What Makes A Horror Movie?
I asked myself this question tonight because we got the thriller outline back from our manager, with his comments. Now, I suppose that the moniker "thriller" was chosen because it isn't a film like, say, FRIDAY THE 13th or THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. I would certainly consider those "horror" movies. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and DAWN OF THE DEAD, too, are "horror" movies. But, and I am ready for the torches and pitchforks here, one could argue that a film like HALLOWEEN, while I consider it a horror movie, could be seen as a thriller.
Stop.
Everyone take a deep breath. There, that wasn't so bad.
I mean, really, HALLOWEEN has a killer. It has scares. It even has a little blood (a point which some people fail to notice is that this film has almost NO blood). The movie works because it builds its tension and scares slowly, and the payoffs are subtle and frightening. And, it is thrilling!
So, let's go with that as being a horror movie. Then isn't SILENCE OF THE LAMBS a horror movie. Almost everyone I know would say, "Nope." They'd say, "Oooh, no, that is definitely a thriller." And why the "definitely?" Is it so terribly wrong to have a horror movie that is well made, well-acted, and well-received? MISERY, another is-it-or-isn't-it-horror movie had the same chops, but most people don't call it horror.
Excuse me, but when someone like Annie Wilkes has you trapped in her house and does those things to you, please. It's HORROR, people! (If you want even more terror, read the book. The movie skimmed the surface of what that woman is capable!)
But why, people, why? A movie like SILENCE (did we all forget the skinned guy hanging like an angel?) is far bloodier than HALLOWEEN. It has almost the same number of jumps, shocks, and "don't go there" moments as HALLOWEEN. It even has a female-lead-in-jeopardy. So why don't people think it is a horror movie? Because it's got stars? Because it's based on a best-selling novel? Because it was written and directed by people that made "real" movies before?
If George Romero had directed SILENCE, would it be a horror movie then? What about Wes Craven? Anyone?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I can see why you cannot compare SILENCE with any of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films. Worlds apart. FRIDAY films are gory, silly, slasher fun. Some even became comical and, JASON X was practically a sci-fi farce. But, HALLOWEEN is almost lyrical in the way it presents terror (some may laugh at that way to describe it. Watch the movie again. It's methodical and brightly-lit. There's a story -- a simple one, but it is there). On top of that, you don't ever want the characters to die because (and this is RARE in horror films) you care for them!
Anyway, I bring this up because when we get notes that something can be scarier, I often wonder where the note-giver is coming from. Are they coming from the HALLOWEEN school of Horror? Or the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS school of horror. Or the DAWN OF THE DEAD school? Is scarier more "don't open the door!" moments? Or, is it more "bloody disgusting murder" moments?
I have, sitting on the floor next to me, the dvd of JOHN CARPENTER'S CHRISTINE. A great book, and a pretty good film adaptation. But, is it really horror? It's about a car that kills people. It has scares, but very little blood. Isn't it really more of a thriller? Is a killer car really that scary?
I decided to take a look at what the Oxford English Dictionary has for a definition of horror:
noun 1 an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. 2 a thing causing such a feeling. 3 intense dismay
-- ORIGIN Latin, from horrere "shudder, (of hair) stand on end".
Okay, then. If we use that than SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is far and away more a horror movie than, say, CHRISTINE (which almost everyone says is a horror movie).
Just some things to think about. Now, I have to take a look at our outline and think of ways to make some things scarier. We do, in the end, want to make your hair stand on end.
And scare the hell out of you. So, while I work on that just know...
--"I am your number one fan. There is nothing to worry about."
MISERY
posted by Thommy @ 10:54 PM
2 Comments:
A horror film comes with a stigma attached - it usually comes with a lot of jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but ultimately has a huge cheese factor.
A thriller has a different stigma...maybe you're not jumping out of your seats, but the suspense builds slowly enough that you're gripping the arm rests. And the thriller lacks the cheesiness.
It's all about perception of horror vs. thriller. If you go off the dictionary definition, then yes - most of the films would be interchangable between the two genres. But the fact is that they are two separate genres and that is because we as the audience have made our own assumptions based on the subtle difference between the two.
We just can't come up with more clever titles to classify them, or if we do, they just don't work. Pprime example - SILENCE is labelled at blockbuster.com as "Mystery & Suspense: DETECTIVE FILM" AND as "Special Interest".
So you see - labelling a film as horror, thriller, or even detective film becomes something subjective - the definition is skewed by the perception of the viewer. To each his own, I guess.
In the end though - you're right. If you're provided a note "make it scarier" it would be really helpful to know what kind of scary the writer was talking about. Because you know if I wrote that note, that would mean "insert lots of robots here."
Well, my personal feeling is that, in a terror movie, you're afraid of dying. In a horror movie, you should be so lucky.
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