Kill List has elements of horror so if anyone wants to call it a horror film that's fine by me even if I don't regard it as one myself. Personally I don't fuss over how others categorise things, there are far, far more important things in life to devote my time and energies to.
Horror not ‘scary’ most of the time?
FTR I think of horrors as films which were 'sold' to me as horror films or films which I thought of as such when watching them. So, not only is Aliens not a horror film, neither is Jaws (my favourite film), Psycho, Silence Of The Lambs or Se7en (still can't believe I have to even bother to make that point with Se7en but I know for some it 'obviously' is.) I agree that Horror/Comedy is much more difficult to categorise, but for me, they're their own category and just because something funny happens in a film, doesn't mean that film qualifies as a comedy. So, for example, Shaun Of The Dead not a horror film. An American Werewolf In London is. SotD is a horror comedy, but while I accept that aAWiL is looked upon in that way, for me, it's a horror film. Plain and simple.
Also, @Takoma11 said someone had argued with them that
"Anyway, this led to them asserting that Psycho could only be a thriller and not a horror film"
Now this could just be a difference in how that's read, but was this person implying that thrillers are less than horror films? If so, could that be where some of this genre stuff comes from? I think Se7en is great and I can't stand Aliens. Now how people categorise them doesn't affect that. It only matters if we're talking about a particular genre and whether or not the film can be included in the discussion.
Question to those who've seen it: Is Kill List a horror film?
Also, @Takoma11 said someone had argued with them that
"Anyway, this led to them asserting that Psycho could only be a thriller and not a horror film"
Now this could just be a difference in how that's read, but was this person implying that thrillers are less than horror films? If so, could that be where some of this genre stuff comes from? I think Se7en is great and I can't stand Aliens. Now how people categorise them doesn't affect that. It only matters if we're talking about a particular genre and whether or not the film can be included in the discussion.
Question to those who've seen it: Is Kill List a horror film?
WARNING: "Kill List" spoilers below
I saw that film without knowing anything about it. I started not watching a horror film, but it ended very much with that in mind. Still don't know if I like the film or not or whether it's a horror film or not. I've been saying for 8 years I'm going to have to watch it again to see if I can make up my mind but I've yet to do so.
For todays audience, it probably is, but I'm not a man of today.
For todays audience, it probably is, but I'm not a man of today.
WARNING: spoilers below
with the boat sinking and the shark slowly biting Quint in half
Edit: I just read an article from 2015 which calls Jaws a comedy, so I officially give up... we live in a meta-modern environment.
I would definitely argue that Kill List is a horror film, because
WARNING: spoilers below
as with A Serbian Film, the ending is most sane people’s worst nightmare
Last edited by AgrippinaX; 08-17-20 at 11:36 AM.
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Now this could just be a difference in how that's read, but was this person implying that thrillers are less than horror films?
Question to those who've seen it: Is Kill List a horror film?
WARNING: "Kill List" spoilers below
I saw that film without knowing anything about it. I started not watching a horror film, but it ended very much with that in mind. Still don't know if I like the film or not or whether it's a horror film or not. I've been saying for 8 years I'm going to have to watch it again to see if I can make up my mind but I've yet to do so.
For todays audience, it probably is, but I'm not a man of today.
For todays audience, it probably is, but I'm not a man of today.
But I think it's another good example of a movie where I mostly think "Does it really matter?". If one person thinks it's a thriller and another thinks of it as horror . . . they will probably end up discussing the same elements of the film (the foreshadowing, the final sequence, the stylistic choices, etc).
Part of the problem, surely, is that there I've never seen a definition of horror (or, really, most genres) that totally encompasses the range of films that you can get in a single genre. I'm fine with someone saying "To me XYZ isn't a horror movie . . ." or "I don't consider XYZ horror becuase . . ." or "I don't tend to think of XYZ as horror because . . .".
It's when I say, "Hey, I just watched this really interesting horror movie . . . " and someone chimes in with "Well, actually that's not a horror movie." Art is an intersection of authorial intent and how a film is received by the viewer. It always makes me a bit snippy when someone else tells me how I should think about something.
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