Article: Is Jurassic Park A Horror Movie?






Jurassic World is the 4th highest grossing film of all time and the original Jurassic Park is not far behind at 21st. Jurassic Park was a massive hit when it was released in 1993 with its amazingly realistic dinosaurs and colourful cast of characters. People fell in love with the franchise from the minute they entered Jurassic Park. It isn’t all healing Triceratops and riding in cars; Jurassic Park has a dark side, but is that enough to warrant calling it a horror film?

First off I know Jurassic Park is a rated as a PG, but it has some of the most frightening jump scare moments ever. When Dennis Nedry is in the rain and that cute little dinosaur suddenly coats him in black goo, it still makes me jump to this day. There is definite peril through every Jurassic Park film and plenty of people die in some not very nice ways. This is unusual for a PG.

Jurassic Park is all about the jump scares and the tension that builds up before that. They can’t claim psychological or any other kind of horror, but I think the jumpy bits with their surprise factor are enough to make it an honourary horror film - a horror film lite if you will. Jurassic Park is like a gateway into other horror genres and films, but it remains family friendly enough to keep it’s PG rating.

Because Jurassic Park is massively popular franchise it should be expected that they have a range of other content. Jurassic Park Builder and Jurassic World The Game both of which are available on iOS and Android. Neither of these games have the peril seen in the the films, but lets players see Jurassic Park universe from a different perspective. There are Jurassic Park slot games available at online casinos like Betway. This lets people enjoy their favourite film series and potentially wins some money at the same time.

Other Jurassic Park releases include a PlayStation 2 and Xbox video game call Jurassic Park: Genesis was rated T for teen which meant it was 13+ only, slightly different from the PG rated film. This might be because the game fairly violent and it was released at a time when video games and violence were being unfairly linked, but still I think it speaks towards Jurassic Park being a part of the horror genre.

Overall Jurassic Park is seen as a family film. And for the most part it is, but it also has a little bit of horror lurking inside waiting to jump out like a raptor in tall grass.