A Little Ultraviolence
I don’t know what it is about horror films that rubs me the wrong way, but I just can’t stand them! I was surfing some movie sites yesterday and came across an ‘early’ clip of Hostel 2 and decided to see what it was. Now, I’m clearly biased against horror movies…I just don’t watch them...but I’m more than willing to admit when I’ve enjoyed a good scare (Alien, Event Horizon…even Wrong Turn was enjoyable) so I thought I’d give it a chance. I’m quite familiar with movies in general, and even if I haven’t seen many horror movies, I am well aware that many of them these days are now rampant with gratuitous and borderline grotesque gore, sex and violence…movies like the Saw trilogy, Hostel, House of 1000 Corpses, The Hills Have Eyes, Turistas etc…so I thought I knew what to expect.
I was wrong.
I’m not going into details, but seeing a naked woman gagged and hanging by her feet upside down being sliced by another naked woman wielding a sickle just strikes me as…well…wrong. To me, there’s an underlying wickedness permeating these movies…a sort of sinister detachment, where the directors/creators push the boundaries of what is acceptable in the name of entertainment…when the realities and consequences of encroaching on and crossing these boundaries is unknown and, in many ways, ignored. I think most troubling of all is the fact that its human on human violence. Seeing an alien life form rip someone to shreds, an inbred monster running around with a chainsaw or a zombie feeding on someone’s brain is one thing…but to see Joe Smith torture Jane Doe with a blowtorch as she screams for her life…there’s just something ‘off’ about it.
Now I’m not going to get all Christian Right on you…I believe very strongly in freedom of speech and artistic freedom…but I just think that sometimes these freedoms are intentionally perverted by people too blinded by their own greed, ambition and agenda’s to truly appreciate the gravity of what they are putting out into the world. Speaking for myself, I’m a big fan of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and David Lynch…three directors who themselves push the envelop as it pertains to violence and the taboo…so I’m no innocent. I just think that where films like Taxi Driver, Blue Velvet and Pulp Fiction walk up to the line and maybe linger around it, but are clearly fueled by an artistic vision of some sort…films like Hostel or The Green River Killer for example, for me at least, are simply shock and awe devices meant to burn graphic images into the viewers head…a cheap thrill if you will. And maybe that’s just it. Fast food in film form?
Maybe I just need to lighten up a bit? Maybe I’m just no fun? I mean, Silence of the Lambs was a pretty twisted tale, and it swept the Oscars the year it came out? Maybe there isn’t anything wrong with horror movies at all…maybe I’m missing out?
I was wrong.
I’m not going into details, but seeing a naked woman gagged and hanging by her feet upside down being sliced by another naked woman wielding a sickle just strikes me as…well…wrong. To me, there’s an underlying wickedness permeating these movies…a sort of sinister detachment, where the directors/creators push the boundaries of what is acceptable in the name of entertainment…when the realities and consequences of encroaching on and crossing these boundaries is unknown and, in many ways, ignored. I think most troubling of all is the fact that its human on human violence. Seeing an alien life form rip someone to shreds, an inbred monster running around with a chainsaw or a zombie feeding on someone’s brain is one thing…but to see Joe Smith torture Jane Doe with a blowtorch as she screams for her life…there’s just something ‘off’ about it.
Now I’m not going to get all Christian Right on you…I believe very strongly in freedom of speech and artistic freedom…but I just think that sometimes these freedoms are intentionally perverted by people too blinded by their own greed, ambition and agenda’s to truly appreciate the gravity of what they are putting out into the world. Speaking for myself, I’m a big fan of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and David Lynch…three directors who themselves push the envelop as it pertains to violence and the taboo…so I’m no innocent. I just think that where films like Taxi Driver, Blue Velvet and Pulp Fiction walk up to the line and maybe linger around it, but are clearly fueled by an artistic vision of some sort…films like Hostel or The Green River Killer for example, for me at least, are simply shock and awe devices meant to burn graphic images into the viewers head…a cheap thrill if you will. And maybe that’s just it. Fast food in film form?
Maybe I just need to lighten up a bit? Maybe I’m just no fun? I mean, Silence of the Lambs was a pretty twisted tale, and it swept the Oscars the year it came out? Maybe there isn’t anything wrong with horror movies at all…maybe I’m missing out?
What do you think?
To be continued...
posted by neil at 4:53 PM
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