IMDb recently replaced "Thriller" category of this movie with "Horror".. - The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Discussion

Well it's Horror now

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (62046923) 8 years ago

It's horror

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It's definitely a thriller and I also consider it a horror film, though people have debated that for a while.

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[–] pistrix 8 years ago

Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.

Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spookfests, and the macabre. See also Scariest Film Moments and Scenes (illustrated) - from many of the Greatest Horror Films ever made, Best Film Death Scenes (illustrated), and Three Great Horror Film Franchises.

http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

Personally I would never have labeled it a horror film. Psychological suspense thrill yes, or some combo of those words. Horror to me I think of the slasher films with more blood, guts and gore.

But ah well oddly even Psycho has been dubbed a horror film too.
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[–] putrescent_stench 7 years ago

our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality

Doesn't Silence of the Lambs play on these? Personally, I do see it as more of a thriller with horror elements. But I am not entirely sure why. Maybe because it doesn't involve this:

our terror of the unknown

Though I suppose one could argue that its exploration of aberrant psychological states in Lecter and Buffalo Bill qualify (to most) as "unknown" or at least taboo for most people to associate with (as well as the taboo practices of cannibalism, wearing human skin, and genderqueering).

It's a well-made film, but it's not one I find myself drawn to rewatch. I think it has something to do with it being more akin to being a thriller--being less about that exploration of the unknown than focusing on an already strong protagonist deal with the threats of Lecter and Buffalo Bill. Despite what I say above about its exploration of the aberrant and taboo, its just not "dark" enough in tone (for lack of better phrasing), but it definitely straddles the line. It's not the blood and guts, either. Halloween (the original) has very little blood and no guts, but it's certainly horror. The Haunting (1963)? No blood and guts, but definitely horror. But in both examples, there is a feeling of pervasive terror, of uncertainty and unknowability. Neither Lecter nor Buffalo Bill create that for me--they are formidable, and perhaps unusual, but they aren't terrifying or unknowable, especially pitted against Starling. Yet, I'm sure some would disagree and see them as evil and strange enough to count as terrifying and unknowable; these are highly subjective criteria. My rebuttal would be to ask whether the protagonist considers them terrifying and unknowable, and I don't think Starling does.

Anyone have a good, thought-out way of distinguishing horror and thrillers? I guess for me it's less about being able to definitively classify and more about expectation. I want to know what I'm getting into. For me, if you tell me something is like Halloween (or any slasher) but it's more like Silence, then I'd probably be let down.

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[–] ZakkWyldeMyLittlePony 7 years ago

It is a mystery/thriller. Jaws, IMO, is not a horror film.

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[–] keyser_soze_smokes 7 years ago

The american (collective) mind (or lack of) (which is sadly a mirror of its by-product, the so-called 'global' 'culture') never ceases to disappoint indeed.

Horror. The horror.

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[–] Enoculator 7 years ago

Horror is also my favourite genre, and I have watched all kinds of horror films from different countries and decades. Silence of the Lambs was in NO WAY a horror film by any stretch of imagination. To call it a horror film is a disservice to true horror classics like The Exorcist, The Shining, Alien or even The Thing. It is at most a crime psychological thriller (which has now been correctly labelled by IMDB).

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