The Kinogo Unease #5: What Makes a Horror Film?

Arguably, horror is the most versatile genre in cinema. It can blend with science fiction, comedy, romance, action, or drama, often defined less by its subject matter than by the emotions it seeks to create. And a film doesn't necessarily have to scare you to be considered horror.

Is horror defined by violence, gore, or the supernatural? By tension and dread? Where do we draw the line between horror, thriller, and suspense? Ask 100 horror fans to define the genre, and you'll likely receive dozens of answers.

In this month's edition of The Unease, we're exploring those boundaries through some of our favorite genre-blending films, revisiting an overlooked Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, sharing the latest from Kinogo, and featuring an original horror story from filmmaker Marc Sedaka. Along the way, we'll attempt to answer a question that may not have one definitive answer: What makes a horror film?

Thoughts on horror, filmmaking, and the stories shaping the genre.

This past month brought several films that challenged our definition of horror. M. Night Shyamalan's Remain blends supernatural romance and suspense, while Verity leans into psychological thrills. Then there's Vampire Carnival, from our collaborators Justin Powell and David Charbonier, the filmmakers behind Kinogo's PUSH, THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR, and THE DJINN. While unquestionably horror in our eyes, its young adult and Gothic romance elements demonstrate the genre's versatility.

We've also spent the past month exploring horror from the 1920s to today. What terrified audiences a century ago may feel tame now, but that doesn't diminish those films' place in horror history. Universal's classic monsters are undeniably horror, even if they no longer frighten modern audiences.

One definition we've encountered suggests horror involves an evil person, unnatural monster, or supernatural elements, or evokes fear through darkness, vulnerability, and the unknown. It's compelling because it considers both the threat and the emotional experience.

But perhaps our favorite answer came from conversations at this month's Son of Monsterpalooza. One fan simply said:

"I'll know a horror film when I see it."

Updates from Kinogo Pictures, projects in development, and what’s coming next.

Son Of Monsterpalooza: Earlier this month, we attended our first Son of Monsterpalooza and met some incredible horror fans. Many of you reading this newsletter signed up at the event, and we want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth and supported Kinogo.

The experience reminded us why we want to keep attending conventions. Connecting with fans, hearing about their favorite horror films, and discovering what draws people to the genre is invaluable. It's these conversations that help us better understand our audience and continue making the kinds of horror films we all love.

Upcoming horror releases

Here are three November releases that perfectly illustrate this month's question: What makes a horror film?

The Last Temptation of Becky
The third installment in the Becky franchise follows Becky as she's recruited by the CIA to infiltrate a family suspected of plotting to establish a Fourth Reich.

This film is particularly exciting for us because editor Stephen Boyer, who also worked on The Wrath of Becky, edited Kinogo's THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR and PUSH, and served as an additional editor on THE DJINN.

With its brutal violence and relentless tension, the Becky franchise perfectly blends action, thriller, and horror. We're excited to see where this installment takes the series.

Dead of Night
Inspired by the Night Stalker murders of the 1980s, this independent horror-thriller follows a small town thrown into panic after a brutally mutilated body is discovered. As residents form a neighborhood watch, the sheriff struggles to identify the killer.

While leaning heavily into crime and thriller territory, the brutality of the murders and growing atmosphere of fear give the film a distinct horror element. We're particularly interested in its gritty, grounded approach to terror, demonstrating that real-world threats can be every bit as frightening as supernatural monsters.

Godzilla Minus Zero
Few franchises illustrate this month's discussion better than Godzilla. The original 1954 film reflected Japan's collective trauma surrounding nuclear destruction, particularly the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Over the decades, the franchise has shifted toward science fiction and action. However, Godzilla Minus One brought the series closer to its roots, blending historical drama, science-fiction action, and horror.

While the American MonsterVerse films largely embrace blockbuster action, we still consider Godzilla a horror icon. The franchise's ability to move between genres is precisely what makes it such a compelling example of horror's versatility. We're excited to see what Godzilla Minus Zero brings to the franchise.

Exploring the films that blur the boundaries of horror.

As we explore what does and doesn't qualify as horror, we wanted to highlight a few of our favorite films whose place within the genre is often debated.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Few films blur the line between horror and thriller quite like The Silence of the Lambs. Ted Levine's portrayal of Buffalo Bill and Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning performance as Hannibal Lecter have given us two of cinema's most disturbing characters.

For us, the film's atmosphere, characterization, and disturbing violence create an overwhelming sense of dread. More importantly, it uses the structure of a police procedural to place Clarice Starling in increasingly vulnerable situations, culminating in a confrontation reminiscent of a final girl facing a killer in a traditional slasher. Hannibal Lecter is unquestionably a horror icon in our eyes, but it's the film's ability to create genuine fear within a crime thriller that makes it undeniably horror.

Predator (1987)
Predator is undeniably one of the great action films of the 1980s. However, the hunting and brutal killing of an elite group of soldiers give it the structure of a traditional slasher. More importantly, the film dismantles the action-movie fantasy as seemingly invincible soldiers become prey, outmatched by something far more terrifying.

As the mystery surrounding the Predator unfolds, the characters' growing desperation and vulnerability shift the film toward horror. What begins as a testosterone-fueled action movie gradually becomes a fight for survival, making Predator unquestionably an action-horror film in our eyes.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
From Dusk Till Dawn begins as a crime thriller before abruptly transforming into full-blown vampire horror halfway through. It's one of cinema's most memorable genre shifts, turning a story about criminals on the run into a bloody, supernatural fight for survival. This unexpected transformation is part of what makes it one of our favorite vampire films at Kinogo.

But it also raises an interesting question: Can a film completely change genres halfway through and still belong equally to both? We think From Dusk Till Dawn proves that it can.

Forgotten horror worth rediscovering

The film doesn't entirely work, occasionally falling into generic action territory with horror elements that feel familiar rather than frightening. Still, it's an entertaining blend of action, religious horror, and apocalyptic stakes that deserves more attention, making it a fitting addition to this month's discussion. And if you've ever wanted to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger fight literal Satan, this is the film for you.

This month’s nightmare

Every issue of The Unease features an original horror short story from a collaborator we've worked with over the years. This month's story comes from Marc Sedaka, the editor behind two of our films, DETAINED and PROJECT DOROTHY.

Marc's story takes us into the editing room, where the line between filmmaking and reality becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish. It's a particularly unsettling perspective from someone who has spent years shaping what audiences see on screen.

Turn down the lights, settle in, and enjoy this month's nightmare.

When Kinogo asked me to write a story for their newsletter I thought, sure I got a story. It happened maybe six years ago, at the height of the pandemic. Work was scarce and I took pretty much anything I could get. (And yes, that even included a couple of porn videos. Okay, maybe more than a couple. I figured if those actors were desperate enough to have unprotected sex on camera during a deadly pandemic, then I was surely desperate enough to edit them.)

Whatever, just that much more work for me. But on this shoot, all they sent was one long take covered from all different angles. Again, not to bore, but most shoots these days are gonna have two cameras running at the same time – an A and a B. On some shoots, maybe three cameras – an A, B and C. But this shoot had – I think it was seven. Yeah, seven because the letters went all the way to G. And I remember because E, F, and G weren’t even real cameras. They were just cheap mobile phones. Huaweis if I’m not mistaken. All fine by me, I guess. If the DP doesn’t care if the footage matches, then who am I to say it should. If this shoot even had a DP. Or a Script Supervisor. Or a friggin’ director for all I could tell. All I knew for sure was there was an actress, because there she was on camera right from frame one. No slate, no pronouncement of shot or take, no action. Just a lone actress tied to a chair in an otherwise empty room. Talk about your shitty production value!

So anyway, here I am watching what I can only assume is a torture scene play out on the first of seven camera angles and all I keep thinking – aside from how the fuck am I supposed to sync all this without a slate – is damn this actress is good. I mean, really good. Like way too good for this piece of shit she’s gotten herself wrapped up in. And believe me, I should know. I’ve cut scenes like this more times than I care to mention, and usually the actress hams it up too thick or lacks a convincing motivation, but this girl came out of the gate exactly like I’d imagine it to be in real life. She wasn’t screaming like a lunatic or yanking on her restraints as if her captors didn’t know how to tie a friggin’ knot. Instead, she was kind of… frozen. Dead behind the eyes. Playing shock I suppose. In fact, the only movement I could detect was this subtle lip quiver that was so small and imperceptible that all I kept thinking was Please God let one of those Huaweis on E, F, or G be focused on her mouth because that cutaway will be so sweet!

And then, as if the cool lip quiver wasn’t enough, she uttered the most cliched line in all of horror moviedom but delivered it in such a way that I got chills. Literal chills. “Please don’t hurt me”, she said. But not in an over-the-top panicked way like all those other B-rate actresses I’ve had the extreme displeasure of cutting around. No, this delivery was so quiet, so pleading, so downright genuine that… like I said, chills. No wonder they only needed one take!

As if on cue, a Buck 120 Eight-Inch Hunting Knife entered from frame right and all I could think was Seriously? That’s the knife you’re gonna use? What a damn shame! Here this girl was delivering a straight-up decent performance and all they could come back with was the exact same knife they used in Scream. Why not just put a ghost mask on him, I thought with a chuckle. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a seriously bad-ass blade that reads super sinister in a close up, but honestly, it just goes to show how derivative things can get when you don’t hire a prop master.

That being said, the Buck looked every inch the star when it started cutting through her pinky finger. Or I guess the prosthetic they made to look like her pinky finger. You don’t see good prosthetics like that anymore and I have to say I, for one, was impressed. For the record, when they do effects like that on set — that’s called “practicals.” Quite frankly, it’s a somewhat lost art, but such a smarter choice when you don’t have a proper VFX budget. Clearly, they at least splurged on a make-up person.

The girl started to scream. Big blubbering screams that had me not only questioning her acting choices (if you scream that big now, where do you go later?) but, as an editor, really steamed me because now I had all this production screaming I was married to whether I liked it or not. “No, no no, please don’t – AAAHHHHHHHH! AAAHHHHHHHH! My finger. It’s not – my fingers on the table. MY FINGER’S ON THE TABLE!”

My finger’s on the table? Seriously? I had to wonder if that line was scripted or improvised, which, honestly, I could only guess at since I was never presented with an actual script. Whatever. All I knew was I might have to cut it because it kind of didn’t ring true to me.

I do have to say though, the prosthetics – top notch. Because not only was the pinky a practical, but apparently all the other fingers were as well, at least on her right hand. One by one they went. The ring finger. The middle. The forefinger. And finally, the thumb which, I might add, required a bit more effort due to the complicated maze of bones and tendons they no doubt researched.

They even did this really cool thing where they twisted the thumb around itself a couple of times to dislodge it, kind of like you would a chicken drumstick from a thigh, but with a fuckload more blood. And yes, kudos to them on the blood packets. Sure, I could have added blood in post but thank you production team for a couple of hours saved. If anything, I’ll sweeten it with some bone-on-bone crunching sounds but, truth be told, whatever they were using on set sounded pretty lit. By now the girl was playing passed out which I guess was a strong choice. Though this one I had to assume was scripted because no sooner did her chin hit her chest than they had prop smelling salts at ready to zap her right back into consciousness. She flung her head back with such a force that it smacked into the chair’s wood headrest and split it right in two. Ouch. That one actually looked real to me, but the chances of this production having insurance are pretty slim, so good luck filing a worker’s comp case.

She remained lifeless a couple of seconds… not unlike some girl I remember seeing in a movie when I was a kid. This was back in the heyday of VHS – Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, a zillion mom and pop shops on every corner. We had this one, Shellshock Video, that specialized in stuff you couldn’t find anywhere else. Being a horror fan even back then, I rented this thing called “Snuff” that claimed to show real people being killed on camera. There was a girl in that… a really pretty girl who was maybe my first movie crush… and she… well they killed her. Right there in front of my twelve year-old eyes they killed her. I mean, how do you let a twelve year-old see that? How do you let anyone see that, but especially a little kid who doesn’t know any better. I ain’t gonna lie, it kind of fucked me up for a while but then, over time, I guess I forgot it. Or maybe suppressed it. Until it all came flooding back when I saw this girl… who reminded me a lot of her… especially in the way she slumped all lifeless and stuff.

So I suppose you can guess by now why this particular shoot has been haunting me and why I chose to write about it for Ryan’s newsletter. To put it bluntly… I’d like to meet this girl. Probably just to tell her how great she was in this cheap-ass horror film, but who knows?

That’s what’s so weird about being an editor. You spend all this time with talented actresses, sometimes weeks, even months, without ever really knowing them and you start to develop feelings that… it’s just… after a while it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. So, if anyone reading this thinks they might know this girl (maybe from the thumb twisting which was actually kind of unique) tell her I’m the guy who cut it all together. And I thought she killed it.

At Kinogo Pictures, we love horror and the conversations surrounding what belongs within the genre. We may never agree on a single definition, but perhaps that's what makes horror so fascinating. Its ability to evolve, challenge expectations, and blur the boundaries of storytelling is precisely why we keep coming back to it.

Until next month, keep the lights on and be careful which indie horror films you watch next... because the footage you're watching might just be real.

Sleep well.

– Kinogo Pictures