'Same Time, Same Place'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
I think Jaws is probably Action/Adventure, and Misery is probably categorized as Suspense or Thriller. Which is a fine line, it's true.
Yeah, I can see that. Though I think people think of them both as "scary movies." The question then becomes, what makes a horror movie a horror movie? Are all scary movies horror movies? Are all horror movies scary movies?
Ladies and Gentlemen - start your Venn diagrams!
One of the best "jump out of my skin" moments I've ever had watching a film was during the big finale of Wait Until Dark, when (whitefonted for those who haven't seen it yet) Alan Arkin leaps out at Audrey Hepburn in the darkened apartment. Every time I show that movie to someone who hasn't seen it before, I make sure we turn off the lights before starting it, and then watch them to see their reaction to that scene.
I think the purpose of a movie needs to be to scare to qualify as horror. Or at least to focus on fear and, uh, horror.
The purpose of Jaws wasn't to scare. It was a classic conflict of man vs. beast/nature. It just happened to be scary, too. And Misery is really about obsession, or a twisted look at love.
Clockwork Orange, though, might qualify as horror under my definition.
It was a classic conflict of man vs. beast/nature.
Like Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus !
It just happened to be scary, too.
Unlike Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus !
You know, I think everything is either like or unlike Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. It's useful that way.
Jaws is essentially a Monster Movie, which has a lot of overlap with Horror.
Misery is horror to me, but I have only read the book.
Jaws is a horror movie. The key is the way he uses the shark pov shot from underneath the swimmers. That's totally a horror movie tactic.
Misery is also a horror movie. Psychological horror!
...then there's aesthetic horror....