Jaws

Is Jaws a horror movie? It's clearly one of the all time greats, so why doesn't it make the list? The back of my copy of the dvd calls it "action-suspense." I think that's right, which is why I don't consider it horror. Horror most often contains suspense (how much usually depends on the quality of the work), but not all suspense is horror. Silence of the Lambs comes to mind. This is not a horror movie, despite its presence on some lists of top horror movies. Even though Hannibal Lecter can be pretty frigthening, this is a suspense story, with some action mixed in. Granted, the line between suspense and horror is sometimes hard to define -- for instance, I'm working on a novel right now that nestles in right between them -- but it does exist. I think it's actually more difficult to categorize Jaws than Silence. In the end, though, I do have to go with the "no" for Jaws, which is why it's not on my top ten list even though it's one of my favorite movies.