Genre and Spoilers

[andrewducker]

I was just discussing good SF movies with a friend, and he suggested an example which is both SF and very good, but where knowing that the movie is SF is a spoiler for the movie. (I'll name the movie in comments.)

Can anyone else think of a movie where knowing its genre is a spoiler?

Obviously, of course, I expect the comments to have spoilers in...

Comments

[andrewducker]

The movie is The Prestige. In which you will have no idea how one of the characters is carrying out their secret plans unless/until you know that you're actually watching science fiction, not a historical drama.

[the-locster.livejournal.com]

Yeh, there's was definitely a point when I watched that film where I started thinking - oh this is about something totally different than I though it was.

[andrewducker]

Oooh - just thought of another one - From Dusk Till Dawn.

[alextfish.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, of course. I was wondering about The Matrix - the first half of that is probably just about SF enough that calling it SF isn't a spoiler. Similarly The Island.

There are quite a few movies which have a Big Revelation halfway through, and in occasional cases this will switch the genre. Anything which has been using magic, but the magic turns out to be based on science, would fit your description: I'm sure I've seen 2 or 3 of those, but can't bring them to mind right now.

[andrewducker]

If you think of any examples of those I'd be delighted to hear :->

The Matrix I was prejudiced about, by having seen the trailers. And you see impossible things from the start, because you see Trinity running from the Agents, but I can't remember quite how impossible they were.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Dark City.

[andrewducker]

Good point, insofar as we know something barkingly odd is going on, but we don't know quite how barking it is for a while.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Exactly. For a while you think it's noir, then you are just confused and finally "Oh, Sci-Fi."

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

What about that weird M. Night Shyamalan that seems to be a historical piece set in 1800s rural America but then isn't?

[makyo.livejournal.com]

How about Rodriguez and Tarantino's From Dusk Till Dawn, which starts out as a heist/road movie and unexpectedly turns into a vampire horror film halfway through.

[makyo.livejournal.com]

Ah, you beat me to it.

[andrewducker]

Oh, yes. That counts. Not that I've seen it. I've been boycotting him since Signs.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I want to boycott him so bad because his movies suck but my gf loves them and likes to talk about them for days after seeing them so I go along for the ride.

I pay her back in spades, however, whenever a new Metallica or Rob Zombie album comes out.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

The Abyss is pretty much a cold war / drilling drama until Lindsay actually sees the first alien when outside the rig - but you know they're coming at some point cos it's SF and not a Tom Clancy.

(although the fact that the wake of "something" took down the original sub does lessen my argument slightly I guess)

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

Psycho. It's so famous now it's hard to imagine the shock of the audience when they start out thinking that this is a film about a bank job and then the star who they've all come to watch just gets killed for no apparent reason!

[blearyboy.livejournal.com]

Vanilla Sky. It's not a good movie, but apparantly the original (Abre Los Ojos) is great.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

I'd have to disagree with both. Although The Prestige's more radical elements aren't advertised, it's distinctly...(watches the trailer again)...sci-fi in nature, as it's being presented as magic that's actually real or at the very least darkly sinister. And From Dusk Till Dawn was a vampire movie, that was made clear up front in the trailer.

The closest movie I can think about that meets your criteria is Vanilla Sky. And possibly the original, but I haven't seen it so I can't comment. It might still traipse into sci-fi territory though, because in the original trailer, it's presented as a mindfuck 'omg I'm on trial for a murder I didn't commit that some giant conspiracy is framing me for!' story. Which it is distinctly not.

[andrewducker]

Trailers are spoiler machines. I never saw the trailer for Dusk Till Dawn, for instance. I'm talking purely about information in the film itself.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Actually, having never seen the trailer or heard much about it, From Dusk till Dawn works perfectly as a total left turn at the traffic-lights film. I had no idea what it was about and was totally sold on it being about a psychotic con and his brother on the run with a family until suddenly... Vampires kill people?!? Was a brilliant moment.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

In that case, you can pick practically whatever film you'd like. Twists will often redefine the genre of the film.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Knowing by the same director has an SF from nowhere ending.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Franklyn is the opposite, a film where knowing it isn't SF is a spoiler.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I'd debate From Dusk Til Dawn. I mean, it's a vampire movie. Knowing that doesn't spoil the film - it is the film. That's like saying that knowing Star Trek is scifi is a spoiler.

The Prestige I agree on, however. Also, how about Donnie Darko? Slightly contentious given that it's debatable just what kind of film it really is...

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was thinking of the Village - doubly so because first it's a historical film that isn't, and then it's also a magical fairy-tale horror except it actually isn't. I actually really liked the Village for the fact that it isn't actually the genre it appears to be in any way. Although I think I was coming from a different angle than most because, for whatever reason, I was expecting the first twist (the village bit) from the beginning.

[joexnz.livejournal.com]

i've seen prestige, i wouldn't have classed it as sci fi