10 Unusual Movie Subgenres That Will At Least Surprise You
Miscellaneous / / April 04, 2023
Movies are waiting for you, where two-meter shrimp are boxing in the ring, and crazy grandmothers are trying to get rid of those around them.
1. jumping vampires
A half-vampire, half-zombie who feeds on the life energy of humans and wears traditional clothing from the Qing Dynasty. This is how you can characterize the jiangshi (literally - the living dead), one of the most recognizable Chinese monsters. The joints on the stiff body of the jiangshi do not bend, so the monster moves in ridiculous leaps.
Fantasts began to mention jumping vampires in their works as early as the 17th century, but the image migrated to the screens only in the 70s of the 20th century. Monsters have become so popular that film critics even singled out a separate subgenre of comedic horror - "jumping vampires."
The plot of such films is of the same type and is most often based on opposition monster: the protagonist, who owns kung fu, is trying to kill evil spirits. To do this, he must, for example, feed her with rice or hack her with an ax.
What to see
- "Mr Vampire" (Mr. Vampire, 1985). The priest and his clumsy assistants are trying to put an end to the outrages that the corpse that escaped from the reburial creates. To do this is not so easy. The film is considered a classic of the Jumping Vampires subgenre.
- "Ghost Encounters" (Gui da gui, 1980). The wife plans to get rid of her annoying husband and sends him to an abandoned temple. But the husband does not suspect that they are waiting for him inside the building vampires and other evil spirits. The film shows real occult rituals, for one of which the creators killed a real chicken.
2. Psychobiddy
The once glamorous woman grows old, becomes mentally unbalanced and begins to annoy others - this is the plot of all psychobiddy films. At the heart of the subgenre - psychological thriller, but also contains elements of horror, melodrama and black comedy.
The popularity of psychobiddy came in the 60s and 70s. At this time, the film "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" was released. Its director, Robert Aldrich, figured out how to return the glory to the elderly film stars. He offered to give them the role of mentally unhealthy old women.
However, not everyone took the idea amicably. Psychobiddy has been criticized by some for portraying older women as unattractive and demonizing the aging process itself. Nevertheless, films created during that period have their fans.
What to see
- "What happened to Baby Jane?" (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962). Sisters Jane and Blanche have been rivals since childhood. However, only one of them got the fame and love of fans. The other remains in the shadows and drowns her longing in alcoholuntil the course of her usual life is disturbed by an overheard conversation. In the life of actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, who play the leading roles, also did not like each other. So sometimes they really enjoyed torturing each other on set.
- "Hush... Hush, sweet Charlotte" (Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 1962). An old recluse named Charlotte begins to think that 37 years ago it was she who beheaded her fiancé. To ease her pain, she invites her sister home. However, with her appearance, thoughts of crime become even more intrusive. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
- "What happened to Aunt Alice?" (What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, 1969). The widow is left without a livelihood and finds a non-standard way to solve her financial problems. That's just to crank out the scam, she will need lonely housekeepers. critics calledWhat Ever Happened… / The New York Times this film is "pleasantly hilarious horrormasterfully crafted by a misogynist."
- "Who killed Aunt Ru?" (Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, 1972). Every Christmas, Mrs. Ru hosts a gala dinner for the orphans. During the latter, she notices a girl, surprisingly similar to her dead daughter, and decides to take her to her at all costs. The gingerbread decor of the aunt's house contrasts sharply with her madness, which makes the picture even more creepy.
3. Films about athletes - the inhabitants of the seabed
In 2001, entrepreneur Guy Hands invested in a low-budget film about a six-foot shrimp entering the boxing world. Guy does not hideGuy Hands sues experts who advised investment in giant shrimp film / The Guardianthat pursued far from artistic goals. The fact is that until 2004 in the UK there was a system of tax incentives for filmmakers, which not only allowed Hands to evade payments, but also generated income.
Having collectedUltra Weird Japanese Film Genre: Sea‑Life Sport Movies / Sick Chirpse less than 100 pounds sterling (about 7,000 rubles) in the British box office, the film could have been forgotten if it had not suddenly fallen in love with Japanese audiences. After a high-profile premiere in Tokyo, inspired local directors began to shoot films about marine life involved in sports. Thus a new subgenre was born. sports cinema.
What to see
- "Crust" (Crust, 2003). Failed coach Bill meets a businessman who convinces him that human-versus-animal fights bring in big money. This gives Bill the idea to prepare a huge shrimp for the competition. The comical nature of the situation is emphasized by the deliberate theatricality of the scenery and the lack of special effects. For example, the shrimp itself is a person dressed in a suit.
- "Squid Wrestler" (The Calamari Wrestler, 2004). Due to an incurable disease, a professional fighter turns into a giant creature with tentacles. Even in this state, it is difficult for him to live without sports, so he is trying to adapt to a new body. Film critic for The New York Times describedDrawing Strength From A Giant Squid / The New York Times the movie is stupid bizarre, "but surprisingly consistent" and with "good-natured charm".
4. Eastern
This is the Eastern European version western. Most of the westerns were filmed in the 1960s. The action of the films most often takes place in the Caucasus, in a hot mountainous area. The elements traditional for westerns are preserved: chases, shootouts, shooting from a long distance.
What to see
- "Lemonade Joe, or Horse Opera" (1964) - the tape in a parody form tells the story of the dexterous and irresistible Lemonade Joe, who drinks Colaloca instead of whiskey, fights against crime and defends the law. The film received two awards at the international festivals "Sphinx" and "Silver Shell".
- "White Sun of the Desert" (1969). Several women, against their will, end up in the bandit's harem. Only one person can save them - Fyodor Sukhov, an experienced soldier of the Red Army. Critics have not been kind to film, but Brezhnev liked the tape, which accelerated its release into wide release. She quickly fell in love with ordinary citizens. And then it became the talisman of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts, who always watch this film before flying. There is even a disk with it on board the ISS.
- "At home among strangers, a stranger among our own" (1974) - Chekists, white officers and bandits are trying to share the gold seized from the bourgeoisie to buy food for the starving Volga region. The film contains color and black-and-white footage due to a shortage of imported Kodak film. Despite this, the tape managed to win the hearts of fans and become an Eastern classic.
5. Bollywood horror
Many people associate the word "Bollywood" with traditional dances, colorful landscapes of India and theatrical emotionality of heroes constantly falling in love and dying. The aesthetics of horror films is completely different - a mysterious and enigmatic action most often takes place under the cover of night.
But if you put these pictures together, you get Bollywood horror. The subgenre began to develop in the 1940s with an eye on the classics american horror. The intensity of passion and dance inserts typical of Bollywood films remained, but began to serve as a backdrop for frightening mystical stories.
What to see
- "Mansion" (Mahal, 1949). A young man moves into an old villa and accidentally gets entangled in a mysterious love story with a ghost. This is one of the first Indian horror films to touch on the theme of reincarnation.
- "Night" (Raat, 1992). A classic story about a family that moves into a haunted house. That's just the action takes place in Indian scenery. Some film critics considerRam Gopal Varma Movies His Glorious Stint With Indian Horror / FillmCompanionthat this film changed the national cinema - after it, many similar horror films appeared.
- "Tumbad" (Tumbad, 2018). The main character comes to his native village to find gold hidden in an old castle. Since childhood, the guy knows: it is here that the evil witchthat needs to be fed every night. This is the first Indian film shown at the International Venice Film Festival.
- "Secret" (Raaz, 2002). A married couple goes to a resort to restore their relationship. But suddenly he finds himself in the very center of paranormal events: either a heart-rending cry of a girl comes from the forest, or acquaintances begin to behave unusually. The soundtracks from the film became real hits. A separate album with them was bought about 5 million times - it becameMcCartney watches Bollywood thriller Raaz / The Times of India one of the best selling in India.
6. Bruceploitation
After the death of actor Bruce Lee, some film studios realized that they could continue to cash in on his name. They hired copycat roles in low-budget action films - Bruce Le, Bruce Lai, Dragon Lee. Some have used other tactics, releasing parodies of famous films starring Bruce Lee, or filming spin-offs and sequels.
Bruceploitation has been referred to as a sub-genre of "exploitation cinema" - shot using modern trends, well-known imagery and shocking content for profit. As a rule, such films fall under the definition of "cinema category BA B-movie is a low-budget commercial film that is not an arthouse film. In the golden age of Hollywood, this was the name given to films that were shown second in double screenings.».
What to see
- "The New Fist of Fury" (Xin jing wu men, 1976). Sequel to Fist of Fury. After the death of the hero Bruce Lee, three of his associates leave for Taiwan to open a school there. martial arts in memory of a fallen comrade. However, the island is run by the Japanese, confident that their kung fu is better than Chinese. Heroes do not agree with this state of affairs. They find a like-minded person - a street thief who helps them in the fight against the invaders. The role is played by the young Jackie Chan.
- "Clones of Bruce Lee" (Shen wei san meng long, 1980). With the help of genetic engineering, three of his clones are grown from the cells of the deceased master Bruce Lee. They master kung fu and go to war against crime. This film was created with a share of irony over brusploteyshenom. Therefore, it has many elements characteristic of comedies. For example, clumsy and stupid characters and unnatural plot twists.
7. Tyambara
Tyambara is a subgenre of the Western. This is a historical adventure film about samurai fighting with swords. The main characters are warriors with a deep inner world. They are modest, lonely and always act according to their conscience.
The peak of tyambar's popularity came in the 1960s-1970s. This was facilitated by Akira Kurosawa, whose film "seven samuraiis considered the benchmark of the subgenre. Many Asian directors after him picked up the trend and created a huge number of films about lone wolves who are good at martial arts.
Western colleagues also liked this subgenre. For example, Quentin Tarantino, inspired by Japanese westerns, created the film Kill Bill. And the plot of the fourth episode of the series "The Mandalorian" is almost entirely taken from "Seven Samurai".
What to see
- "Seven Samurai" (Shichinin no samurai, 1954) - Marauders constantly raid peasant lands. To escape, the poor decide to gather a detachment of ronin capable of resisting the bandits. The team turns out to be colorful: the swordsman Kyuzo, the tramp Kikuchiyo, the strong man Gorobei and others. In this film, Kurosawa for the first time opposes traditional edged weapons worthy of samurai, and firearms, incompatible with military honor. Only bandits use guns here.
- "Zatoichi" (座頭市, 2003) - A blind tramp will have to fight with a martial arts master. The latter hopes to easily defeat the blind opponent, but the tramp is calm. “You can be blind and never fall, or you can be sighted and stumble over the first stone that comes across,” he is sure. The film won five Japanese Academy Film Awards and four Venice Film Festival awards in 2003.
- "Kill Bill" (Kill Bill, 2003) - assassin Beatrix takes revenge on killer Bill for an upset wedding, being in a coma and a stolen daughter. This is one of the iconic roles of Uma Thurman, for which she was awarded two honorary awards - the British Academy Film and Golden Globe. It was Uma who helped Tarantino develop the idea of the film, and on the actress's 30th birthday, the director gave her the finished script as a gift.
8. Movies about killer machines
The fact that technology has firmly entered human life has given filmmakers a reason to think about the consequences of such interference. A lot of stories began to appear about crazy robots destroying people, and cars running over their owners to death. Films about the latter even formed a separate subgenre of horror - about killing machines.
This idea is implemented in different ways. In some films, the driver becomes possessed by an evil spirit. psychopath, in others it completely disappears, giving way to a bloodthirsty transport with its own mind.
What to see
- "Duel" (Duel, 1972). The conflict on the road, unfolding between the drivers of a passenger car and a fuel truck, develops into an escape from an angry auto monster. To write the soundtrack for the film, composer Billy Goldenberg drove several times on a tanker truck, which he drove stuntman-racer. So Bill managed to create one of his best audio works. The film itself won numerous awards and gained a cult following, which brought young director Steven Spielberg to the attention of producers.
- "Automobile" (The Car, 1977). In a small town in New Mexico, a black car one day appears, terrifying the inhabitants. The only place where the car cannot go is the consecrated ground near the church, which leads the heroes to shocking thoughts. Many of the actors in the film improvised and, according to critics, did not do very well.
- "Maximum Acceleration" (Maximum Overdrive, 1986). All technical devices - from mixers to trucks - suddenly cease to obey people and turn into bloodthirsty killers. The characters are trying to figure out what's going on. Interesting movie and cameo Stephen King - Director and screenwriter. But the tape became one of the weakest in this subgenre and received the "Golden Raspberry" - the anti-award that is awarded to the worst film works in history.
9. Romantic sci-fi
Inception, Donnie Darko, Star Wars: There are a lot of sci-fi movies where one of the storylines is love. However, in romantic sci-fi, a subgenre romantic cinema, it occupies a central place. And it doesn’t matter what idea the directors take as a basis: time travel, space flights or post-apocalypse. All this will serve only as a backdrop for the love story unfolding on the screen.
What to see
- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004). Two lovers erased the memories of each other with the help of a special device, but life again pushed them together. The film won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2005.
- "She" (Her, 2013). A lonely writer, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falls in love with an operating system. And although she reciprocates his feelings, their relationship faces insurmountable obstacles. In 2014, the film won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. And there and there she was nominated for best film.
- "Space between us" (The Space Between Us, 2016). An Earth girl and a young man from an experimental colony on Mars start an Internet romance and dream of a real meeting. Filming took place in one of the American schools. Lessons were constantly disrupted: teenagers wanted to see firsthand the process of creating a movie. In addition, one of the main roles was played by the star of the series "sex education» Asa Butterfield.
10. Techno noir
Techno-noir is a subgenre of science fiction films that have elements of crime drama. The plot is based on the fact that the detective must solve a crime or solve a mystery. Unlike the classic noir - in black and white and with a femme fatale as the mistress of one of the main characters - the action takes place in a utopian or dystopian reality. An important role is assigned to modern technologies. For example, a character might have a robot friend who helps them fight evil.
The heyday of this genre came in the 1980s. Then electronics was actively developing, and people tried to guess where humanity would lead the desire for cybernization and whether computers should be feared.
What to see
- "Blade Runner" (Blade Runner, 1982). Detective Rick Deckard is given the task of finding and destroying replicants - biorobots that look like people. Having met Rachel, he begins to test her, because he suspects her artificial origin. However, Rick soon has the same question about himself: "Am I a replicant or a human?" Painting became the stylistic standard of techno-noir: the action takes place under the cover of night, in the light of cold neon lights, the atmosphere is saturated with cynical pessimism.
- "Ghost in armor" (攻殻機動隊, 1995). In 2029, thanks to cyber technologies, people have learned how to implant various neuroimplants into their brains. This led to a new kind of hacking - "brain hacking". The special police department is trying to unravel who is behind a series of mass attacks on citizens. It is only known that the name of the swindler is Puppeteer. This is a full length animea film that made a real revolution in computer graphics. For example, the technique of slow-motion playback of frames was later used in The Matrix.
- "Special opinion" (Minority Report, 2002). In the 2050s, a special department for combating criminals appears. With the help of special technologies, its employees can learn about a murder that has not yet been committed and arrest the suspect in advance. The system works perfectly until one day the head of the department himself is guilty of a future crime. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg. A couple of years before filming began, he enlisted 16 future forecasting experts to tell him what 2054 would look like. As a result, the picture fell in love with the audience and received the Saturn Award for the best popular science film.
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