It’s been frustrating being a horror fan over the past few years. For once, our genre is thriving in such a way that it has become mainstream. There are pros and cons to this with the obvious “pro” being that we’re getting bombarded with horror films from micro to big-budget studio tentpoles. When this happens, a little bit of what makes this genre special is taken away from us, especially by mainstream media. For one, the term “horror” is often treated as a stigma, as if a horror film couldn’t be “Oscar-worthy”.

When Jordan Peele‘s Get Out was nominated for several awards, it was deemed a “comedy” (the Golden Globe’s even nominated it for “Best Comedy or Musical”), and after winning “Best Original Screenplay” at the Academy Awards, nobody wanted to call it a “horror film”. The term “elevated horror” (Hereditary, Suspiria) has been burning a hole in our retinas for a few years now, and even “horror-thriller” is being used as a way to describe Peele’s Us, which is already collecting awards chatter out of the SXSW premiere.

Through all of this bullshit, many filmmakers have remained quiet because they know the only way their award shelf won’t remain empty is if they fall in line, and turn their back on the genre and the fans that have been propping them up.

Not Jordan Peele… no, no, no, no, no… not this time. He’s making it clear, Us is a straight-up horror film. This time around, there is no taking this away from us.

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