>The IMDb classifies The Sixth Sense as thriller/drama/horror.  >I'm interested in the thriller and horror aspects of the film and >want to explain the difference between the two in simplified terms to >my students here in Japan.  I'm having a little trouble so would

How different is the Japanese organization of this?  I know they have films we would consider thrillers but how do they classify them?  And ghost stories seem to have a respectable status that Anglo-American culture probably hasn't given it since Wharton and Henry James were turning them out.  I wouldn't really have considered "The Sixth Sense" a thriller which usually sounds either more along the lines of low-key action, intrigue, psychological conflict ("Gaslight"), etc, more Hitchcock or John Buchan.  Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Cure" is something that seems more like a thriller/horror mix or maybe Sogo Ishii's "Angel Dust."  Probably this is a bit vague because "thriller" is itself a bit vague as a genre (if it's even stable enough to be considered such).  And of course marketing plays a role in this.

LT

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