Instead, I propose that we should think of “X-wave” names as, essentially meaning “operating as if X is true or hegemonic.” So “synthwave” i
There are some Tumblr users who like to create genres as an exercise. Here's my attempt at the same thing: Satanwave.
A Satanwave work, (A) acts within the fiction of that work as if the Satanic Panic were responding to an actual, objective phenomenon, (B) attempts to present itself as a fictitious artifact from the time period in question (4th quarter of the 20th century is the most popular), rather than as a period piece set in that era, and (C) is mostly concerned with feelings of paranoia and conspiracism that result from this.
There are a number of other minor phenomena that happen in a few of these films, but I'm not sure they're exactly required to qualify.
Examples I pick out in this post include:
"History of the Occult"
"My Best Friend's Exorcism" (edge case)
"Late Night with the Devil"
"Longlegs"
What am I missing? What else qualifies?
