Knives Out and other movies that play with genre *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

Will Rogers

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Hey folks. I finally got around to watching Knives Out last night. I'd heard rave reviews so I knew I was in for something special, but I was still blown away. In particular, I loved how the movie toyed with traditional movie genres. It started as a typical Whodunit, pivoted to a Catch Me If You Can-style cat and mouse movie, then back to a Whodunit for the end. Brilliantly executed!

Has anyone else seen it? And can you recommend me other movies that switch genres like this?
 

badatwriting

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I also really enjoyed Knives Out. It's a super fun and exciting film.

As far as other films that toy with genre, a handful of recommendations:

Scanners (1981) dir. by David Cronenberg - Cronenberg is known for being a master of body horror like his film The Fly, however, Scanners doesn't truly fall into the trappings of that genre, with a great mix of sci-fi and noir aesthetics and plotlines creating something very unique.

Little Shop of Horros (1986) dir. by Frank Oz - Frank Oz (most well known for The Muppets and Sesame Street) takes a set up for a horror movie, and turns it into an oddball music comedy. Highly recommended.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (2003-2004) dir. by Quentin Tarantino - This is a great mix of genres - it's an action movie, a samurai film, a revenge thriller, a western, features animated segments, a martial arts film, has a definite influence of blaxplotation and serial films.

The Big Lebowski (1998) dir. by Joel Coen - This film is also really difficult to categorize into a genre. It's most obviously a comedy, but also serves as an affectionate parody of noir films, is strongly influenced by stoner flicks, thrillers, war films, sports films and westerns. If you were going to watch any one of these movies, I'd say you should watch this one. It's one of my favorites of all time, gets better with every successive viewing (and I've seen it more times than I care to admit) and is one of the best examples of a film which plays with genre that I can think of.