I totally agree with you about the horror genre. If people are discerning and careful, they can find some true gems in the dumpster. It's ironic that my friend that I frequently watch movies with loves horror, so I have been subjected to some of the best and worst of the genre.
Sorry, but I don't agree with your classification of The Sixth Sense as merely a thriller. Most people consider it to be horror. I also don't agree with your sort of interesting but mostly bizarre placement of The Passion of the Christ in this series. Yes, Jesus' suffering is obviously horrific and there are horror elements in the film, but overall, it's a religious drama. Some movies can belong to more than one genre, of course. Alien is a notable example, combining sci-fi and horror (my favorite and least favorite), but I don't think The Passion of the Christ qualifies. I think this gives inadvertent credence to some of the film's critics who said it was nothing more than "Christian torture porn," the worst of the horror subgenres. Now, having said all that... I'm still interested in reading the essay.
There won't be an essay for the Passion, we've already done that. I think it was Mel Gibson's intent to make a historical drama, yes, but a lot of it is structured very much like a horror film, to effective results. Like horror, it eschews plot and character development (Jesus is understandably a static character) for scenes of violence, but these scenes are ordered for meditation on the Passion itself. There's no structural way that it functions as a drama.
I'm sorry, I misunderstood: I thought you wrote that you were including The Passion of the Christ in this series despite the fact that it was done before. Now that you mention it, I agree that it doesn't really work as a drama in the functional sense. I simply don't know what other words to use to describe it.
I would LOVE to see a post about which movies fall into that “thriller” category. Always looking for good films to watch with our family that celebrate the themes of the season without crossing the line!
Depending on the age of your children The Sixth Sense and 10 Cloverfield Lane are good PG-13 thrillers. Most of Hitchcock's films fit this bill, so feel free to check out our series on him from a little while ago. In terms of great Halloween-themed movies ironically you can't beat Nightmare Before Christmas in my book.
We love Hitchcock! Thinking about Signs and The Sixth Sense for when they are a little older. We are actually loving the Abbot and Costello comedies for a bit of Halloween fun, and The Ghost of Mrs. Muir is great. Who doesn’t love NBC?
Oh good! I'll have to figure out how to find it! As for NCFOM, it's been years since I've seen it, but it has an extremely terrifying and seemingly unstoppable antagonist in Anton Chigur who looms over the while movie killing in extremely violent ways. Like in The Terminator, the protagonist can't escape him. What genre is it?
The Passion is absolutely a horror movie! Great observations and great use of Aristotle’s means/extremes schema
Thank you Dominic!
I totally agree with you about the horror genre. If people are discerning and careful, they can find some true gems in the dumpster. It's ironic that my friend that I frequently watch movies with loves horror, so I have been subjected to some of the best and worst of the genre.
Sorry, but I don't agree with your classification of The Sixth Sense as merely a thriller. Most people consider it to be horror. I also don't agree with your sort of interesting but mostly bizarre placement of The Passion of the Christ in this series. Yes, Jesus' suffering is obviously horrific and there are horror elements in the film, but overall, it's a religious drama. Some movies can belong to more than one genre, of course. Alien is a notable example, combining sci-fi and horror (my favorite and least favorite), but I don't think The Passion of the Christ qualifies. I think this gives inadvertent credence to some of the film's critics who said it was nothing more than "Christian torture porn," the worst of the horror subgenres. Now, having said all that... I'm still interested in reading the essay.
There won't be an essay for the Passion, we've already done that. I think it was Mel Gibson's intent to make a historical drama, yes, but a lot of it is structured very much like a horror film, to effective results. Like horror, it eschews plot and character development (Jesus is understandably a static character) for scenes of violence, but these scenes are ordered for meditation on the Passion itself. There's no structural way that it functions as a drama.
I'm sorry, I misunderstood: I thought you wrote that you were including The Passion of the Christ in this series despite the fact that it was done before. Now that you mention it, I agree that it doesn't really work as a drama in the functional sense. I simply don't know what other words to use to describe it.
I would LOVE to see a post about which movies fall into that “thriller” category. Always looking for good films to watch with our family that celebrate the themes of the season without crossing the line!
Depending on the age of your children The Sixth Sense and 10 Cloverfield Lane are good PG-13 thrillers. Most of Hitchcock's films fit this bill, so feel free to check out our series on him from a little while ago. In terms of great Halloween-themed movies ironically you can't beat Nightmare Before Christmas in my book.
We love Hitchcock! Thinking about Signs and The Sixth Sense for when they are a little older. We are actually loving the Abbot and Costello comedies for a bit of Halloween fun, and The Ghost of Mrs. Muir is great. Who doesn’t love NBC?
Looking forward to the series. Agreed that 75+% is trash, but there are gems. My favorites are:
Alien
No Country for Old Men
A Quiet Place
Star Trek: First Contact
The Terminator
Season one of Stranger Things
Select episodes of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone
It appears my sci-fi bias is showing.
We finished the series! Check it out in the "100 More Movies" section. Also interested in why you consider "No Country for Old Men" horror haha
Oh good! I'll have to figure out how to find it! As for NCFOM, it's been years since I've seen it, but it has an extremely terrifying and seemingly unstoppable antagonist in Anton Chigur who looms over the while movie killing in extremely violent ways. Like in The Terminator, the protagonist can't escape him. What genre is it?