One could argue that the seeds for brutal-
ity were planted at the beginning of the decade, though, courtesy the foreign market. Japan’s Takashi Miike got everyone’s atten- tion with his splatterfest Ichi the Killer in 2001, and the next year French director Gas- par Noé unleashed the unforgivingly cruel Ir- reversible, with the very aim to punish viewers via an eight-minute subway rape scene. But this still doesn’t explain main- stream audiences’ newfound appetite for de- struction, and why censors were suddenly so tolerant of it. Did studios simply figure out that we’d grown tired of lame efforts such as Deep Blue Sea and The Faculty? Perhaps this zest for brutality was simply a reaction? Darren Bousman, director of Saw II through
IV, agrees. “The reason the hardcore became mainstream was because we were bored of what was mainstream. It’s just a never-end- ing circle. The ’70s had a renaissance of hardcore, brutal horror, it changed in the ’80s, and then changed again in the ’90s.” Theorists have also looked towards the
socio-political climate to explain this shift to the extreme. Seventies exploitation films such as the original Texas Chainsaw and Last House on the Left are often seen as violent reactions to events such as the Vietnam War and the Kent State massacre. In the ’80s, people looked at the genre and saw the re- flection of AIDS and nuclear weapons. So it would seem that after 9/11 and the begin- nings of the “War on Terror,” audiences flocked to theatres to witness physical vio- lence in ways they’d never seen before, while the previously strict MPAA had a newfound tolerance. Julien Maury, co-director of Inside and one
of the leaders of the New Wave of French Horror, offers this assessment: “It’s under- stood that the political context influences artists and that audiences are willing to see fictional horror as a way to exteriorize their fears. Horror cinema allows us to control these fears and face them without taking any risk. Everything is under your control! Since Rue Morgue started, the media and politi- cians have constantly presented the world as a dangerous place. With the war in Iraq, Sep- tember 11, torture of prisoners in Afghanistan, movies and even mainstream TV shows evolved and showed more and more in-your-face violence. The artist needed to show it and audience needed to see it.” Indeed, there are parallels to be drawn be-
tween world events and the genre’s new crop of violent films, particularly the Sawand Hos- tel franchises. Unlike the popular slashers of the ’80s, Saw’s principle villain Jigsaw never directly kills anyone. Instead, he is the crim- inal mastermind behind an evil organization. He seemingly knows everything about you, can be anywhere, and even in death, there is someone ready to take his place. Who’s a
JANUARY 25, 1999 $60,000 The Blair Witch Project premieres at Sundance; goes on to earn $250 million worldwide
part of Jigsaw’s network? It could be your friend; it could be your co-worker. Does this paranoia sound familiar? In the case of Hostel, the similarities with the real world were
much more obvious. While the first film was bringing in $47 mil- lion USD at the box office, news stories were breaking about American soldiers torturing prisoners who had gone on a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay by strapping them into restraint chairs and force-feeding them. Restraint chairs became the key torture device (used by a fictional company called Elite Hunting that caters to the sadistic whims of the rich and depraved) in the Hos- tel films. While Roth’s original intent was seemingly to feed a de- sire to see cocky American frat boys punished for their arrogance, the movie ultimately fed off a disturbing new image in the pub- lic consciousness. In a chapter on torture in recent cinema from his upcoming
book, author Kim Newman says it is impossible to ignore the par- allels between these new violent fantasies and the cold realities of the news headlines. He writes, “In the world after 9/11, everyone felt they were at
the mercy of financial institutions, media cartels, terrorist groups and government agencies – not to mention private corporations given to acting like terrorist groups or government agencies. In this climate, outfits like Elite Hunting seem credible.” Film critic David Edelstein would appropriately dub films such
as Hostel and Saw “torture porn” in a now-famous 2006 New York Magazine article. In it, he suggested that audiences’ new obsession with torture came from a political atmosphere in which we’d all approve of torture if it’s being done for the “right” rea- sons. A bold claim perhaps, but one that might explain film cen- sors’ acceptance of this violent imagery. So where do we go from here? Well, we’ve opened the door to
the abattoir pretty wide, and a return to another cutesy, bloodless decade seems out of the question. Filmmakers will have a diffi- cult time trying to shock audiences, but maybe that’s a good thing. Perhaps we’ll all get sick of the bloodletting for a bit and de- mand more thought-provoking films. Then again, maybe it all de- pends on what happens outside the theatre. Either way, we’ll be watching.
From Mary Shelley to The Machine Girl, women have al-
ways played a significant role in developing the horror genre. And thirteen years ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer – the amped-up TV version of the semi-obscure 1992 feature film – seemed to put a final stake through the heart of the stereo- type of the helpless female victim onscreen. But whether things have changed for women working in the genre – and how female characters are portrayed within it – is still a matter for some debate. “Buffy definitely influenced the way that women are now portrayed in hor-
ror movies,” says Nikki Stafford, author of Bite Me: The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “Joss [Whedon] posited this idea that girls – who eventually became women – are powerful, intelligent beings who hold in their hands the power to save the world. The men on the show were all second- ary to the women.” Stafford also observes that Buffy had a huge cultural im- pact, bringing women to the genre in greater numbers than ever before; she
APRIL 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Blame placed on violent media, dark music and goth culture.
JUNE 29, 1999 Slipknot releases its self-titled debut album.
describes it as “the gateway show for women to get hooked on genre TV.” Veteran scream queen Debbie Rochon
agrees that the show also marked a funda- mental shift in the kinds of roles available to women. “It changed the playing field completely,”
she says. “It was a show that featured kick- ass females that didn’t have to hide behind their husbands or boyfriends. ... It also taught a lot of the up-and-coming women who were interested in horror that it was cool to play the tough chick.” The popularity and originality of the series
is undeniable – Buffy studies is a growing academic field that boasts a bi-annual con- ference and an online journal – but now, Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-teen series Twi-
OCTOBER 5, 1999 A new Misfits lineup fronted by Michale Graves releases Famous Monsters.
NOVEMBER 24, 1999 End of Days is released, join- ing similar themed movies The Ninth Gate, Stigmata and Bless the Child.
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