Roshiq - I think that you've articulated where perhaps I could not. Very well said!!
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Originally Posted by _____V_____
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.
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Not necessarily a contradiction. See, I would consider that, in comparison to, say The Godfather, there are more classically gothic horror themes in Oldboy than in The Godfather; this is where I think that the Angra Conglomerate are making a slippery slope argument. (The only reason why I haven't addressed On The Waterfront is that it's among one of the many "classic" movies that I NEED to see. :o )
Re: Full Metal Jacket and 2001; I would DEFINITELY consider them within the horror genre (Full Metal Jacket especially; I find the first 1/2 of it to be absolutely chilling). 2001 has too many overall sci-fi themes, though, that I would classify it more as scifi...
Which brings me to what I think most of our issue is... So movies like Oldboy (or any of the above - Full Betal and 2001 especially) have elements of quite a few genres; as I have mentioned - Drama, Action, Pulp, Thriller, Horror, etc; I think what it comes down to is the elements of the movie that speak to you most. Personally, for me, the horror themes in Oldboy stood out more than any of its other sub-genre elements. Honestly, though, I can see why other people would classify it as "action/revenge," etc. It's just that the human horror stuck with me more than anything else - The twists, the turns, the extremes that a human would go to - Is horrifying.