explain to me how the BEEP is this movie a horror? - The Purge (2013) Discussion

[–] blade101167 9 years ago

Can you define horror? It's not straight foward.

If the concept of something is morally horrific - whether it be demonic possesion as in The Exorcist, undead rampaging killers as in Friday the 13th or legally endorsed mass murder as in The Purge - then it's arguably horror. One genre, just different takes. Freddy and Jason are horror for kicks and laughs, Hostel and Last House are voyeur horror and The Purge and The Strangers are cerebral horror.

That doesn't mean horror films can't have thrilling moments in them of course, the best ones have a mix of both.

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[–] Loincloth 9 years ago

Answer: it's not. It's actually a 1970s-style near-future Science-Fiction thriller: they just marketed it as a horror because that was an easier peg to hang it on, and tbh lots of people running lots of sites online always just happily swallow the studio/ distributor line for an easy life.

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[–] blade101167 9 years ago

You mean like Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes or Westworld? In which case it is almost nothing at all like those apart from the shared dystopian futures... the basic premise of LR is horrific and used to scare me as a young child that I would die at the age of thrty.

Also, your very subjective opinion about studios "pegging this as horror" insults every person's intelligence in being able to make their own mind up.

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[–] Loincloth 9 years ago

Logan's Run wasn't set in the near-future: so you're right: nothing like this.

Planet Of The Apes is a 1960s film and also not set in the near-future: so you're right: nothing like this.

Westworld is set in the near future and does have the same horror elements as the later similar 1980s film The Terminator: so you're wrong: A little like this. And, like this, isn't a horror film.

Unless you want it to be.

Hold your own opinion and defend it; just don't waste my time again with straw men.

Thanks😀

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[–] blade101167 9 years ago

In your ignorance, you completely missed my point. You stated The Purge wasn't horror but rather akin to a future based 70's style sci-fi film - of which I gave several examples, I note that you yourself didn't give any to support your own argument. IMO apart from being all set in the future - near or far isn't really relevant - they have little else in common with The Purge. The Purge does however have a great deal more in common with The Strangers and Funny Games - which I would class as mature horror crossed with thriller elements.

Care to offer why - apart from the future premise - you would consider The Purge a 70's style sci-fi film? Being set in the future does not make a movie sci-fi just by itself - Escape From New York is not sci-fi.

Finally, while you're quite correct that the original Planet of the Apes movie was *late* sixties, the follow up movies and long running TV series were all made in the seventies.

Thanks.

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[–] Loincloth 9 years ago

'actually a 1970s-style near-future Science-Fiction thriller'

Near of Far-future might not be particularly relevant to you, but it's a particular sub-generic distinction as far as I'm concerned. Whatever, blud.

To my mind it's a subset of sci-fi (which Escape From New York also belongs to, along with the likes of the forthcoming High Rise) where one extrapolates an extreme (and often horrifying, but not actually horror) scenario from current societal trends and projections. So you have:

Rising urban violence and ghettoisation ---> The whole of New York becoming a prison.
Increasing inequality in society and and imblance between the haves and the have nots ---> One night a year when the rich gather into hunting packs and run down vagrants and people who can't afford to defend themselves.
A society where pleasure is increasingly commodified and playparks for the rich increasingly exotic ---> theme park where you can shag and murder robots designed to look like people (or observe dinosaurs in a kitcsh representation of what would've been their natural habitat).

All of this is just opinion, btw. I really don't care. Just decided to have a flame war with you because you're so clearly up yourself. Soz.😎

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[–] blade101167 9 years ago

I agree, Westworld and The Purge share certain elements... however, their stories and undertones are very different. I re-state that The Purge is a sub genre of (home invasion) horror - again I quote The Strangers and Funny Games - rather than sci-fi as you argue.

Escape From New York is merely set in the future - the year of which has now passed - there's very little scientific about it. Westworld is purely sci-fi since it adopts killer robots as the baddies! The Purge - almost like EFNY - has nothing at all scientific in it, all technology is current and as such it just happens to be imaginatively set in a time not too far from now.

But yet again I see you're using my examples to support your opinion rather than coming up with any of you own. Which I'm sure you know is a basic principle of debating? Therefore I accept your defeat following your admission that you're simply being a dick... ironic considering your username.

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[–] Loincloth 9 years ago

Why on earth would I need to come with further examples when I've made my point. And ouch, good burn saying I'm being a dick, when I already flat-out admitted I'm trolling you. Brush up on your flaming skills, son.

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[–] Loincloth 9 years ago

Actually, tbf and serious for a second before we get back to amusing ad hominen attacks on each other, I actually think this is probably a semantic disagreement about definition: you see SF as being specifically needing imaginary or extrapolated scientific advances to qualify, whereas I'm seeing it in the broader cinematic sense as including what many would actually call Speculative Fiction.

Right, that's my reasonable side done for another week. Now we can get back to trying to set each other on fire.

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[–] blade101167 9 years ago

Oh dear, did you see what happened there Loincloth? The self confessed troll - i.e. you - got himself trolled.

The blissful irony of it...

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[–] Loincloth 9 years ago

I got trolled? Okay, dude. Can't see it myself, but then my mind-state isn't wrapped up in fairies and self-worship like your appears to be, so I appreciate my perceptions and yours are extremely divergent lol!
😍

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Home invasion doesn’t equal Horror necessarily.

Is Home Alone a horror film?

The problem with ‘The Purge’ is that it isn’t interested in being a horror movie.

At no point does the movie even attempt to use realism or dread but instead has the villains dancing around and not caring if they die or not, it’s more of a thriller really.

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[–] thekatelopez 9 years ago

Is it because they don't make THRILLER MOVIES anymore? I wish they would. Why not?

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[–] Ryan-lindsey1 9 years ago

The title page literally says:

"Horror/Sci-fi/Thriller"

So....yea......

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[–] Penske_Material 9 years ago

It did have a horror vibe to it, around the time the purge begins it sort of feels a bit like it, but I'd understand why it doesn't really fit as one.

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[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] IvnSoft 9 years ago

Just watched this movie.

It is horror. Not because it belongs to the horror genre... But because :

- The premise is ridiculous.
- The acting is awful.
- The camera... Did all cameraman suffered from parkinsons ?

What a waste of time. At least i got to do some stuff while watching, because i got bored into the first 5 minutes.

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[–] chamohlamb 8 years ago

It's a scary premise. I mean i would call Taxi Driver, Alocalylse Now and Trainspottong horror movies.

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[–] libbyhatch21-1 8 years ago

They probably figure the bloodshed/killing on a large scale (rampaging & without conscience) make it horror.

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