Silence Of The Lambs ... does it err more towards Horror, or Thriller?
 

Love thrillers, hate Horrors. Should I see it?

Everyone should see this movie. I file it under "Thriller".

"Romantic Comedy/Chic flick."

Silence of the Lambs is not a horror movie. Perhaps Hannibal is (although I still think of that one as a dark comedy).

It is definitely a thriller.

Agree with it being a thriller... Also a must see.

I say it has elements of both. But it's tricky because there is no universally accepted definition of thriller vs horror. Everyone has their own ideas of what constitutes each.

I avoid horror movies like the plague (I'm not only "turned off" by gore, but it makes me queasy). That being said, Silence is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's definitely a "thriller" with some mild, but not exploitative, gore.

Ironically, the video for thriller should be filed under horror.

I vote thriller with graphic violence and disturbing images.

The need to put exclusive labels on movies is silly ... it is what it is. And what it is: only the third movie ever to win the top 5 Oscars (picture/actor/actress/director/screenplay), a critical and commercial monster hit, an exciting/thrilling/intelligent/scary movie. Unless you're against the basic storyline (serial killers), I can't imagine why a movie fan wouldn't at least want to check this out.

I'd file it under thriller if I had to, but it also has elements of drama, horror, suspense, etc. so this genre stuff gets really blurry when a movie is not cut and dry.

Which is why "err towards" was the operative phrase here.

You might be missing out on some great movies if you're avoiding them solely based on the gore factor. There are plenty of horror movies with much less gore than Silence, such as Halloween, Black Christmas (the original, not the 2006 remake), etc.

:up: :up:

It errs towards absolutely classic and should be seen by anyone who enjoys movies, period.

Convinced. Thanks guys - went out and bought the feature-only DVD as it was sale AND I had a discount voucher. Will look to get to it sometime this weekend.

haha, we tricked you! It's pure horror! :banana:

:lol:

the old determination is if it grosses more than $100 million its a thriller
if it grosses less than $100 million its horror

Bought it, saw it, really liked (but didn't love) it. Hopkins' performance is in the same vein as Brando in The Godfather or Whitaker in The Last King Of Scotland -- they don't have the majority of the screentime, but it feels like they had more. All of these performances are so magnetic that when they aren't on the screen you really wish they were. Good stuff. All in all a great addition to my growing DVD collection (now over 120 titles).

EDIT - Oh, and it without a doubt is more a Thriller than a Horror.