Horror? I barely know her!

Since the release of Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” in 2017, the formerly niche, often schlocky genre has captivated mainstream audiences, garnering awards and acclaim in the process.

That same year, “It” became the highest-grossing horror film ever, raking in $700 million worldwide, and the expectations this weekend for the sequel, “It: Chapter 2,” are through the roof.

As a result, modern horror movies are throwing out the old formulas, taking big risks and are more vital — and more expensive — than at any time since the 1970s, when audiences flocked to “The Exorcist,” the original “Halloween,” “Jaws” and “Dawn of the Dead.”

“All the rules are gone,” Matt Barone, programmer of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival (Oct. 17-24), tells The Post. “When something like ‘Get Out’ comes out and galvanizes everybody, it shows you that you can do so much with horror.”

Here, filmmakers and horror buffs tell The Post what it takes to make a big fat freaky hit in 2019.

Goodbye, gimmicks

Remember “Leprechaun in the Hood”? Or “Critters 4”? Audiences today don’t want to.

“A gimmick is not enough to hang a whole premise on,” says Scott Beck, co-writer and executive producer of “A Quiet Place” and co-director of the upcoming “Haunt,” referring to hackneyed, one-note flicks from the ‘80s and ‘90s. “All these incredible horror movies that have come out, I think, are fueling an appetite for giving you a dose of horror, but then something more substantial beneath the surface.”

For “A Quiet Place,” “Get Out,” “Midsommar” and more, that means innovative plots, powerful messages and deeper characters.

Also gone like other gimmicks are the old horror tropes: Dashing up the stairs from the killer to hide in a closet or kids murdered off one-by-one at camp.

“People are more hyper-aware of the fact that they can’t get away with the black character dying first, or the attractive blond girl in the shower,” says Barone. “These things are so stale, and audiences are too smart now.”

“That on-the-nose, what-all-the-horror-tropes-are was put out in the open in 1996 when Wes Craven made ‘Scream,’ ” says Beck. “And post-that, to play into the old tropes feels like retreading old water.”

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Have a heart

Whether at a Marvel movie or a horror flick, today’s fans want to be invested in compelling characters.

“There was a time and a place and a subgenre of horror where people were just showing up to see how badly people could get killed, and maybe not care about whether those were good or bad people,” says Bryan Woods, co-writer and executive producer of “A Quiet Place.” But, he adds, “the best movies are where you’re rooting for the characters.”

A major element of our contemporary horror affection, says Barone, is making characters who are detailed, flawed and strong, such as Jamie Lee Curtis’ older Laurie in 2018’s “Halloween.”

“Audiences want to see strong women characters. They respond to that,” he says. “That’s the only way you can bring back franchises like [‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or ‘Halloween’] — empowering those characters.”

Gary Dauberman, writer of “It: Chapter Two,” believes that part of a horror movie’s essential soul comes from an impactful point of view.

“A lot of horror movies that have some sort of social message to them,” he says of politically driven films, such as “The Purge.” “That’s what the audience seems to grab onto.”

Beware the jump-scare

Ticket buyers today are through with cheap thrills.

“There’s definitely a backlash right now to what would be considered a jump-scare,” says Woods. “A cheap scare that uses an alarming sound or visual that pops out.”

What frightens us now, Beck says, is “deep-tissue, American horror that talks about things we’re afraid to talk about,” such as the uncomfortable race issues of “Get Out” or the taboo move of having a child die in the first few minutes of “A Quiet Place.”

“If [jump-scares] are the only thing you’re providing, you’ll flatline,” says Dauberman of modern viewers’ more sophisticated tastes. “It lulls the audience into this repetitive place where they’re no longer scared. It’s the law of diminishing returns.”

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Sayonara, slashers

In the aughts, audiences grew accustomed to Ghostface. Before that, it was Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Norman Bates. But aside from classic franchises brought up to date, such as 2018’s “Halloween” with its focus on Laurie, audiences just don’t want slasher flicks anymore.

“There’s been efforts to try to bring back [slasher flicks] on a small-scale, like the ‘Hatchet’ movies,” says Barone. “Those movies never blew up because they only really exist in the horror space. They’re fastballs down the middle for horror fans.

“When you watch an ‘80s slasher movie, you feel kind of sticky,” he says. “Those movies are products of their time. Can you really get away with that now?” Audiences, looking for an escape, prefer a pinch of levity to nonstop brutal darkness.

Barone has doubts, for instance, that Ryan Murphy’s upcoming retro TV series “American Horror Story: 1984,”  which is said to be inspired by films such as “Friday the 13th” and “Halloween,” will be a ratings bonanza.

“I don’t think that’s gonna move the needle,” he says. “It’s doing what ‘Scream’ did years ago.”

Dauberman believes we now lust for brains alongside our blood, too.

“There’s been a resurgence of psychological horror,” he says. “I think it’s about pulling off the high-wire act of having the psychological horror with the more visceral stuff.”

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