Talk:Supernatural horror film

Universal posters and content

I've removed some of the posters in the early lead. The book in question states "Supernatural horror was the dominants cinematic mode of the genre during the period of the commercial heyday of the Universal Studios horror movie product, which extended from Dracula (1931) to House of Dracula (1945). These films borrowed form the expressionist style of the German film-makers, some of whom had fled Germany and were working in Hollywood. As the source material, chiefly the novels, Dracula and Frankenstein..." Frankenstein the novel is quite different than the Universal film (even specificaelly, how the monster is created, it just sort of happens). I believe we are misinterpreting the source on several cases here to apply it as it is in picture and prose. Andrzejbanas (talk) 13:37, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

I don't really understand why you don't think Frankenstein doesn't qualify. Meehan's whole paragraph is about supernatural horror, and the next paragraph clearly continues that theme. The point of saying 1931 to 1945 is to indicate the start and end. Dracula came out in February 1931, and Frankenstein came out in November 1931, and there were more supernatural horror films by Universal up to 1945. The author mentions the Dracula and Frankenstein books as determining the otherworldly vibe of the film adaptations. Your initial edit here seems like your own assumption that Frankenstein can't be supernatural. (Hey, I can see an argument that it can be pseudoscientific horror, but we can't apply our own opinions here.) A quick search shows this book More Things Than Are Dreamt Of: Masterpieces of Supernatural Horror - From Mary Shelley to Stephen King - in Literature and Film, and Shelley is the Frankenstein author. I can't really view the book's contents more, but in case of a counterpoint that her book doesn't equal the film, it's very likely that the film is listed in the book's filmography section (which I can't view).

At the end of the day, I never specified these films or added posters in the first place, probably to keep the language high-level.

Did you mean to remove the content about the 1940s and 1950s? I hope not. And the Derry content, I'll try to relocate it since I had added that. Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 16:22, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Here is the haunted-house passage from the Derry book: https://imgur.com/a/oz0cOfo Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 16:25, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Following up on More Things Than Are Dreamt Of, I was able to preview the chapter, and it definitely writes about both the book and the film (and its sequel). It's not like the text is constantly determining if these works qualify as supernatural horror, it's writing about these works under the supernatural-horror umbrella. So I really think there is a reliably-sourced case for labeling Frankenstein as "supernatural horror", and it does not mean that other labels can't apply too. Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 16:33, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

I must have been mistaken and thought the Haunted House passage was in the early pages of the previous book. I still don't think we should mix and match sources here as it's not being specific for Frankenstein. Let's do more research to see if we can dig more things up. I've recently try to re-vamp the thriller film and mystery film articles and there is really little scholarly information on genre as it is a difficult thing to write about as it boils down to personal opinions . Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:23, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

Like I said, I didn't add the posters, so I'm not that invested in having the Frankenstein poster or any poster at all. I do agree that genre research is tricky. Googling for it doesn't work as well as for specific films. Maybe look for books about film genres first, and see if they are dense enough to cover the genres you're looking for? For what it's worth, for thriller film, I added a "Further reading" section years ago. Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 18:16, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

I'm wondering honestly if this genre really should have it's own article at it's current state @Erik:. It is basically regurgitating History of horror films article but just nit picking out supernatural horror films that happened to spark up. The brief definition itself would probably be a better foot-note with the other genres in Horror film, while the music section would help expand out Horror film score a bit better. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:03, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

The sub-genre is clearly notable and has substantial coverage. If you want to merge this one, may as well merge all other ones. There is plentiful content about supernatural horror, with more reliable sources listed under the "Further reading" section. There will always, always be different varieties of overlap across all topics. For example, articles about fictional characters will inevitably overlap with related articles covering the work and the fictional universe. It's a matter of scope where supernatural horror is the main focus, and of course it has to be compared to other horror. If it's buried in some history article, it's impossible to get any sense of the topic buried in over 8,600 words. I really have to oppose it. Film sub-genres will always be mixed in with film genre articles, and if the sub-genre is repeated enough in the real world, it deserves a scope of its own. Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 12:31, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

I hadn't looked up content in a while, but just a quick check showed me this: 10 great supernatural horror films of the 21st century by British Film Institute, from 2021. The label continues to be explicitly used. I oppose deletion of a standalone article, which is what the proposed merge effectively does. Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 12:35, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

I'm not suggesting to delete anything, I'm suggesting to merge which other articles as this currently says nothing that other articles that have far more documentation and quality sources state. Andrzejbanas (talk) 05:47, 13 August 2023 (UTC)