Torture flicks

[motleyprose]

I can’t help but wonder about this spate of torture movies we’ve been having. “Hostel”, the “Saw” series, “Wolf Creek”, “High Tension”, “The Devil’s Rejects”, “House of 1,000 Corpses”, etc. What is it with America’s sudden interest in torture, or in seeing people tortured? Not to make too big a leap, but do you think this is some national

Comments

[supervenusfreak]

There was a recent article in Entertainment Weekly about the ebb and flow of the themes in horror movies. In the eighties, it was the slasher flicks such as Friday the 13th and the Halloween movies. In the nineties it was the horror movies with pop cultures references, like Scream. Now it is the torture and gore types, such as the ones you mentioned. Their conclusion? This too shall pass.

[cutepacub]

I know nothing of what you talk about. If it doesn't have Bambi in it, I won't watch it.

[eurodancemix]

It's all in cycles. Hollywood smells money, they jump on the bandwagon, people will get bored and those movies will be out of favor for several years. I remember the first full cycle of teen slasher flicks in the 80's (my favorite is by far "My Bloody Valentine", btw)...they glutted the market so quickly with inferior products that the whole genre bottomed out rather quickly. Give it another 6 months and they'll be history. I read that "Saw IV" is already set for release in October 2007, but anytime you get to roman numeral IV in a sequel, people know it's just more of the same and the movie usually tanks. :-)

[biagio]

I can't stomach torture. The rape scene in "Stir of Echos" bothered the hell out of me when she broke her fingernail. I watched Hostile mostly with my eyes closed.