Halloween 2008 #23 - Horror Movies: Gore

It might seem from a lot of my ranting that I'm not a big fan of gore. This is not entirely true. Yes, I am a fan of the more subtle horror - that tends to freak me out a lot more than buckets of blood. But gore, done properly, can be insanely awesome (with emphasis on the insane).

It's tricky for me. One person's gore is my "torture porn" and many classic splatter movies have never quite clicked with me. I saw Maniac on the big screen, and never really got into it, though I was impressed by the fact that the director showed up to talk about it. You are truly a great person, William Lustig. Likewise, though I am a fervent believer that Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom should have gotten a DVD release long before now (thank you, Criterion), it's not particularly a delightful movie to watch and really, you could probably live your life without ever seeing it just fine.

On the other hand, I've already mentioned my adoration for the Evil Dead series, Suicide Club, Audition and Cemetery Man. So it's possible for gore to work in both comic and serious settings. I think the trick is recognizing that you have to have a decent enough reason for the gore and preferably, one that isn't a total rip-off of seven other movies released that year. I don't care if your reason is industrial accident gone awry, gates of hell unleashing demons, or zombies feasting on flesh, I just want it to be memorable enough that I don't say: "Really? More attractive young people getting their limbs ripped off by a mysterious tormenter? Wow, I'm sure that's never been done before. Except for last month."

The Beyond (1981) - There's a number of movies you could choose from Lucio Fulci's oeuvre as example of gore done stylishly and intelligently, albeit sometimes to the point of simultaneous revulsion and confusion. I chose this movie because of the following, best summed up in the plot description from Wikipedia: "But her renovation work activates the hell-portal, and soon she and a local doctor find themselves having to deal with living dead, a ghost of a blind girl who seeks to get them to leave the house, a mystic tome called the Book of Eibon that supposedly contains the answers to the nightmare at hand, face-eating tarantulas, a young girl whose murdered parents become zombies and is herself possessed by undead spirits — and Schweick, who has returned as a malevolent, indestructible corpse, apparently in control of the supernatural forces." You can't go wrong with that. Also see Fulci's movie City of the Living Dead, in which someone gets a power drill to the head in one of two moments from horror movies featuring this tool now indelibly etched in my brain.

Tetsuo (1989) - Granted, you could watch the movie where Robert Downey Jr. wisecracks and drinks his way to superstardom in a metal suit, while Gwyneth Paltrow wrings her hands. Or you could watch Japan's own Iron Man in an incredibly grotesque, fascinating movie about a guy who starts growing metal out of his body. And witness the other most disturbing movement featuring a power drill (why must it be a drill?) as our 'hero' attempts to have sex his girlfriend and.. oh, you know what. I'm stopping right here. You can figure out from here if you haven't already been corrupted by this freaky movie. And hey! There's a sequel.

Braindead/Dead Alive (1992) - I have been able to sit through just about every gory movie out there, no matter how bad it got, how bloody the scenes were, or how disturbing the usage of construction equipment got. And yet, with Peter Jackson's masterpiece right there, I have been beaten. What defeated me? You'd think it would have been the lawnmower mowing through bodies left and right? Nope. The hero cutting his way out of the monster's abdomen? Not even close. No, it's a small moment halfway through the movie in which the living and the dead sit down to eat and something falls into the food. Every single moment I see this one scene (and if you've seen this you probably know it) I have had to either leave the room or turn my head. It's my one weakness and I still can't win over it.

Dead & Breakfast (2004) - Young people on their way to a wedding stop on a small town and must fight off an evil spirit in order to make it to morning. Meanwhile, many horror references are made, supporting actors from popular television series show up, and I realize from reading Wikipedia (yet again) that the guy who wrote one of my favorite 90s songs, "The Freshmen", wrote the score to this movie. Awesome! Oh, yeah, and in the grand tradition of "stay alive" movies, most people don't.