Epilogue

The epilogue takes stock of the current genre by continuing the look at Get Out and The Shape of Water and fellow 2017 horror film blockbuster It. Focusing on the emblematic images of each film’s marketing campaign, the epilogue analyses the different valences and emphases of each: on the visceral provocations of the sensational address (It), on the depiction and exploration of fear and abjection (Get Out), and on the appeal of monsters and monstrosity (The Shape of Water). This allows for the epilogue to chart out the primary forms of horror in a contemporary genre that has been shaped in equal parts by film, television, and video games, with increasing contributions from new media and internet-based forms. The book has focused on convergence of the genre across mediums, and it closes with a suggestion that the future of the genre lies in a convergence of these forms. that, although the marketing for each of these films suggests an emphasis on sensation or a specific aspect of narrative, the films themselves suggest an increasing comfort with balance these different approaches that had once been thought of as mutually exclusive. In the digital era, new mediums increasingly balance direct, often sensational, aims with narrative depth, and so a medium like virtual reality may find horror to be an ideal model.