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Originally Posted by ChronoGrl
Would you consider Oldboy a "horror" movie?
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No.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChronoGrl
Personally, I consider Oldboy a horror movie, and this is why:
I think that Oldboy most certainly qualifies as horror. With Oldboy, Park is exploring Gothic Horror (Dickensian horror) to its extremities. It's horrifying. It's pulp. And it's iconic. It's the struggle of the human condition against itself and against all odds. And there are certain twists in the film that are honestly horrifying. Oldboy has classic gothic horror themes that make the movie more than just another Asian action flick.
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See, that line of thinking contradicts itself. Because there exists a line between horrifying and horror, IMO.
A big part of the plots in The Godfather and On The Waterfront are horrifying. Even Platoon and Taxi Driver have a lot of horrifying stuff which take things to the extreme.
What about Full Metal Jacket? or 2001 when HAL takes over? American History X?
Even the incest angle, in many of its knowing and unknowing variations, has been explored before in other movies too.
Chinatown? The Manchurian Candidate? Dangerous Liaisons/Cruel Intentions?
Like Doc said, Oldboy is a curious blend - touching upon many genres, but the subject matter, which matters in the end, is "a revenge thriller". Shocking, yes, impactful, surely, hard-hitting and brutal, most certainly...but horror? Nope.