Simply reading or hearing the words “transcend the genre” is enough to make me turn away in disgust, so goddess bless Jon Hastings: He’s devised a wonderful five-part taxonomy of “transcending the genre”, in an attempt to figure out the what critics who use this phrase to describe horror or other déclassé genres actually mean. It’s tempting to believe that TTG automatically equates to “I don’t like horror movies but I like this horror movie so therefore it is not a horror movie” (Jon’s TTG classification #1)–all the more so because that usually is what it equates to–but Jon elucidates some definitions that are actually useful and non-condescending. For example, a genre film that appeals to a wider audience than genre die-hards can be said, accurately and without pejorative connotations, to transcend the genre. Again, I don’t tend to find that that’s what mainstream critics who break out TTG are getting at, but still, Jon’s post was a tremendous eye-opener for me.

I also want to use this opportunity to point out Dave Intermittent’s shots across the bow of the “‘safe’ critical consensus” about the lo-fi, politically aware horror films of the ’70s. Dave asserts that budgetary concerns are not an inherent strength (or flaw) and that the impact of those movies upon their release was not predominantly (if at all) political in nature. Given recent developments in this area, they’re points worth considering.

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