MovieChat Forums > Picnic at Hanging Rock (1979) Discussion > How do some consider this a horror movie...

How do some consider this a horror movie???


I don't really understand how many consider Picnic At Hanging Rock a horror movie. I mean it's very atmospheric and haunting but it doesn't seem right to call it a horror movie. I've only seen the director's cut which cuts about 7 minutes from the original, are there any horror elements that make it so? If not, then why call it a horror film? I was just wondering because to me there is nothing in the director's cut that can call it a horror movie.

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It is a horror, not a blood and gore horror.

It is in a sense of metaphysical transcendence where a group of healthy females become entranced as they make their way climbing an ancient spiritual rock perhaps in a way the Aboriginal spirits drawing these people into their fold.

Anyways I could write an essay. That would bore you all however all I can say is yes this is a horror, it is a psychological horror with vanishing girls and teacher, the one to first survive and witness the whole thing Edith apparently doesn't say much whatever it is she saw, as the girls leave her, Edith proclaims in her whinging tone that she doesn't feel well. While the others leave her.
All she tells is the teacher was just seen in her underwear (draws).

Irma can not even explain what happened to her or why the other three left.

Then we have the other story of Sara who has lost two people in her life Miranda and Albert. Her guardian did not pay the fees on time and so she is being punished. Losing Miranda sends her over the edge and she commits suicide.

Finally we have Mrs Appleyard who seems to be in her own troubled thoughts. The narrator tells the viewer Mrs Appleyard committed suicide at the Rock.

I must add this. This clip can be found on YouTube as the alternative original ending that gives it that Horror factor to the extreme.
Mrs Appleyard is told of Sara's death by the gardener. Mrs Appleyard is then seen at the Rock in what appears to be a dusty haze of Summer's end and is wondering around in a daze, her hair is messed. As she climbs up it she spots a figure of a girl in a white dress or night dress with long hair. Staring at her with a smirk. A close up the girl is Sara. Scene cuts to a group of men carrying a stretcher with Mrs Appleyard's body.

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The narrator tells the viewer Mrs Appleyard committed suicide at the Rock.


No, the narrator simply points out that Mrs. Appleyard apparently fell after trying to climb the rock. He says nothing about suicide. Without a suicide note, who would possibly know?

The original ending clip can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2RRdsIjsj8

Mrs. Appleyard was obviously disillusioned after losing funding for her college and Sara's sudden suicide. She's drawn to Hanging Rock, the source of her troubles, and wanders around climbing the outcropping and even falls asleep on the rocks in midday at one point. She starts climbing again and it's at this point that she "sees" Sara through a large crack and proceeds to walk toward her, which is the last we see of her alive. She was obviously delusional at this point, tired and thirsty; she was haunted by Sara's suicide and no doubt felt partially responsible. So the "Sara" she sees isn't real; it's a figment of her troubled imagination. She ends up falling off the top at some point. While this was likely an accident while suffering mental breakdown and delusions, there's still a small possibility it was suicide. The film leaves it up in the air.

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[deleted]

i don't call it a horror movie, I call it a complete waste of time. Nothing that happens makes any sense, and no teason is given for anything. Maddening.

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It's a fairylike lovecraftian horror movie. For me. Don't really care in what genre it would be put on netflix or your late blockbuster.

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I would call it existential horror

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A 'psychological' horror, certainly. Some strange stuff going on, then they don't handle the situation well.
One of those films that's not so easy to put a genre to.

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