Absolute Horror Film Forum

Hmmm, I strongly respect your opinion, but I do disagree a little. Though this is just my opinion to, neither of us is really right as is often the case in debates .

Here's the reasons for my disagreement.

First off, it's a widely known fact that most directors in Hollywood who don't want their films to be placed in the "Horror" genre label their films as thrillers, regardless of whether they contain sociopaths, monsters, and chest bursting aliens. The Horror genre is the unwanted child of Hollywood, and most see it as dooming to their careers to be known as that type of director. I greatly admire Hitchcock, but I can guarantee you he would refer to The Birds as a thriller. I'm sorry, but that's a horror flick, plain and simple. The reason why he would say this? Hitchcock wanted to be respected, and he couldn't get it as a "Horror" director. That's the sad truth of the genre. No matter how well made the film is, it's generally frowned upon by critics, and utterly forgotten when it comes time for the academy awards. Thrillers are not however? See where I'm going with that?

So let's discuss the idea of a thriller. I'm not sure it's quite as simple as being a film about realistic psychos. Let's take Hostel for example. Here you have flesh and blood killers that can be killed just like any other human being, but this is far from a "thriller". Hostel is purely horror, featuring an hour and a half of pure torture, little or no "chasing" as if often associated with thrillers, just three guys getting cut to pieces for an hour and screaming in the dark. If that's not horror, I don't know what is.

Besides, when it comes down to it, aren't horror and thrillers really one and the same? Both compose one another. Horror is full of suspense, "thrills" if you will, whereas thrillers are full of "horror", the dark sides of the world, etc. So in the end, I'm not really debating that thrillers are horror I guess. What I'm really saying is that horror is just the big daddy of the genre. A thriller is really a sub-genre of horror, which is why I think most thrillers should just be considered horror.

It's really an impossible debate with no winners. What I really think is that hollywood should just simplify it all to five easy categories. Horror, Sci-fi, Action, Romance, and Comedy, just like the good old days. It'd really clear up so much confusion.

Your friend from the Abyss,

-Matt

Your friend from the Abyss,

-Matt

When you look into the Abyss, the Abyss also looks into you

-Nietzsche

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