Promotion For MovieForums Top 100 Horror Films

Some members expressed support in @Citizen Rules 's thread for a New Top 100 Horror Film Catalog. I'd like to see what wider engagement there is for the idea, compared with jumping to The Pre-1930's Top 100. A lot to explore here with Classics, Monster Flicks, Hammer Horror, Italian Giallo, plenty of other Foreign Horror, Exploitation, Ghost Films, Slashers, Haunted House, and many more of these fun sub-genres spanning many stellar time periods. I can see this being really fun, and a chance to expand our viewing interest for the genre. Let yourself be heard as well if this is something we'd like to see happen. If enough members are into it, perhaps we can start moving forward.

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Will check back in this afternoon, gotta get some sleep, filled with spooky movie dreams, before I head to work tonight.

Any thoughts on how we will be defining horror?

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Good question.

Up to Nostro of course, but I would suggest he uses IMDB genre tags or Wiki descriptions to distinguish between what is included as horror or not. With Nostro making exceptions to that guideline as they come up. That's what other countdown host have done.

Yeah, good to note that the margins of the genre will be the sticking point. I think, as Curator, it'll be important to get a strong starting point (like the IMDB genre tags) that covers 90% of the definition, and then just be open and transparent (maybe solicit some general opinions, but ultimately making the final choice yourself based on that input) about the edgier cases. Obviously it'd be ideal to have clean rules, but I think it's worked reasonably well in the past to use the period before voting as an opportunity to preemptively rule on a lot of major films.

Want to remind everyone participating in the discussion of what should or should not qualify, though, that it's really hard to make clean rules for this stuff and there are bound to be some disagreements, and to try not to get too worked up about it! There's no objective way to define this stuff, so a little disagreement is inevitable, and we shouldn't let that spoil the fun of the thing.

Anyway, I'll be sure to register my opinion when we get into it, but I'll note that, as always, this is community-run, and whatever I say should be treated as just another user's opinion. You guys run this show.

Just my thoughts on some movies that are likely to come up.

Aliens
Horror no, Sci-Fi or action yes.

The Sixth Sense
Reluctantly yes.

Sleepy Hollow
A fantasy film to me.

Jaws
Tough but for me it's a no. It's a big shark, a monster, but Kong is a monster too.

Silence of the Lambs
No, unless you want to include movies like Se7en. I consider it a crime thriller.

Psycho
Yes

Kill List
Unfortunately no. I think of it as a crime drama.

The Thing
The Fly
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Yes yes and yes

Shaun of the Dead
Dale and Tucker
To me they're comedies but they probably should be allowed.

I think defining genre is less about content and more about tone and style. What is the most prominent genre of the movie? I don't think it's enough for the movie to have a touch of horror. If you were bringing the movie home for someone to watch for the first time, and they asked what genre it was in one word, what would your most honest answer be?

I'd call Alien(s) science fiction horror. Definitely wouldn't call The Sixth Sense horror.

Alien 1 horror all the way, you mean part 2?

IMDb lists it as both, as well as Mystery.

I was compiling a preliminary list last night and the movie I had issues with was Ghostbusters. It's listed as Action, Comedy, and Fantasy on IMDb and described as "supernatural comedy" on Wikipedia. I realize the emphasis is on the humor, but that's also true of movies like Army of Darkness and Fido and they still got the Horror label.

Oh I find them quite similar, so yeah. Both, I guess.

I've never thought of Ghostbusters as anything but comedy.

I'm surprised

So what's the divide between what is comedy and what is horror comedy?

Nostromo specifically lists "ghost films" as horror and the movie does center around ghosts terrorizing a city.

It's a good question. I say think of what the movie feels like to you. Does it feel like a horror movie? Out of all those movies that's the furthest from horror to me. I think sometimes in these things some people have a natural inclination to think of what they can squeeze in that they like. I think if you have to come up with reasons why a movie should qualify, it shouldn't qualify.

I think it's akin to saying Stripes is a war movie.

No, but then neither do Army of Darkness, Fido, Bubba Ho-Tep, Gremlins, and most of the rest of what's on my preliminary list. If I eliminate everything that doesn't "feel like horror" I won't be able to participate.

Just for reference material, here's how IMDB and Wiki genre tags define these films that Cricket posted about it...Nostro has some work cut out for him!


Aliens
Cricket: Horror no, Sci-Fi or action yes
IMDB: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
WIKI: science fiction action horror

The Sixth Sense
Cricket: Reluctantly yes.
IMDB: Drama | Mystery | Thriller
WIKI: supernatural horror film

Sleepy Hollow
Cricket: A fantasy film to me.
IMDB: Fantasy | Horror | Mystery
WIKI: gothic supernatural horror film

Jaws
Cricket: Tough but for me it's a no.
IMDB: Adventure | Drama | Thriller
WIKI: thriller film

Silence of the Lambs
No, I consider it a crime thriller.
IMDB: Crime | Drama | Thriller
WIKI: psychological horror-thriller film

Psycho
Cricket: Yes
IMDB: Horror | Mystery | Thriller
WIKI: psychological horror

Kill List
Cricket: Unfortunately no. I think of it as a crime drama.
IMDB: Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller
WIKI: crime drama psychological horror film

The Thing
Cricket: Yes
IMDB: Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi
WIKI: science fiction horror film

The Fly
Cricket: yes
IMDB: Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi
WIKI: science-fiction body horror film

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Cricket: yes
IMDB: Horror | Sci-Fi
WIKI: science fiction horror

Shaun of the Dead
Cricket: To me they're comedies but they probably should be allowed.
IMDB: Comedy | Horror
WIKI: horror comedy


Dale and Tucker vs Evil
Cricket: To me they're comedies but they probably should be allowed.
IMDB: Comedy | Horror
WIKI: comedy horror film

I don't think of Gemlins as horror but the others I do somewhat. Again I go more by feeling than anything else and then what I think of as the dominant genre. Maybe Nostro can set up polls for individual movies?

Director James Cameron calls Aliens an action film-

I should watch them back to back and see if I feel the same way. Sure, there was more action in Aliens than there was in the first, but I found them cohesive as relatives.