tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post682951883335088677..comments2023-11-05T02:57:06.922-05:00Comments on The Vault of Horror: Horror vs. Thriller: A ConversationB-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-52782589669076795022010-04-05T14:14:13.864-04:002010-04-05T14:14:13.864-04:00Thanks Gene, I'm glad our little conversation ...Thanks Gene, I'm glad our little conversation could spark such debate!B-Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-24573020198905302962010-04-05T14:10:38.264-04:002010-04-05T14:10:38.264-04:00I wrote a recent essay commenting on your definiti...I wrote a recent essay commenting on your definitions, here:<br /><br />http://arche-arc.blogspot.com/2010/04/thriller-killing.htmlGene Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11495562795211277146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-52621134325286425162010-03-28T22:29:08.936-04:002010-03-28T22:29:08.936-04:00Yeah, that would make for one hell of a scary movi...Yeah, that would make for one hell of a scary movie, Michael. I think once it moves from that buildup into actually delivering something unflinchingly terrible, it crosses that boundary from thriller into horror.B-Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-48649070931735499332010-03-28T04:43:32.247-04:002010-03-28T04:43:32.247-04:00So let's say you take the attributes that the ...So let's say you take the attributes that the Taschen editor said constitutes a thriller, "...the buildup...the expectations... the terror of wondering what's going to happen," and then actually show what's going to happen with an unflinching eye. Now that's a (expletive) scary movie!Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13134785333126181023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-56170901206814255652010-03-26T13:16:34.831-04:002010-03-26T13:16:34.831-04:00So my case in point, that it comes down the people...So my case in point, that it comes down the people's personal preference on how they are gonna take & handle a movie. Which to me your coming across with no emotion at all, since you stated NOTHING scares you at all. I'm not saying ALL women are scared or creeped out, but, I can probably come across more women who get scared more easily then men do.MarilynMerlothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10649702966314236111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-43718539210605222762010-03-26T09:46:44.941-04:002010-03-26T09:46:44.941-04:00Hmm... I tend to disagree with your lady friend, B...Hmm... I tend to disagree with your lady friend, B-Sol. <br /><br />First thing.... I think it's very dangerous territory to suggest that women are more easily frightened than men. In fact, I find myself rejecting this premise rather violently. I am an example of the exact opposite. Virtually nothing scares me. However, I am totally aware that my reactions to the films I see do not make for everyone's reactions. But if anecdotal evidence means anything, most of the women I know who watch these films are, in fact, very difficult to "horrify."<br /><br />On the notion of non-reality immediately pushing something into the realm of horror, I don't agree with this either. Though, I think it tends to be true that supernatural stories are horror (but causation and correlation are not the same thing after all). <br /><br />I think you are both right on the money with the buildup and focus bits of this conversation. Thrillers are about everything but that which is actually horrible. And horror movies are about showing us that horrible thing.<br /><br />Michael Myers is horror. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And this is why I love him.<br /><br />Peace.Missy Y. (formerly A Case of You)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00024813150457436868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-33591788607761272172010-03-26T04:51:27.778-04:002010-03-26T04:51:27.778-04:00Oh gosh, Theron and Highly and B-Sol, you're r...Oh gosh, Theron and Highly and B-Sol, you're right! I LOVE the classic horror films of Universal, Lewton, all that ilk. But I was definitely focusing on slashers, which skews the answer I gave. Slippery though all the definitions given may be, in different cases they do apply in varying ways. Fascinating suff!AKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084216883655540363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-8006943277233218152010-03-26T00:02:04.664-04:002010-03-26T00:02:04.664-04:00Mmmmmm.............uppercase "E" Evil......Mmmmmm.............uppercase "E" Evil............RayRayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08718037136482754673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-91552135297480145802010-03-26T00:02:03.250-04:002010-03-26T00:02:03.250-04:00Mmmmmm.............uppercase "E" Evil......Mmmmmm.............uppercase "E" Evil............RayRayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08718037136482754673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-57495563293277050462010-03-25T21:38:26.542-04:002010-03-25T21:38:26.542-04:00Thanks guys. Glad to see this post is provoking so...Thanks guys. Glad to see this post is provoking some interesting discussion. <br /><br />Caffeinated, I think you best hit the nail on the head in terms of how I think the two subgenres should best be delineated. <br /><br />Rob, I beg to differ a bit on your horror definition, because I think it's only in certain subgenres of horror, or certain eras, that there is such contempt for the characters that we're encouraged to root for bad things to happen. Certainly this is the case with most slashers--but I wouldn't, for example, say that it is so in the classic Universal flicks, for example. Yet Frankenstein and Dracula are undoubtedly horror.<br /><br />MM, it looks like I'm just gonna have to cancel our big beach getaway...B-Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-50099508447149831672010-03-25T21:35:04.675-04:002010-03-25T21:35:04.675-04:00Yes, Highly Caffeinated, I agree with you 100%. Yo...Yes, Highly Caffeinated, I agree with you 100%. You have stated exactly what Im trying to say perfectly. I must say we all have to agree it does come down to the persons personal preference on how the movie is affecting them. Now that I re-think things. I found JAWS to be a thriller, but, I am still somewhat scared of the ocean and think of that damn shark as I look out onto the water. So, if I am terrifeid, does that make JAWS horror to me, hmmmmm...MarilynMerlothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10649702966314236111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-83533946004863683652010-03-25T19:30:42.778-04:002010-03-25T19:30:42.778-04:00And this is why I love B-Sol. Always encouraging i...And this is why I love B-Sol. Always encouraging intelligent thought about horror and not getting wrapped up in all the fuss that surrounds us bloggers (lately).<br /><br />Great points all around. To me, it all comes down to the person and not any one particular classification. To me, Jaws was a thriller as well. But to scores of others who avoided the water for some time, it has and continues to be a horror film. Isn't that what a true horror film is all about? And some great points by Ray Ray that I wholeheartedly agree with.<br /><br />Excellent post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-63312359435840829202010-03-25T18:06:49.025-04:002010-03-25T18:06:49.025-04:00Nice debate! Just three days ago I posted about th...Nice debate! Just three days ago I posted about this very subject, but here is how I see the difference between the two.<br /><br />It is about 'who's story are we in?' Silence of the Lambs is a thriller, because it's Clarice Starling's story. If it was a horror, then we would have been seeing the movie through the eyes of Buffalo Bill's victim(s).<br /><br />Halloween is clearly a horror, as we follow Laurie as she is relentlessly pursued by Michael.<br /><br />I don't think supernatural elements make it a horror either, as The Others and even The Sixth Sense are both thrillers, not because of their stars, but who's story it is. Nor does the amount of blood and gore define it so much, as Se7en and The Cell both have gore and some scary moments, but again, it's about who we are following and what they are doing.<br /><br />In a thriller, we follow the pursuer, in a horror, we are with the pursued.Highly Caffeinatedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17396172014600662249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-89928102273169707712010-03-25T17:27:57.651-04:002010-03-25T17:27:57.651-04:00"Halloween" is a weird case. It's a ..."Halloween" is a weird case. It's a guy stabbing people, which I would label "Thriller." But Michael Myers (aka The Shape) was supposedly the existential personification of Evil (uppercase "E"). So, for me, that throws it into Horror Land...Theronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15511059300267887753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-8201490402027107422010-03-25T17:15:44.012-04:002010-03-25T17:15:44.012-04:00Great conversation! People go back and forth in th...Great conversation! People go back and forth in this debate, I think one thing that defines a movie as a horror film is that audiences WANT to see the bad stuff happen (violence, gore)to the characters, like F13 and all it's followers, and the NOES series. But I'd place the original Halloween as a thriller, because I didn't want ANY of the characters to die in that (which I know wouldn't have made much of a movie) but it lacks that mean-spiritedness that so many horror films have. Anyway, good article! <br />(WV: "boywo"AKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084216883655540363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-20321000746714782942010-03-25T17:08:13.092-04:002010-03-25T17:08:13.092-04:00I generally agree with B-Sol in this argument, tha...I generally agree with B-Sol in this argument, that typically a thriller is real life and horror is often supernatural. However, I also think that a hallmark of horror is a monster, even if that monster is a human being. Case in point: Michael Meyers.<br /><br />I think that, in my humble opinion, a better test for the horror/thriller question is the resultant emotions in the viewer. If the film gives one a shock which lasts during the movie, but is over once the film ends, then it is a thriller.<br /><br />On the other hand, if the film results in a continued sense of dread [or just tries to result in this] - if it continues to scare you after the lights come back on, then it is a horror.<br /><br />To that end I have to disgree with the both of you regarding Jaws being a thriller. It scared the crap out of me as a kid and still affects me to the present day. Blair Witch Project, at least for me, had a similar, though much shorter lived affect.<br /><br />On the other hand, no one has nightmares about Buffalo Bill or Hannibal Lechter. While there are scary parts to Silnce of the Lambs, it doesn't stay with you, even though Lechter escapes.<br /><br />I also cannot really understand how The Shining is not a horror movie. It is scary through and through, and continues the scare after the credits. It is, after all, essentially a ghost story, and if a ghost story isn't horror, than what is? <br /><br />Also, The Shining is not all in Jack's head, as both Wendy and the son experience terrifying weirdness. Ergo: horror.<br /><br />In any event, great post, and I look forward to more like it.RayRayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08718037136482754673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-72565298778394792022010-03-25T13:07:19.726-04:002010-03-25T13:07:19.726-04:00I was going to say the same thing as Theron: Horro...I was going to say the same thing as Theron: Horror vs. Terror-keeps me up at night. I would love to see that as a debate. Spot on about every film mentioned but I would still have to classify BWP as horror.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15029054484146348678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-3305436324944541492010-03-25T12:21:22.413-04:002010-03-25T12:21:22.413-04:00Ah, the age-old question. Also see: "The diff...Ah, the age-old question. Also see: "The difference between horror and terror."Theronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15511059300267887753noreply@blogger.com