When people think "Criterion Collection", what comes to mind? Black and white European films from the 60s, slow-paced independent dramas from more recent decades, Akira Kurosawa, perhaps. Arty, highbrow world cinema. Also Armageddon, for some reason. Films for eggheads and New Yorker subscribers, obtuse, pretentious stuff regular Joes couldn't and wouldn't catch at their local multiplexes. This stereotyped perception of Criterion hurts the curation they actually do, just as it hurts horror as a genre to believe it the polar opposite of "Criterion" material. Arguments over "elevated horror", a category that tries to split the difference between Criterion and horror, are blind alleys. Worse, they're misdirection, creating a false binary and shoving films into boxes that limit not just

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