Definition of a "Horror Movie"? (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

Joe,

As many people know about me (from other threads), I define greatness of a film somewhat differently than most people.

[Those who are sick of hearing this, skip to the next post ]

To me it's impossible to evaluate a film purely objectively and conclude that it's great or not. For me it's a subjective thing, an interaction between film and viewer. And for me, after watching a film, I ask one question. Is this a film I ever want to see again? If the answer is no, then I don't consider it a great film, no matter how wonderful the acting or cinematography might have been. Simply put, in the end, this film holistically failed to succeed for me. On the other hand, if the answer is yes, then I consider it a great film. Sure, some of these great films are better than others, but they all basically succeed for me, and are great films.

So, one can certainly say that Buck Privates isn't a film with great cinematography and I would agree. But I'd also say, so what?, and still argue that it's a great film. Still, it's not going to be in my top 100, and films that mix rewatchability with other factors do get ranked higher (such as your Ben-Hur example). But rewatchability is a must, and no amount of other factors will ever make up for a film not being rewatchable.

 

[ElAhrai]

To jump back to the idea of what makes a horror movie a horror movie, there are a lot of good books on the subject (primarily by David J Skal and Leonard Wolf). Generally the consensus seems to be that if the movie intends to scare you on an basic archetypal level, then it's a horror movie.

So if the movie attempts to tap into basic primal fears in one way or another (be it subtle suspense, jump scares, or full blown gore). And there are so many different types of basic cultural fears to work with, such as loss of identity, falling lower on the food chain, sexual inadequacy, isolation, physical mutilation, and then the two biggies, death and the unknown (not to mention scores of others). Really the taboos and horrible things we see are only used as a lead in to more basic fears (at least in the best of the horror movies).

Of course, that doesn't mean that every horror movie is going to be great or have something important to say (and some of the greats don't have anything to say other than "boo!"). But that doesn't mean that the lesser ones won't provide at least some of that adrenaline rush the viewer is looking for. And let's be honest, the majority of movies are bad, there's no reason horror should be any different.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

George,

We're in agreement about "subjective" feelings of what make films worth seeing to us as individuals. But I don't automatically consider a film "great" just because I like it and wish to own it or re-watch it again. What I mean is, there are levels of quality to films we enjoy (fair, good, very good, great)... Otherwise, for you, I'd imagine your star rating system could only be :star: or :star: :star: :star: :star: (or perhaps the more basic "thumbs up, thumbs down").

Also, while being subjective is the MOST crucial thing when giving one's personal opinion, there still has to be some degree of objectivity to it. I fully love and enjoy THE OMEGA MAN, but I wouldn't conclude it's a "great" movie.

 

[george kaplan]

That's basically true. Although it's more accurate to think of it as a 100 point scale where all films fall from 0-10 or 90-100. There's still a big difference between a great film that I'd give 100 vs. one I'd give a 90. But the 'worst' film I want to see again (90), is light-years better than the 'best' film I don't want to see again (10).

 

[Seth Paxton]

I bought Ed Wood and I own (for free) the Ed Wood collection and have watched them all. If I could un-watch them I would, while I find "Ed Wood" to be a wonderful film about a not-very-good filmmaker.


I think Andy is right about "not every element fits" when you define a film into any genre, but that doesn't mean people can't classify films. When you take a class on genre one of the first things you do is to define what makes it fit, and from that you ususally get a list that no one film covers, and which includes elements from other genres.

I don't think its fully subjective, meaning that if you want to say that Aliens is a comedy I'm going to put you down as either crazy or intentionally being difficult, but there are naturally going to be gray areas.

Really it happens in science too, especially with some chaos math. For example, if I ask you what a Spring day is you can give me a temperature, rainfall, wind level, etc but on any given Spring day not all those elements will be in the "Spring" category. If you try to describe what Spring as a whole will be like you can in general, but you won't be able to give me details, especially for any given day.

So just because you can't say that April 11th will be 50 degrees and sunny doesn't mean that you can't predict that Spring is coming around that time. And I will be able to tell when Spring arrives even though I might not be able to put my finger on the exact moment it does (barring the techincal seasons I mean).

Classifications often fall into these same situations. Chaos and classification math (like neural nets classifying Iris flower types) helps show that there is a difference between subjective and just "tricky", there is something specific there but the elements so interdepend on each other that its not just a case of adding up how many criteria are met. For me classifying a genre of film is more tricky than just up to your own opinion.


For me I guess I tend to stick with elements of the supernatural - monsters, ghosts, aliens - in which the threat of death, esp brutal or painful death, looms over the main characters or "good guys" (ie, the people I don't want to see die).

Some films, like Psycho, Jaws, or Silence of the Lambs, slip into horror from thriller because the nature of the killer simulates the supernatural (including monsters).

However, a film may use ghots, aliens, or monsters as human surrogates when it is of another genre, such as Ghost (romantic thriller) or Alien Nation (cop drama).

Also, a film can have the elements in proper usage but be completely undermined by elements from another genre that overpower it, such as with The Wizard of Oz.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Which collection did you get for free? Also, did you see the cult in the films?