Ok, so is it just me, or are there a ridiculous number of films coming out in the new and horrendous ‘Horror Porn’ genre? It all started with SAW, which had some gorey moments but on the whole sucked, then came the remake of ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ which due to the utter degradation towards women and boundary pushing, I walked out of, then came Hostel who had tagged Tarantino as one of it’s producers to try and bag as many viewers as possible to watch what???? People being hacked to bits, murdered and raped in horrible ways? Most definetly.
My whole point in ranting about this is, what do people get going to see these movies? Ok granted I did see part of The Hills Have Eyes, but I was so disturbed by the blatent violence and sexual abuse that I haven’t been able to walk into an 18 certificate film since because of the horrific memories I have left lingering inside my head….no really!! What I want to know is what do people get from seeing these movies? There is no happy ending, they’re short of being snuff movies and you will never have a resolution where all your friends make it out alive to see another day. I don’t believe these films are in any way good for people’s psyche’s or menta/ spiritual growth, I don’t think that they satisfy anything inside anybody, unless it’s some awful primal blood lust and if people claim that they own them on DVD then I honestly think they need to be watched by the police cause they’re gonna commit some kind of atrocity and blame it on these films. I know I sound like Mary Whitehouse but I’m afraid that society is really going down a slippery path of no return and it terrifies me.
Recently my mate and I went to the cinema and instead of watching trailers for a variety of movies, one after the other came these ‘horror porn’ genre orientated films, the first “Paradise Lost”; friends go away on a holiday, they get marooned on a island with nothing, they find a beautiful house in the jungle and the next thing they’re being chased with machettes, then came on “The Hitcher” now I have to confess I like the original with Rudger Hauer but in 1986 the film industry knew how to balance psychological fear with visual effects, I suspect this one will be hacking, slashing and screaming with little or no imagination and lastly came “Vacancy” with Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, married couple, take a short cut instead of the highway……suddenly get car trouble….creepy guy appears at the car window…advises them where to stay….go to a creepy motel…..go to the room they’re given….switch on the tv to find a video…..put the video in….it’s not porn, no, but a woman being thrown about and raped…the guy is being attacked….they look around the room to suddenly become aware……oh it’s this room!!!! Wilson goes up to the air-vent grate thing and oh look there’s a camera behind it….oh the suprises!!! Then ensues the survival, the running and the wintessing of awful things happening……please please…someone tell me….what do people get from watching these movies???????
I have watched some of these movies and have seen the trailers mentioned above. The current trend with these movies seems to be style over content, “lets be more shocking than the last splatter movie” but forget to include a storyline. This is no different from comedy movies with how much they can try to out do each other in the gross out factor (There’s something about Mary onwards).
Saw simply came about because someone watched Se7en and thought “What if we made a movie that showed the horrific stuff that Se7en implied and left to imagination” and progressed from there, a new “benchmark” was set (whether we needed it or not) and the boundaries have been continually pushed ever since. This is not unique to horror movies, things like jovial Candid Camera evolved in to the meaner stunts of Jackass.
From these films I get Escapism, (or an urge to rip out my eyeballs as the film is crap). I am at an age where I can watch these movies in the fantasy context in which they were created, and see them as works of fiction which entertained me at some level. I believe that saying that people who commit crimes because of movies, or are “conveniently” link to movies by the media is a tad very unfair. If someone had the imbalance to cause harm to someone else, they would have found some way to act it out, I believe that what ever atrocity they witnessed in a movie was merely the flavouring for whatever nasty dish was simmering underneath their personality.
I have an extensive DVD collection from which my nephews like to come in and borrow from. I screen everything they want to borrow, they don’t get 15’s or above and even then I have refused them 12s. Certificates are there for a reason, but it is very common in our society to ignore them. Take the child that set himself on fire after seeing the Stunt on Jackass, movie was an 18, child was way way way below that age, so how did he see it? Someone either bought, recorded or rented it for him. Maybe a 21 certificate should be introduced due to the more extreme movies that are being made these days and greater awareness taught on why the certificates exist in the first place.
When I go to any of these movies, I know what I will be seeing, I am under no illusion. I am repulsed, sickened and disturbed by what happens in the movie, but that reminds me of how human I am. I have a sense of right and wrong, they day I stop flinching at this stuff is the day I will start worrying.
In terms of the unhappy ending… well that seems to be more than just these types of movies, TV shows, books, comics and dare I say life doesn’t always have happy endings. But in balance, look at all the happy ever after movies we have. But to say that this is unique to new movies is a bit untrue. How many times did Dracula return from the Grave, how many films finished with some image of the bad guy surviving?
In saying that, I don’t like these movies because of a few things 1) I am sick of remakes, especially movies that have existed in my lifetime. 2) Style over Content 3) Instantly forgettable apart from the shocking scene 4) People keep going to see them, so studios will keep making them.
I think the 21 certificate is probably a good idea. But it won’t really change anything. Obviously children should not be exposed to this stuff. But what no one seems to be asking is should adults be exposed to it either?
I’m a firm believer in what you dwell on, you give power to - what goes in is what comes out. Now, no one is denying the existence of personal responsibility - you do what you choose to do. But what you watch DOES influence how you think about things.
I’m not saying that just because we’ve seen someone die in a horrible way, we’re going to go out and commit some atrocity. But perhaps it makes us more suspicious of other people, more expectant of evil in the world and more preoccupied with that evil. Less capable of seeing goodness, less sensitive to the needs of others, less sensitive to the pain of others. Perhaps it contributes to the destruction of humanity if not on an individual basis, then the spiritual fabric, collective subconscious.
We are reckless with our own spirits.
There have always been deranged people and deranged acts committed since the dawn of time, regardless of the entertainment medium that existed.
One of the first movies ever made was of a person slicing an eyeball open. The trend to shock and ‘gross out’ is not a new one. The obvious and much stated Gladiators of rome and the bloody games being a prime example where snuff was mainstream. At least now we are in fantasy land and only pretending.
The real crime here is the quality of the movies, they in general are bad. Not because of the violence or depravity but because of the poor screenplay, bad plots, bad acting and far too much deus ex machina. In short except these as entertainment pieces and judge them on the standards for entertaining.
As to influencing what people think the newspapers and media empires are far more scary than a horror film. Just think how many have died due to political spin, vietnam, falklands, afghanistan, iraq and you can see the spin machine hurtling to demonise Iran. Thats really scary, give me a sicko movie any day.
Some people like it.
You don’t, which is fine.
Undoubtadly there are things you enjoy that other people dislike.
Personal preference.