The cinematic universe is filled with films suffering from a genre identity crisis. These are movies that, on the surface, appear to qualify as being a representative member of a specified genre such as horror or science fiction but, once you take a closer look at the films plot, themes and characters, the designated assignment proves to be bunk. For example, a film categorized as science fiction needs to contain elements of fictionalised science, and not simply feature planets and spaceships. And a horror movie should contain elements of the supernatural and macabre. Often times, these inaccurate genre designations are born from how a movie is marketed: i.e. a trailer that focuses heavily on a films comedic elements while glossing over its dramatic or frightening qualities. One can also find similar misrepresentations from a tagline used in a print ad or promotional poster. In other instances, these misidentifications are born because somebody - either a critic or someone associated with the film - declares the movie is a seminal representation of a specific genre and, regardless of its veracity, the designation sticks. Here are 10 famous movies that are suffering from a bad case of a genre identity crisis...
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
