Horror and their subgenres
 

Hi,

First time posting on this forum, massive horror fan.

Just wanted to share my blog post with you.

https://jameshenryowens.wordpress.co...its-subgenres/

Thanks

You missed the 'Underwater Nazi Zombie' Subgenre.

http://www.bmoviegraveyard.com/revie...ake/poster.jpg

I will fight till the day I die on this point: just because a movie has a lot of gore doesn't make it a torture porn. That's the most overused phrase out there. Saw isn't torture porn. Grotesque and August Underground are. A torture porn is a movie that tries to thrill the audience with excessive violence, and any plot is just a vehicle for that goal. Saw tries more than that. It's a gritty little movie, but it's not even as gory as High Tension. It tries to thrill the audience with the twists and turns in the plot. Hostel is the same thing. There's not much gore in the movie apart from maybe a couple scenes.

How about the comedic slaughter-the-teenagers-splatterfest types like Final Destination 3, Tucker & Dale vs Evil or Hatchet 2.

You mentioned the Human Centipede - what a barf fest that was! I didn't find it entertaining at all, and kept wondering what was the purpose or point of connecting 3 people together by the mad scientist - if he wanted a pet - he could have gotten a dog.

I thought it had some pretty good tension, and I think it did well at shocking the audience. Not a terrible movie in my opinion, but I'll never watch it again.

'Torture porn' is just a term that ill informed media coined to pigeon hole the gorier films of the (mostly) horror genre. Saw and Hostel were among the first names to be lumped into this 'sub genre' - also films like Martyrs and Haute Tension. It sprung up much in a way the label 'Video Nasty' in the 80's (though the subjects of this term are much easier to define).

'[insert name here] is a movie that tries to thrill the audience with excessive violence, and any plot is just a vehicle for that goal. ' - I think that can be said for a lot of Horror films, Brain Dead for example.

what about the 'killer tyre' subgenre from rubber??????

It can be said for a lot of horror films, but I feel movies like Vile or august Underground are the ones that have that sole purpose. Stuff like, say, The Exorcist, tries to thrill the audience through its atmosphere.

Also, I've never really heard High Tension be called a torture flick. I've always heard it as a slasher movie.

(10 seconds on google)From Diabolique Magazine:

'Khalfoun succeeded in this gamble with ample assistance from his fellow Frenchman Alexandre Aja (who co-wrote and produced the film), the director of such torture-porn gems as High Tension and the execrable remake of Craven’s Vietnam-era classic The Hills Have Eyes.'

But that wasn't my point...

I'm aware of that. I was just saying I've never heard it called a torture porn.

Torture porn includes anything that has a whit of onscreen torture, regardless of its relevance or importance to the plot.

Now someone explain the difference between a gory giallo with an obvious villain and a nearly bloodless slasher with much mystery. I would argue that many popular giallos are actually slashers, and vice versa.

We have an entire Sticky devoted to the subject:

http://horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33002

That is almost every single horror film then.

True, it's a meta-genre created by some old fart who hates onscreen violence (i.e. most modern horror). Although through common error, it is becoming a recognized subgenre.

Would Reservoir Dogs be considered torture porn then?

Yes, torture porn includes some crime drama, sci-fi, etc.

Every movie that has a sex scene isn't considered porn, so why would every movie that has some blood be considered torture porn?

It is by some. The old definition of porn does not reference sex specifically, which is why that same old fart used "porn" in the term "torture porn".

Giallo is a type of (Italian) who dunnit film that has certain tropes and charactertics - stylish camera work/lighting, disguised/black gloved killer, protagonist in the role of amateur detective.

Killer usually is revealed to be crazy through something that happen to them.

Obviously not all Giallo films have all of these but these are the building blocks of the genre.

This is news to me too......