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Phallic imagery in the advertising of The Slumber Party Massacre.

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28 Days Later (2002) has contagion at its heart. The disease is Rage. This film opens with a stream of violent videos of human on human violence including police brutality and riots. It then shows a chimpanzee restrained to view these videos. The chimp is infected with Rage, which spreads through as little contact as with a single drop of blood. 28 days after the outbreak, Britain is a doomsday wasteland. While the evident monsters in the film are Rage-infected zombies, it poses some of the remaining humans as a more sinister threat. 

An active military outpost seeks to solve its morale problems by raping the two survivors, one a teen girl, who have come into their shelter. In a pivotal moment, the infected end up killing many of the uninfected soldiers. The real monsters of this sequence are the soldiers. Fear of the raging, animalistic infected is suspended and replaced with monstrous behavior from those expected to protect. The pre-existing order of a military, of current society, was just as monstrous as the riotous zombies. I think there is a lot more to explore with the film’s use of animal experimentation and fear of “urban rage,” as well as its treatment of female character.

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A few images from Creep (2014). While I find this to be a fairly standard found footage film, there are a few points worth discussing. 

Spoilers:

In one scene, there is no video, only audio and subtitles. In this sequence exists a graphic description of bestial rape. This is the only horror film I have seen that cuts out video entirely for effect. In thinking about this, I was reminded of Tobe Hooper’s perceived but not explicitly seen style of filmmaking. Like we discussed in class, much of the violence in Texas Chainsaw Massacre is off camera. However, it still feels extremely brutal. I feel similarly about the scene in Creep. While the violence is not acted out on screen, it is still horrific. 

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A couple posters for the Witch. 

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I can say fairly confidently that The Girl is my favorite film vampire. These stills are from the film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Set in Bad City there are many shots that remind me of Near Dark, mostly the Western wide-shots and oil fields (vampires in a different sense). 

I think this film would fit in with much of what we are discussing in class. Those killed by the girl are predatory men who are consumed by their lust for sex and drugs. Much like Mae, the Girl is able to use her femaleness as a lure for the unsuspecting brute that desires her for sex. There are countless moments of silence in this film, lingering on Vand’s wide eyes, or stoic, chandor-clad form. However, the Girl is not merely a nighttime angel, she wears a Breton striped shirt reminiscent of Beatnik style and listens to indie rock. 

I am madly in love with the soundtrack and atmosphere of this film and would strong recommend it. 

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Two very different horror films that were both written and directed by women. I’m taking a look at a few of the posters considering our discussion about clothing choice in American Mary. 

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Body Horror - Motherhood in The Void (2016)

I have mixed feelings on The Void. I’ve seen it two times now and both times have left me indifferent. I did appreciate some of the body horror explored in the film. The practical effects are phenomenal and reminiscent of Carpenter’s The Thing, which is no accident.

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Project inspiration. There is a lot to unpack in Aronofsky’s mother! which I saw last night.

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I watched the Hostel trailer with little knowledge of the film other than it’s toture-porn reputation. I’ve transcribed the text that is intercut with the eerie scenes in this preview.

“THERE IS A PLACE

WHERE ALL YOUR DARKEST

SICKEST FANTASIES

ARE POSSIBLE

WHERE YOU CAN EXPERIENCE

ANYTHING YOU DESIRE

WHERE YOU CAN

TORTURE

PUNISH

OR KILL

FOR A PRICE”

I found this advertising to be fascinating. It invites me, the audience, to enter this place. What waits there? This text suggest that this film will fulfill something within me that I may not be open to recognizing. It suggests that it will tap into some sort of deep, dark part of me. 

The text is suggestive in a sexual sense as well. This reminded my of Clover’s essay and the connection between sex and violence in the sense that one may substitute the other. In this trailer, they seem to be probing an attraction to both sex and violence on screen.

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Halloween Directed by John Carpenter (1978)

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Bullies

The first image was taken from the It miniseries and the second from Let the Right One In. 

Bullies and horror go hand and hand. Bullies are relentless. They are often unexplored evils, picking on a weaker, more vulnerable character for no apparent reason. In Halloween, there is a brief scene where Tommy is bullied in the schoolyard. They scare him and it ends up with a broken jack o lantern. It’s a quick scene, but leaves little Tommy with a very real fear of the very real boogeyman. 

I have seen and am quite fond of Let the Right One In. I’m looking forward to a class discussion about the role of bullies and the bullied in horror. 

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Good Parents

While Laurie may not be Tommy’s mother, she most certainly is the parental substitute in Halloween. She is responsible for the well-being of the children and will literally fight for them. We often see bad parents represented in horror film. Bad parents leave us with childhood traumas that can manifest in horrific, sometimes deadly ways later in life. While we never meet the living “Mother” in Psycho, we can surmise that she was not the best parent. If the parent’s aren’t evil, they probably are useless or absent altogether. 

When thinking about good parents and parental substitutes, I thought of The Devil’s Candy. I found the father-daughter relationship to be immensely compelling. The mother is not absent or a monster, she goes to work and she protects her daughter. The family shares happy moments, and eventually a fight for their collective lives. While the parents aren’t always perfect, their role as protectors are clearly established. When the role goes unfulfilled, the consequences are dire. Good parents are often unrelenting survivors. They survive stabbings, shootings, and more with one goal in mind. To protect their children. The end sequence of The Devil’s Candy is an excellent example of the parent’s who won’t stop protecting. While Michael Myers is an unrelenting evil. Always rising again to sew despair. A good parent is his mirror image, always rising again to protect. To save the life of the vulnerable. Laurie, the parental substitute, was good. In both of these films it boils down to good versus evil.

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John Carpenter - Lost Themes - Night

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‘The Devil’s Candy’ By The Dude Designs

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“For Mark, the areas of sex, pain, fear and filmmaking are connected. He identifies with his camera so much that when Helen kisses him, he responds by kissing the lens of his camera. When a policeman handles Mark's camera, Mark's hands and eyes restlessly mirror the officer's moves, as if Mark's body yearns for the camera and is governed by it. When Helen tries to decide whether she should wear a piece of jewelry on the shoulder or at the neckline, Mark's hands touch his own body in the same places, as if he is a camera, recording her gestures.”