What's a movie (or series) that lies about its genre?

3 years ago by Kurumatron to c/asklemmy

Like, a horror movie that instead of scare you makes you laugh more than a comedy.

Also, thanks to the people that answer the post, this is the easiest way to find new series and movies to watch 😁

brainschaden 15 points 3 years ago

A lot of people think Star Wars is science - fiction. But it is fantasy.

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Kurumatron -2 points 3 years ago

Why do you think that? To me it's a science-fiction film because it seems to happen in the future

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Zadkine 6 points 3 years ago

The first four words in the title crawl are literally ‘a long time ago’ ;-)

But on a more serious note, it’s kind of a mix of both sci-fi and fantasy. There are fantasy tropes such as magic (the force), good and evil wizards (the Jedi and the Sith), swords and dueling (light sabers) etc. In many ways it is more like LOTR than Star Trek: Obi Wan is like Gandalf, Luke is like Frodo etc. Also none of the technology is ever explained, there is no techno-babble.

On the other hand there are lots of sci-fi elements such as spaceships, aliens, technology etc. So on the surface it seems like science fiction, but it borrows lots of stuff from fantasy.

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Kurumatron 1 point 3 years ago

Yes, it is thanks to those elements that I was always under the impression that the movies take place in the future

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canthidium 5 points 3 years ago

It's not in the future. Every main movie states "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away "

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Kurumatron 2 points 3 years ago

You're right about that... I never thought that much about it. It actually makes sense. I was always under the impression that by "a long time ago" meant that Earth was in the distant past and the events of the movies were always the present events

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Strae 2 points 3 years ago

That's sort of exactly what it means. I always felt people were being a bit obtuse with the whole, "it's in the past therefore it can't be science fiction!". To your point, it feels like the future, relative to us, because they have futuristic technology and whatnot. When it actually takes place in a cosmic time sense is completely irrelevant.

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Dalek 4 points 3 years ago

Science fiction usually tries to stick to realism to a degree in how it uses futuristic tech and ideas. George Lucas didn’t really try to do that. He always called it a space opera

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jxk 13 points 3 years ago

The Princess Bride. The title does not at all suggest that this is a comedy movie.

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NewEnglandRedshirt 4 points 3 years ago

But it isn't just a comedy! It's a romance! It's action/adventure!

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cfi 2 points 3 years ago

Fight Club is another one like this

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Kurumatron 1 point 3 years ago

That title makes me think that it's a romance movie

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Dandroid 2 points 3 years ago

This movie is amazing. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you watch it as soon as physically possible. It has romance movie elements, but is very much also comedy/adventure movie.

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snpalavan 8 points 3 years ago

Could consider the Ash vs Evil Dead series to qualify. It was technically horror, but done in a very entertaining and campy (hindsight) way and not taken too seriously.

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FartsWithAnAccent 8 points 3 years ago

Cabin in the Woods, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, and Troll 2

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swab148 7 points 3 years ago

I've got one that's the opposite: Tusk (2014) is listed as a comedy, written and directed by Kevin Smith (of Jay and Silent Bob fame), but is actually a horror film.

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Kurumatron 0 points 3 years ago

I remember hearing about that movie, I need to watch it

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brainschaden 2 points 3 years ago

Well the films literally begin with A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... this implies it happened before our current time and has a strong resemblence to a fairy tale.

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werehippy 7 points 3 years ago

Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz kind of play with that by inverting their approaches. SotD is a very mellow comedic take on a normally action packed American zombie movie, while HF is a over the top action take on a very British retire to the country/murder mystery genre.

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sarahcanary 5 points 3 years ago

I'm trying to understand this question a bit more. Do you mean intentionally not typical for it's genre, or unintentionally?

If intentionally, I'd go with Shaun of the Dead, though it's actually considered part of the 'comedy horror' genre so wouldn't necessarily consider it 'lying' about being hilarious film about a zombie apocalypse.

If unintentionally, then hands down Troll 2. You can't piss on hospitality.

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Kurumatron 2 points 3 years ago

It doesn't really matter as long as it ends up having the opposite result of what was expected of it

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Grishaix 4 points 3 years ago

Donny Darko, maybe? All I knew was that it was a psycho thriller. I had to go on the internet to find out WTF I had just seen, because it's also a sci-fi.

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WhoRoger 4 points 3 years ago

The Room, I mean-

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6xpipe_ 2 points 3 years ago

Catfish. The movie where the term comes from sold itself as a horror movie in advertisements.

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atlasraven31 2 points 3 years ago

The Blair Witch movie advertised itself as a real documentary about the town of Blair and the history behind the Blair witch.

The 2nd movie is meta and a comedy at times.

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skybreaker 2 points 3 years ago

Cabin in the Woods.

Is it a horror? Is it a thriller? Is it a comedy? Is it a supernatural?

Definitely throws some surprises at you.

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NataliePortland 1 point 3 years ago

Star Wars isn't a sci-fi at all it's just an action movie in space. Sci-fi deals with moral dilemmas arising from the use of technology. Star Wars is just a bunch of space lasers.

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WhoRoger 2 points 3 years ago

It's called science fantasy.

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Kurumatron 0 points 3 years ago

Huh, today I learned

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hakase 1 point 3 years ago

Deadpool famously advertised itself as a Valentine's day romcom.

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Strae 1 point 3 years ago

Stalker by Tarkovsky. The description made it sound like a really cool sci-fi/fantasy, bleak adventure movie. Instead it was just a bunch of melodramatic philosophy. Pretty much nothing even remotely sci-fi happens.

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