Good horror requires the exploration of the unknown in both form and content.

Every successful horror film does something new with the genre or reinvents the old. Films as recent as Insidious, which turned Poltergeist on its head, or Drag Me to Hell, which rekindled the possession film with an unerring pace and a darkly comedic riff on body horror, have done miracles in making the classic seem fresh. After all, there's an admittedly small variety of horror tropes, which the great films reconfigure. Once a horror film sacrifices the element of surprise.

Great horror is rarely recognized in its time.

See: The Thing '82, The Shining, Night of the Living Dead, Insidious, Insidious, INSIDIOUS.

The Hollywood system is far from ideal for honoring the third premise because the suits fear the fourth.


Every great horror film of the last few years was made outside of the studio system, except for Black Swan and Shutter Island, both of which were made by directors with a proven track record and relative autonomy.