in opposition to the market driven blockbusters of Hollywood.

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People just use that term particularly stylized and maybe avant garde/ experimental.

That's all.