Originally Posted by metternich1815 (Post 947411)

I agree with most of what people have said in this thread. I actually remember learning about this in my Intro to Philosophy course. Horror movies are really an open-concept (A thing that has certain characteristics, except when it doesn't). Many people, on the other hand, try to treat it as a closed-concept (thing with a clear definition, such as a triangle). Personally, I group the War of the Worlds (1953), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Evil Dead II (1987), Jaws (1975), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Seven (1998), and Dawn of the Dead (1978) as a horror (with Pan's Labyrinth, Seven, Dawn of the Dead, Jaws, and Evil Dead II being clearly horror). With the understanding that horror is not really a clearly defined genre. As stated, genre grouping is often artificial with some films not fitting into a certain category or sometimes fitting into multiple simutaneoulsy. I think we generally understand what is a horror movie and what isn't. Casper simply is not a horror movie. Young Frankenstein, I don't consider horror, but understand the argument. Additionally, sometimes "scary movie" is used interchangeably with horror movie, but this is not always the case. Jaws or Psycho, for instance, are not particularly scary (unless you are in a motel or in the ocean), but are definitely horror. Thus, a horror movie is scary unless it's not. Ultimately, horror movies cannot be easily categorized or grouped because they are not a closed-concept.