10 Favorite Horror Films from Gatsby the Non-Horror Fan

Probably my favourite scene in the whole movie.

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It didn't bother me but I can understand that. Which is weird because its my favorite Hitchcock and usually I think he ends so well.

Im not a huge Hitchcock fan but The Birds and Psycho are classic horror.

I actually haven't seen a Hitchcock yet I would consider horror. They all fall squarely as thriller to me. Hard distinction to make sometimes I guess. For me I usually know the difference if I enjoy it.

By today's standards in Horror, yes I can see how someone would call them Thrillers, but for the 1960's standards, they are Horror.

I agree that The Birds and Psycho are classic horror. I love Hitchcock's movies, but that's probably why these are two of my least favorite Hitchcock movies.

So how do you guys distinguish between horror and thriller? When does a film cross that threshold for you?

its hard to say.. I think with me... I look at the time period the film was made and look how the ratings were considered. G, PG, R, etc... like "The Birds" .. it came out in 1963, back then .. you really didnt see a lot of gore, torture and anything that is acceptable by today's standards.. and thats how I rate a film... so yeah what we call mild horror now days is straight up horror for that time period..... Im not sure if you follow what Im saying..

I don't know the actual definitions, but for me, horror movies tend to show more on screen, (gore, blood, killings, etc.), while thrillers leave more to the imagination, and it's your own thoughts that scare the heck out of you. If I find that I have to keep covering my eyes or turning away from the screen, then it's probably a horror movie, not a thriller.

I think you guys are talking me into The Birds being a horror, simply by discussing it with me. While I disagree about the blood and gore aspect, I do think if the main focus is to scare the viewer then you are dealing with horror. I think The Birds falls into that. I don't think Psycho does actually. Alien is on the fence. I need Swan to get in here and convince me.

My immediate response was The Birds doesn't scare me in the least. I haven't been scared watching a movie a whole lot though. Lechter in SOTL gives me chills still. Gore never does. I just think its disgusting, it could probably make me barf if I subjected myslef to enough but it never scares me.

Perhaps you need to place yourself in Tippi Hendren's place.. how would you feel if you were sitting outside and suddenly a group of birds started hovering over you.. .or started chasing you... pecking at your hair or eyes.. what emotion would go thru you at that moment?

edit: had to correct the actress's name.. didnt look before I posted..

I disagree with this statement. The main purpose of a thriller is to scare the viewer, but it doesn't do it with blood and gore. For example, one of my favorite thrillers is Wait Until Dark. It scares the heck out of me every time I watch it, but there's no blood and gore.

A horror film has monsters or monster-like creatures, whether they're supernatural or not, human or not, etc. The birds are definitely acting in a concerted effort to terrify and kill humans, so there's no doubt it's a horror film since they would qualify as monsters if they looked like something we didn't recognize. Yes, hk, Jaws is an adventure, a thriller and also a horror flick since the shark most definitely acts more like a monster than a shark.

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I think the only film that scares the heck out of me.. is the last scene in the original "Carrie"..

the remake was more lame..

Have you seen the movie Wait Until Dark? Alan Arkin is terrific when he terrorizes Audrey Hepburn. I can feel Audrey Hepburn's terror when I watch that movie.

Maybe. I think the difference is thrillers may scare you, but that is not their purpose. Their purpose is to tell a story and maybe there are elements that scare you. Like MG was talking about, because they scare the character. When I watch a horror movie, and this is the reason I don't like them, I feel like there purpose is to only scare. They have no interest in actual storytelling, any of that is just a device to get to the next jump scare and kill. Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th, Scream, most Saw movies, Texas Chainsaw. There is no character development, it is just about the scares. Its fine if that's your thing, I think the same can be said of comedies, just replace scares with laughs. To me that's the difference.

I might have long ago.. I dont remember it right off..

Mark, not sure I completely agree with you on how to define horror. There are some horror films where circumstances just lead up to the events that makes them horror. Good example is the Finnish film "Sauna". I guess inhuman behavior and redemption could be seen as monstrous... but there are no actual monsters in that film.

The humans act like monsters.

This is probably the key. To not nail a movie down to one specific genre, maybe that is where we get in trouble.

I am beginning to realize that when I say I don't like horror films, what I really mean is I don't like slasher flicks.