Movies to avoid.

[dicconzane]

Well following on from my thread about wolf creek and hostel being two of the worst films I've seen in a while... too much not a lot with a brief period of frantic action at the end which IMHO didn't live up to the hype I'd like to add Signs to my list of films to avoid.
Some quite good suspense early on completely ruined for me when you see the alien. My first response... well it's a man painted green. You see scarier costumes on halloween... in ASDA.

I know some will disagree with these choices but for me these have been my top three let downs. Especially Hostel after the mass hype surrounding that.

Ooh and Open Water too. Can't believe how long that went on with what looked like some stock BBC footage of sharks as the scariest thing you see. Could not have been sat more firmly right in the middle of my seat if I tried. Well, I did nearly reach the edge, but only when thinking about leaving.

Interested in others' opinions and other films to miss.

[Jameslofton]

Whats wrong with Signs? Besides your dislike of the alien? Its a good movie, but more importantly, its NOT horror. I dont really see why you would lump that film into the horror category.

I agree with your assesment on Open Water, but I dont consider that horror either.

Question to (older) members of this board: Have you noticed how in this day and age alot of stuff gets classified by people as horror when it doesn't even come close to the genre?

[stygianwitch]

I think that a lot of people confuse suspense with horror and that's why they categorise films like Signs and The Village in the horror genre, it's the atmosphere that creeps them out.

For others, unless there's plenty of gore, blood and ripping apart of bodies, then it isn't horror, we all have our own idea of what constitutes horror and what doesn't.

For the record, i liked both these movies :p

[evildemontoo]

Question to (older) members of this board: Have you noticed how in this day and age alot of stuff gets classified by people as horror when it doesn't even come close to the genre

Yes!! you are so right!

[dicconzane]

Ooh a proper discussion.

Ok so how would you define horror? Webster's has horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." So it ought to follow that horror movies are those that elicit those emotions. But then where does horror stop and suspense begin? Or Thrillers? Where for example does the Shining fit? Or Misery? Both written by a "horror" writer. Although Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil do kinda mute that point. I'd class the Village as an attempt at horror but that's my view on the semantics of the genre. (Incidentally I'd forgotten about that film, another I'd wanna add to my list of films to avoid.

Horror does not have to involve the supernatural surely? Does Psycho count as horror or Scream, or Wolf Creek or Hostel for that matter? Does having the supernatural involved make it a horror? Saw is another example usually classed as horror. It does deal with the edges of emotion and having to confront primal fears but what essentially is in this film that isn't in say many thrillers or suspense movies. The edges of this genre a so blurred I would be very interested to know other people's views. I think personally it's hard to pin down any one defining feature, like trying to define what a game is. We know what a game is from experience but there is no one thing that is universal. Art is another example. And if we only know from past experience of what is a horror film we will all have different versions, though mostly along a similar line.

So what I want to know is what defines a horror film, who decides whether a film meets those criteria and why they feel their definition is worth more than anybody else's.

[Jameslofton]

My earlier post wasnt meant as an insult towards your opinions. It was more of a general statement. The definition of horror has obviously morphed over the years. You actually bring up several great examples: The Shining and Misery. Two films I dont consider horror either.

Think about it. if we are going to class those films as horror, what about films such as Se7en? Silence of the Lambs? Hell, if we are going to classify such films as horror, then films such as Deliverance and Apocalypse Now should also be considered horror.

[dicconzane]

Wasn't taken as an insult. I thought you raised an interesting point. How is horror defined. Was more interested in what your definition would be. As I said everyone's will vary slightly as there will always be films that sit on or cross the boundaries. So wanted to see how different people define the genre.

[Jameslofton]

In my opinion, when I have thought of horror, it has been films such as Halloween, TCM, Black Christmas, The Burning, Hellraiser, and all the Friday the 13th, Elm Street films,etc. The other films you(and I) listed such as The Shining, Misery, Se7en, etc. I would most definitely label as suspense/drama.

One film I am surprised to see people label as horror is Exorcism of Emily Rose. Where's the horror? Most of the film is spent inside of a courtroom, and I most definitely classify that film as drama.

[dicconzane]

Yes but what it is about those films that defines them as horror that excludes other films? What are the attributes that define what is classified as horror and not?

[stygianwitch]

For me, a true horror movie is one that has fills me with tension and fear, to the point where the smallest thing will make me jump and i'm looking for escape routes cos all i wanna do is run, it also has to be full of atmosphere, the creepy kind

There are various ways of doing it, one is to never fully show the bad guy/alien/creature that the film is about, an example of that would be Alien, never saw the thing in it's entirety until the very end of the movie, for me, seeing the whole creature took away all those 'i'm scared' emotions

Another way is with the soundtrack, if that is done right then the score alone will build you up to a point where you are on the edge of panic

My preferred horror is the purely fictional, the weird creatures/mutations, experiments gone wrong, evil aliens, scary monsters, vampires, zombies etc. not the slasher type movies

Movies such as Saw and Se7en i personally would class in the thriller/suspense/drama genres, i think they get called horror because there is so much blood and gore in them, and because we, as human beings, don't want to believe that there are really people out there that would perpetrate these acts in reality.... there are, a lot of them, and the things they do to other human beings and other species are far more horrific things than anything a screenwriter could imagine into existence so we blind ourselves to it, label it horror and sell it for profit