Horror or not ?
Everyone seems to put Jaws on their list of best horror movies. I don't think it qualifies as a horror film.
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MovieChat Forums > Jaws (1975) Discussion > Horror or not ?
It's a horror movie first and foremost. It tries to frighten you. It has jump scares in it, back when they weren't littered throughout horror movies. It left people at the time frightened to go into the water. Look at the title. Listen to the music. How much more obvious is it?
I don't understand the reasoning for not wanting to class it as a horror movie.
How much more obvious is it?Considering how this topic keeps popping up every few months, it's clearly not so obvious. Adventure/Drama/Thriller is how it's classified on the main page, so I guess it's not obvious to IMDb either.
Spielberg doesn't consider it a horror film, and he's the guy who...y'know... directed it.
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I'm fine with people viewing it as being under another genre such as a thriller. I myself would view it as a thriller after horror. As long as it's acknowledged as a horror as well.
I fail to see how on this same site you have a film like Cujo, that essentially replaces the shark in Jaws with a dog, and it's classified as a horror, whereas this one isn't. Or even classifying Arachnophobia as a horror in its list of genres, ahead of this film. Or even listing this film's three sequels as horrors and not this one. So as you can see, IMDB's judgment is a little bit imbalanced here and I disagree with it, as I do with Spielberg's opinion if he does not regard it as a horror at all.
The film is very much filled with horror and terror and presents that tone right from the front cover along with its many taglines. Nobody is going to look at the front cover and go "Yes, this is a drama."
I myself would view it as a thriller after horror.I respect that. I myself would view it as a thriller with moments of horror. Also humor, drama, and adventure. Thriller above all else, though, because it's all about the build-up, the suspense. The pay-offs (head, leg, geyser of blood) are brief.
Spielberg has said that he wanted Jaws to keep people on the edge of their seats. It's been described by many as Hitchcockian -- and we all know what he was The Master of...
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It may have been made as a thriller. I think it transcends the thriller genre and becomes as much or more a horror. It's very much been a template for many horror movies; a killer terrorising a local community, killing people off one by one. That is Jaws in a nutshell. Most of the horrors of this nature have a build up and and a suspense, if they're any good. Halloween certainly does. The idea for Alien was even pitched as "Jaws in space". If they are horrors then Jaws should be too.
shareI think we can both agree that Jaws was made to scare people
“Spielberg has said that he wanted Jaws to keep people on the edge of their seats. It's been described by many as Hitchcockian -- and we all know what he was The Master of...”
Spielberg is also on record saying he wanted the opening scene to be primal. Primal incorporates terror and horror. I’ve always believed JAWS was a horror movie because it touches on the primal.
Hi,
you're only comparing J with horror movies. I can say an orange is round, about the size of an apple and is a fruit, but that doesn't make it an apple even though there are many similarities. Off topic, have you ever tried to use physical description to differentiate between a cat and a dog?
Anyway; the movies I'd compare J to are the likes of Moby Dick, Pulp Fiction, Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Misery, Sophie's Choice. The longevity of J is based in it being most of the time a thriller drama.
🇦🇺 All the little devils are proud of Hell.
..... "Spielberg doesn't consider it a horror film, and he's the guy who...y'know... directed it. "
Exactly ! !
I saw the movie when it came out & I was 10 (11?) . . .
AND yes, I'll admit 😖. . Anytime I've put a toe in the water at the beach, since that summer, I've thought (Wayyyy in the back of my mind); "what if....."
Hence: It was/is a GREAT movie.... compared to 99.3567168463% of today's garbage......
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Where can I find the definition of the word 'Dictionary' ?
Its somewhere between a horror and thriller, honestly I think it meets the qualifications for both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jk4ExFF3tg
Pretend it's 2000, you work at a Blockbuster Video, and you can only put the case in one section.
Comedy
Drama
Action
Suspense
Horror
Sci-Fi
Documentary
Musical
Way back in 2003, JAWS was genre listed as a horror/thriller. I'm the guy who brought the attention to the IMDB mods that JAWS is in no way, shape or form, a horror. I pushed the adventure, drama, thriller genres. I don't remember what my argument was exactly then, but I will argue it here.
There is no real horror to this film. JAWS is about a shark, a fish that did nothing different than any other shark. Other than it's size (which is fantastic, but not extraordinary), there's nothing more. To quote Matt Hooper, "All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks,".
Yes it's scary at times, but scary is a far cry from horror. Perhaps you'd have to be a shark fisherman to understand why. As far as the film is concerned, the scariest scene is Hooper's dive to investigate Ben Gardner's boat.
I would never try to take anything away from this film. It's certainly a thinkers film and one which will always make a 1st time viewer reluctant about entering any large body of water, salt or even fresh. Jaws will always be one of my top 3 films.
But I reiterate, Jaws is not horror
"A naked American man stole my balloons"
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Agreed, pequaboy.
I like the description on the original soundtrack cover:
http://www.solidviper.com/coverart/large/207240l.jpg
Pretend it's 2000, you work at a Blockbuster Video, and you can only put the case in one section.
Comedy
Drama
Action
Suspense
Horror
Sci-Fi
Documentary
Musical
Good way to look at it, obviously its a documentary because of its totally accurate portrayal of shark behavior. 😉
Just joking, based on that criteria, I'd probably put it under suspense, but if I saw it under horror I wouldn't really disagree with it either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jk4ExFF3tg share
For me it's an action film, albeit one with extremely strong suspense and horror elements.
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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch
Yes, it's as action-packed as True Lies and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The suspense and scares far outweigh the action.
If JAWS isn't horror than neither is HALLOWEEN.
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J is so much more.
🇦🇺 All the little devils are proud of Hell.
Jaws is not just a horror film, it's a quintessential horror film.
shareSuspense or thriller, not horror, being scary doesn't make it a horror movie, The Silence of the Lambs is the same kind of movie, What Lies Beneath also, The Exorcist is horror, Alien, Sci-fi/horror
shareI think its kind of like an action adventure suspense thriller and drama all mixed together.. But the thing is this movie is responsible for TONS of people being afraid to go in the ocean and afraid of sharks.. So in a way this is a movie that is a REAL horror movie that actually scared tons of people. I mean many horror movies people watch for excitement and stuff and don't really get scared of something in real life from the movie (maybe I'm wrong though) but this one actually created a real fear.
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