It struck me as strange how plainly both Tyler and David said that Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are not horror movies. To me, they obviously are (incidentally, David Lynch also called Lost Highway a horror movie). I mean, how are they not? They’re scary and unsettling and violent and supernatural. Mulholland Drive perhaps has too many scenes that don’t fit the genre (thought you could say the same about The Exorcist and Carrie). Lost Highway, however, is as perfect an example of what I love about horror as The Shining.
It depends on how you think of horror. Is there a scare quota, where if a movie is frightening enough, it automatically becomes horror? Or, as a genre, do we need certain plot/character tropes to be fulfilled? Both are valid but I was referring to the latter when I said what I said.
I’m with them: a scary thing can happen in a film, like the Winkie’s diner scene, but that’s not enough. It needs to be part of the overall goal of the film. Lost Highway is probably closer due to the Robert Blake character, but it’s not comparable to The Shining, where the family is stuck in an isolated location, haunted by ghosts and stalked by crazy Jack.
Both Mulholland Drive and (especially) Lost Highway seem pretty intent on disturbing, unsettling and scaring the audience, so I would say it’s part of the overall goal. They both have supernatural elements, violent murders and a character (maybe) losing their mind. I’d say The Shining has more in common with these movies than it does with Friday the 13th or Scream.
It struck me as strange how plainly both Tyler and David said that Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are not horror movies. To me, they obviously are (incidentally, David Lynch also called Lost Highway a horror movie). I mean, how are they not? They’re scary and unsettling and violent and supernatural. Mulholland Drive perhaps has too many scenes that don’t fit the genre (thought you could say the same about The Exorcist and Carrie). Lost Highway, however, is as perfect an example of what I love about horror as The Shining.
It depends on how you think of horror. Is there a scare quota, where if a movie is frightening enough, it automatically becomes horror? Or, as a genre, do we need certain plot/character tropes to be fulfilled? Both are valid but I was referring to the latter when I said what I said.
– David
I’m with them: a scary thing can happen in a film, like the Winkie’s diner scene, but that’s not enough. It needs to be part of the overall goal of the film. Lost Highway is probably closer due to the Robert Blake character, but it’s not comparable to The Shining, where the family is stuck in an isolated location, haunted by ghosts and stalked by crazy Jack.
Both Mulholland Drive and (especially) Lost Highway seem pretty intent on disturbing, unsettling and scaring the audience, so I would say it’s part of the overall goal. They both have supernatural elements, violent murders and a character (maybe) losing their mind. I’d say The Shining has more in common with these movies than it does with Friday the 13th or Scream.
The audio player wasn’t displaying for me, so I had to go to the RSS feed. Might just be my browser.
We’re working on it. Sorry about that.