It seems to me like the new trend is “elevated horror”

That trend is six years deep, however (The VVitch came out in 2016). Not only is H18 two years younger, but the pandemic hitting and theaters shutting down less than a year and a half after its release has caused its influence - while undeniable - to be less prolific and slower to develop.

That influence has also been farther-reaching, however, than the "elevated" trend, which is, sort of by design, specific to horror. H18 gave us Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Scream 2022, the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre requel and possibly new riffs on Alien and The Exorcist yet to come, but it also inspired Terminator: Dark Fate, arguably The Suicide Squad, and there's been talk about a new RoboCop as well. We're living in the age of cross-genre synergy; just as the MCU gave us the Conjuring Cinematic Universe, the MonsterVerse and *almost* the Dark Universe, the impact of any future big hits or innovators is likely to be felt well beyond the boundaries of the horror genre.