Do you consider gore horror?

[Bob Gray]

I was in a debate the other day about the film The Wizard of Gore, the person I was debating with considers it Shock Cinema but not horror, I say it is both. What do all of you guys think? What about other gore or torture films?

[neverending]

Semantics....

[Posher778]

Torture is 'horrific' in the same sense that going to family reunions is horrific, but not so much horror to me. However, realistic torture when used correctly is different.

Gore? Sure, again, if it's done right. Don't get me wrong, I love a good gore fest, but if it's overkill it usually (keyword usually) gets to be hokey.

[Bob Gray]

Originally Posted by Posher778

Torture is 'horrific' in the same sense that going to family reunions is horrific, but not so much horror to me. However, realistic torture when used correctly is different.

Gore? Sure, again, if it's done right. Don't get me wrong, I love a good gore fest, but if it's overkill it usually (keyword usually) gets to be hokey.

When I say torture I'm talking about films like Saw, Hostel, etc. I would consider The Wizard of Gore not just gore but also torture considering that Montag usually has the girls strapped to a table of some sort.

Yeah, the Wizard of Gore is definitely hokey and I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. You have to really be into gore, torture, and camp to really enjoy it.

[irons]

Gore just adds a bit of yuch element to a film. I personaly don't find it scary as such, you know it's just make-up effects/CGI.
But I enjoy good gore effect, it has more rewatch value than jump scares.

[sfear]

Probably gore-horror could be considered a type of horror in the same way vampires, ghosts, haunted houses, you name it, are types of horror. Sub-genres I guess, sort of like the way time travel, alien invasions, space opera are all types of sf.

[fyfjoe]

I think that "gore" could be classified as a sub-genre of horror just as you'd classify any other sub-genre (horror-comedy, thriller, supernatural) under the horror banner. Yet I don't necessarily think gore on it's own merits a horror label. I usually use the scene in the bathroom from the movie "Drive" as an example, it can be classified as a pretty graphic gore scene yet I wouldn't label it as horror at all.

[Bob Gray]

Originally Posted by fyfjoe

I think that "gore" could be classified as a sub-genre of horror just as you'd classify any other sub-genre (horror-comedy, thriller, supernatural) under the horror banner. Yet I don't necessarily think gore on it's own merits a horror label. I usually use the scene in the bathroom from the movie "Drive" as an example, it can be classified as a pretty graphic gore scene yet I wouldn't label it as horror at all.

I'm not just talking about any gory scene in any movie, I'm talking about the gore genre films like The Wizard of Gore, Blood Feast, or Cannibal Holocaust. I mean take Tarantino, most of his films show tons of blood and gore but I would not consider most of them horror with the exceptions being From Dusk Til Dawn and perhaps Grindhouse which is more of a comedy/horror/action.

[varo123]

I think that many gore movies are a "sub genre" of horror, but not every gore movie is part of that sub genre... I love "Bread and Circus" and it's certainly not a horror movie( comedy with a message), "Ichi the killer", badtaste....and I consider them as "gore" before being comedies, thrillers, action movies,horror, etc.....

Something I can tell for sure is that "horror" and "gore"share many similarities when it's about looking for a target audience. Guess the link between both is that horror fans tend to be used to lots of violence on a movie than "other genre" fans... Just my opinion I 'm no statistician to prove it

[fyfjoe]

Originally Posted by Bob Gray

I'm not just talking about any gory scene in any movie, I'm talking about the gore genre films like The Wizard of Gore, Blood Feast, or Cannibal Holocaust. I mean take Tarantino, most of his films show tons of blood and gore but I would not consider most of them horror with the exceptions being From Dusk Til Dawn and perhaps Grindhouse which is more of a comedy/horror/action.

OOps, possibly should have read the question better, or at all for that matter. The films you listed definitely have horror elements.

In that case, I would classify gore as a horror subgenre. Olaf Ittenbach's Dard Divorce would be a good example of that. Possibly Marian Dora's "Cannibal" or most of the German splatter films for that matter.

I could see points from the other side of the discussion though, with films like Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl... wouldn't classify those as horror.

guess Neverending said it best "semantics..."