Horror's Social Function

Horror films process collective trauma in ways more respectable genres cannot. The Babadook turned grief into a literal monster that cannot be killed, only lived with. A demon, a haunted house, or a curse can carry a real fear that audiences would resist confronting head-on.

The genre's low budgets and disreputable status give it creative freedom that prestige films rarely enjoy. Horror can be politically radical, sexually transgressive, and narratively experimental because nobody expects it to be respectable.