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Does anybody else get annoyed when people try to pass off masterful horror films as thrillers?

posted 8 years ago by Voorhees (12)
3 replies | jump to latest

It seems to happen whenever a horror film starts achieving some sort of critical success. I noticed it recently in relation to Get Out (2016). Now that it has been Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and has gotten rave reviews from critics I've started seeing people referring to it as a 'thriller' rather than a 'horror'.

This seems to be a trend amongst well-done horror films. I've seen lots of people try to distance these films from the horror genre by labelling them thrillers despite them obviously being horror films.

It is as if there can't be a good horror film, and any horror film that ends up being good has to be labelled a thriller, just to make sure there can be no good horror films. Then people complain about the lack of good horror films!

[–] lennonforever (2453) 8 years ago

This has been done for years. Frankly, anything to get film "noticed" is ok with me. I think if "The Silence of the Lambs" wasn't labeded thriller, it may no have won Oscars. Though, Oscars are stupid.

[–] DarthPred (1) 8 years ago

Yeah, I don't know why the idea of having a "good"/award-winning horror film is so taboo. When looking at a user score for a horror film, I usually do a "+1" in my head to get a better idea of what it really is like....so if the film is rated 5.5, I'll interpret it as being around a 6.5 quality film.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 8 years ago

"Award-winning horror" is an oxymoron, always has been. It goes back to the premise that anybody loving horror must be a nut case!
I'm an old nut case, then.
I'm just glad there are scads of folks still loving horror and making horror for me to watch. Just make it, no matter what sub-genre.