I am fascinated with the evolution of the horror movie within modern day culture, particularly American culture. I even wrote a paper for it in my Politics in the Media class I took at University of North Carolina, (the very best class I have ever taken in my life) entitled "Bon Vomitif: Exploring torture in contemporary horror films and television as social-political entertainment." Sounds pretty kick ass huh? It definitely needs polishing but it did ignite a sort of obsession for me involving horror movies and our response to them as a society.
Sexual frustration, the breakdown of the nuclear family model and fear of feminism inspired slasher films of the late 70s such as Halloween (1978) in which a young Michael Myers brutally murders his sister, and then later on goes on a rampant killing spree of pretty teenage girls. Way before Twilight-obsessed teeny-boppers made it cool, the vampire figure remerged in the mid 1980s as a phenomenon many critics have associated with the age of AIDS, reckless sex and drug use. The Hunger (1983) stared glam-rocker David Bowie and French model Catherine Deneuve as sex-crazed, power-hungry vampires who are locked in an erotic bisexual triangle with young, doe-eyed Susan Sarandon, who is quickly infected with the vampires “disease” and now must come to terms with her incurable disease, and being ostracized from society. The 1990s marked the Hollywood debut of gory, Italian-style detective drama-American-giallo and revitalized sexual violence in the workplace, an example being Silence of the Lambs (1991) and later, American Psycho (2000). American Psycho rang in the new millennium and a new attitude towards contemporary cinema. Sure, there are other examples, but American Psycho, staring a young, sophisticated devilishly handsome Christian Bale made murder and acts of early forms of "torture porn" look, dare I say it, cool. He has sex with beautiful women, smiling to himself in the mirror all the while listening to Phil Collins hits and then succeeds to kill them. He even chases one with a chainsaw, and he's so badass, he's naked while doing so. Although American Psycho is not truly deemed as a "horror" movie, it became one of the first to water down the horror genre. Sure, it's scary to think, you have sex with a young handsome man, and he might just kill you, but the guilty fun in watching American Psycho is seeing these dumb girls falling for Bateman's charms and you get to sit and watch...perhaps even squeal in guilt ridden delight. We delight in the torture of others on the silver screen, cause it's "safe". It's that deep dark place we like to travel to and in the end we're all just as voyeuristic as that guy who was recently caught for placing video cameras in department stores. Sure, he should have been punished, but I'm sure there's one or two of you thinking you'd like to see the tapes.
Sexual frustration, the breakdown of the nuclear family model and fear of feminism inspired slasher films of the late 70s such as Halloween (1978) in which a young Michael Myers brutally murders his sister, and then later on goes on a rampant killing spree of pretty teenage girls. Way before Twilight-obsessed teeny-boppers made it cool, the vampire figure remerged in the mid 1980s as a phenomenon many critics have associated with the age of AIDS, reckless sex and drug use. The Hunger (1983) stared glam-rocker David Bowie and French model Catherine Deneuve as sex-crazed, power-hungry vampires who are locked in an erotic bisexual triangle with young, doe-eyed Susan Sarandon, who is quickly infected with the vampires “disease” and now must come to terms with her incurable disease, and being ostracized from society. The 1990s marked the Hollywood debut of gory, Italian-style detective drama-American-giallo and revitalized sexual violence in the workplace, an example being Silence of the Lambs (1991) and later, American Psycho (2000). American Psycho rang in the new millennium and a new attitude towards contemporary cinema. Sure, there are other examples, but American Psycho, staring a young, sophisticated devilishly handsome Christian Bale made murder and acts of early forms of "torture porn" look, dare I say it, cool. He has sex with beautiful women, smiling to himself in the mirror all the while listening to Phil Collins hits and then succeeds to kill them. He even chases one with a chainsaw, and he's so badass, he's naked while doing so. Although American Psycho is not truly deemed as a "horror" movie, it became one of the first to water down the horror genre. Sure, it's scary to think, you have sex with a young handsome man, and he might just kill you, but the guilty fun in watching American Psycho is seeing these dumb girls falling for Bateman's charms and you get to sit and watch...perhaps even squeal in guilt ridden delight. We delight in the torture of others on the silver screen, cause it's "safe". It's that deep dark place we like to travel to and in the end we're all just as voyeuristic as that guy who was recently caught for placing video cameras in department stores. Sure, he should have been punished, but I'm sure there's one or two of you thinking you'd like to see the tapes.
The point is nothing scare us anymore. Possessions of the devil? He doesn't exist and if he does he's been mass-marketed to the point of a punchline. (And seriously, Keyser Soze was the last to make him cool) Michael Myer? We experienced the modern bogeyman when the twin towers went down and our bloodlust as a society began. He's got nothing on me and he runs slow. I've got roller skates...Michael Myers is my bitch.
Um..back to the point... This particular generation is immune to any of the simple frights and delights that you or I may have grown up with. Speak of The Exorcist to your parents and they may chuckle with a small axietiy. Let a ten year old watch it and they'll laugh maybe cheer for the torture of young Linda Blair. "She deserved it!" They might say. Amyiville Horror? Damn, all my friends want to live in a haunted house.
We now crave the satisfaction of watching the torture of others, cause we can't and won't, out of extreme moral decency do it realistically on our own (and we never should.) So we have movies like Saw and Hostel and any of those recent "torture porn" titles that we carelessly continue to support with our ten dollars and change. (and don't forget the junior mints and large popcorn!) to feed this desire to be the badass. To fight fear with violence, because after 9/11 who didn't want to go kick something? To some degree the carnal thrill is seeked, not the fright.
So, where does that leave us. How about Zombies? And where did they stem off from? In most cases-Viruses. We Americans love a good bloody mess, but we're also intense germaphobes...so you better pump some more antibacterial goo on your hands and get your flu shot from the local Walgreens cause nothing gives a good scare like a nice little virus to really inject some fear into you and that's where Hollywood is turning their heads towards for the new batch of horror movies.
Viruses are the new boogeymen in modern American cinema. Movie makers can no longer put a face to what tortures because we as a audience can relate. But give little Dakota Famming a virus and, oh shit, we're scared. Well, maybe just a little.... maybe she deserves it.
Very astute observations and the virus theme is going strong - REC and its American remake Quarantine are two great recent examples but for a great take on the modern slasher film check out Behind The Mask The Rise of Leslie Vernon! Fantastic semi-meta slasher film!
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