What is Horror? pt 1

Most people define the Horror Genre as scary films. Horror is what scares you.

Fear is synonymous with Horror in the minds of most movie-goers. To be sure, if horror's effective, there should be Fear.

So is that the end of the discussion? The presence of Fear means it's Horror? We should check it out and see.

One horror fan defined Horror is "extreme drama." Such a statement, though, more rightly belongs to other genres.

Romeo & Juliet is "extreme drama" - Tragedy to be specific. The defining quality of Drama is conflict.  As playwright George Bernard Shaw put it:

“No conflict, no drama."

Horror is not extreme conflict - the Action Genre is a better fit for that description.

A traffic collision is conflict. Whatever’s happening in that above image above is extreme conflict. Would anyone's first assumption be to think that image came from a horror movie? 

The problem with using Fear to single-handedly define Horror is that Fear is a key component for most of the  other genres.   

Imagine you found your life suddenly being the central plot of any of the following: 

Heat (1995) - Thriller

Titanic (1997) - Tragedy

Prisoners (2013) - Crime

Goodfellas (1990) - Gangster

Reign of Fire (2002) - Fantasy

Schindler’s List (1993) - History

Fast & Furious 6 (2013) - Action

Saving Private Ryan (1998) - War

Kramer vs Kramer (1979) - Drama

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Adventure

Independence Day (1996) - Science Fiction

Would you not be fearful? Every one of those films would either be your life ending or it being irrevocably turned upside down.

To be sure, each of those films are fun to watch, but to live through? Why would anyone want to voluntarily choose it? These films all have Fear-generating components and yet none of them are regarded as Horror.   

So what makes all of the above different from say... The Exorcist?

A true Horror if ever there was one. Love it or hate it, it’s doubtful anyone will argue its genre.

So why is Pazuzu above so clearly Horror but Indiana Jones' moment below is not - despite being no less life threatening? He went through more fearful moments in Raiders than Regan did in The Exorcist, so what's going on?

We'll find out when this discussion of What is Horror? continues.

Genre Talk