When Halloween rolls around, I start looking around for horror movies to feature on the site. Finding the good ones used to be a big hassle, but that was before I discovered a new feature on IMDB: plot keywords.
The plot keywords feature is a list of words and phrases that sum up the many different parts of a film's plot. In theory. In practice, what you have is a list that starts out with a few important phrases, but then grows as people add more and more words to the list until every pointless detail in the movie is documented. For example, the list for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone includes keywords like "chess," "breakfast," and "untucked shirt flap". In all fairness, the state of the uniforms at Hogwarts did weigh pretty heavily on the plot.
But seeing all these ridiculous lists gave me an idea for a little quiz.
I'll give you a handful of different plot keywords that describe a horror movie that we've featured on the site at one point or another, and you have to guess which one! Sounds easy, right? Well wipe that smirk off your face because things are about to get real. Real SCARY!
Let's start off with an easy one:
- Hot Pants
- Lesbian Kiss
- Wrestler
Give up? It's...
Okay, okay, let's do a tougher one now:
- Dead Boy
- Bar Brawl
- Chemical
- Motel
- Mutant
This one's much more recent. It's...
Personally, I think they should take "mutant" out of the list and replace it with "budget zombie", but let's move on:
- Old Man
- Crude Humor
- Escape
- Quest
- Pink Car
That last one's a dead giveaway...
I ask you, what is so crude about having three different shots of a man crying out as his private parts are electrocuted?
All right, I feel bad about the last two being so obvious. For the next one, let's get a little obtuse:
- Aquarium
- Cleaning
- Kicked in the Crotch
- Father Son Relationship
- Solidarity
It sounds so familiar, doesn't it? That's because it's...
Remember that great scene at the aquarium where father and son join together to kick the janitor in the balls? Takashi Miike is a genius!
Okay, this is the final film. These keywords are tough, so you've got seven hints instead of just five:
- Siren
- Evil Man
- Argument
- Enemy
- Teamwork
- Food Wrapper
- Hat
If you didn't guess as "teamwork", you definitely got it with "food wrapper". It's...
Oh sure, you might think those were bad hints for a movie so focused on a single idea that the one-word title says it all, but aren't they? The Leprechaun was an evil little man who was an enemy to Jennifer Aniston and friends, he was wearing a hat, their arguments gave way to teamwork, the police arrived at the end, and... you know... somebody ate some fast food? Look, I don't remember every single scene, but there had to be one food wrapper somewhere in the movie. Otherwise, how would it wind up a plot keyword?
Aaarg on 09/09/2011 2:27 pm
I "discovered" their key word system some months ago and it's definitely a stupid way to waste a lot of time.
ColdFusion (Guest) on 09/09/2011 6:04 pm
This is why I've loved I-mockery for the better part of a decade. You take the internet and make up even more fun things to do with it.
daff3w (Guest) on 09/10/2011 12:38 am
that keyword game been around for a while now
sonicteam3000 on 09/10/2011 10:56 am
i've watch ichi the killer at least 20 times, and i cant figure it out. i get too soaked into kakiharas amazing torture scenes
Tacobot on 09/10/2011 6:28 pm
Nice article. now i gotta go watch Ichi the killer again.
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