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My thoughts on Battle Royale are that it's really not that original of a concept. The Immoral Game Show trope has been done plenty of times, and survivalism isn't uncommon. It's a bit like The Running Man meets Lord of the Flies, however Lord of the Flies at least has one scene that was truly horror (the pig head on the stake scene). It's definitely a fun, notable child violence exploitation flick, but I never thought it was particularly horror. Certainly violent, but to me, more in the Riki-Oh sense, not the evil-force-has-just-violently-killed-you sense. I don't think any scene was really intended to be scary for the viewer, but definitely shocking, which I suppose is close enough. I can't think of anything significant it added to the horror genre, it didn't start a trend or expand on existing horror themes, and if we're saying it contributed to the copycat success of The Hunger Games, from a horror perspective, that's a step in the wrong direction. It's weird how certain films become unquestioned horror darlings, while other genuinely creepy films like Donnie Darko and Black Swan are almost universally dismissed as non-horror.
I also, personally had a very different experience than Straker did with the character development. I thought there were way too many characters, such that I ended up caring about none of them. I actually got a bit impatient and frustrated, and began enjoying the film a lot more once most of the characters were killed off, and more attention could be given to the few remaining. I also thought some of the dialog was atrocious, but that could just be less-than-ideal translation. Maybe I just watched it on a bad day and need to see it again.
This is certainly not a negative vote. I'll be the last person to neg vote a movie for being "not horror enough," and my comments on its quality are pretty subjective. I just think there are other films that are actually leaving a mark on the genre.
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