tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post7320731959831384870..comments2024-01-24T08:01:12.354-05:00Comments on A Lifetime In Dark Rooms: What We Like: The Difference Between Horror Movies and ThrillersUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post-39492684551455850442011-03-13T19:15:45.195-04:002011-03-13T19:15:45.195-04:00@maggie - the problem with tone as a distinguishin...@maggie - the problem with tone as a distinguishing factor is that there are thrillers that also go for the slow burn - two of my favorites, as a matter of fact, <i>The Conversation</i> and <i>The Good Shepherd</i>. Cinematography doesn't help because the increasing accessibility of theater-grade digital cameras means you can get all kinds of feels more easily. There are frames in <i>The Burrowers</i>, for example, that look like frames from <i>Days of Heaven.</i> What do you do with that?<br /><br />I think the prestigious actors distinction gets to my point - that suggests that the only separating more legitimate films from less legitimate ones is budget and names on board. I'd like to see more "oh shit, Darren Aronofsky made a Polanski/Argento-ish horror movie" and less "it can't be a horror movie, because Darren Aronofsky directed it."Cliff Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14601389977814866457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post-26521961978900669582011-03-01T15:15:27.092-05:002011-03-01T15:15:27.092-05:00I think it's definitely true that a victim pro...I think it's definitely true that a victim protagonist is a hallmark of horror, but it's not strictly necessary. And I think you could probably say the same of any rule you try to come up with to separate the two. There's just too much bleed between the genres. And if you throw, say, black comedy or political thrillers into the mix things get even more muddy.<br /><br />For me, it usually comes down to some nebulous idea of "tone." Thrillers just feel different from horror movies. There are some immediate cues--horror movies are often washed with blue, thrillers tend to have more prestigious actors, etc. Sometimes it just comes down to pacing. Thrillers have to keep ratcheting up the adrenaline, while a horror movie is often freer to slow down and build atmosphere. It really varies from film to film and viewer to viewer, but it's a lot like the classic definition of obscenity: I'll know it when I see it. :Pmaggie meathooknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post-57563891700284804312011-01-20T23:02:14.774-05:002011-01-20T23:02:14.774-05:00@Michael - to your first post, I think there are s...@Michael - to your first post, I think there are similar issues in literature w/r/t the "legitimacy" of the author and the relationship between fiction and genre fiction broadly, but I was strictly talking about movies - a movie featuring disemboweling, skinsuits, and wearing other peoples' faces as masks is horror when it comes out as low-budget direct-to-video, but it's a thriller when it starts Jodie Foster. It's all semantics, yes, but when it comes to film, thrillers seem to be marginally more respectable than horror movies, regardless of their mutual pulp origins in literature.<br /><br />As to your second, I don't know that it's so clear-cut. The protagonist of <i>Halloween III</i> isn't a potential victim as much as an investigator, and there are investigators and victims in equal measure in the <i>Saw</i> films. And what of found-footage movies like <i>Cloverfield</i>? Is the protagonist a victim, an investigator, or an observer? Is the cameraman even the protagonist, or are we a proxy for the protagonist? I think your delineation applies really well to classic forms like monster movies, but compare a police procedural like <i>Seven</i> to one like <i>Fallen</i>, and it starts to get a little blurry.Cliff Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14601389977814866457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post-84459675683774057822011-01-18T22:18:25.661-05:002011-01-18T22:18:25.661-05:00I would also argue that very few horror films have...I would also argue that very few horror films have a protagonist that is actively engaged in stopping a crime or situation from the outside, a cornerstone of the thriller genre. The big difference in the brutal violence portrayed in Seven, versus what's portrayed in Hostel, is that the action in Seven takes place from the perspective of a detective who is actively involved in an investigation about the crime. This places the focus of the movie more on the procedural elements of the crime-solving (albeit with a ton of jump-scares and twisted concepts), whereas a true 'horror movie' version of Seven would focus more on the actual trials and suffering of the killer's victims, and would likely leave the investigation out of the movie entirely, if not relegating it to the "B" plot.<br /><br />In my eyes, one of the key differences between these two genres of movies is the protagonist/antagonist relationship -- In a thriller, the protagonist is generally a character with some degree of authority or power trying to stop an 'evil' character. In a horror movie, it's far more likely for the protagonist to be a victim, or to be the killer himself. I don't disagree that both types of movies handle similar subject matter, and often trade in similar amounts of blood and guts, but I do think there's a pretty huge difference in the narrative content, as well as how the stories are told.J. Lesley Feezberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08563985419769476680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post-32705982825574716382011-01-18T22:13:13.605-05:002011-01-18T22:13:13.605-05:00I've really been enjoying your blog, and I'...I've really been enjoying your blog, and I'm a big nerd so I've been reading it from the beginning. As much as I'm enjoying this, though, I do feel the need to point out that the "thriller" is a long-standing literary genre which is defined by more than a few stylistic hallmarks. No matter how far from those touchstones the concept of a cinematic thriller has wandered, there is still a historical and literary precedent from the separation of "Thriller" and "Horror" (not to mention "Mystery", for that matter) which shouldn't be off-handedly cast as a class issue.<br /><br />If anything, you could make the argument that the "thriller" has traditionally occupied a lower place in the public imagination than true "horror" novels, if you examine the genres' genesises -- Thrillers very much came into being during the era of noir and pulp, while horror has a much longer and more respectable literary pedigree (Shelley, et al).<br /><br />For the record, "Silence of the Lambs" is based on a novel which does contain almost all of the hallmarks of the traditional literary thriller, and the application of the genre tag probably has more to do with that than the ghettofication of horror.J. Lesley Feezberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08563985419769476680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-431609518471013077.post-4042739537844309732010-07-28T13:05:17.107-04:002010-07-28T13:05:17.107-04:00I really appreciate this post. It is hard to find...I really appreciate this post. It is hard to find the words to defend a genre that I love because of the negative feelings and reactions that people have when I say I love horror films (and metal). On the outside, I look like a straight laced, "happy-go-lucky" person. I just happen to enjoy art that borders on the extreme and they effect me more than the bubblegum shit that permeates society. I wish I could write an article as eloquently as this.Macmanushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09593098663438125508noreply@blogger.com