OCTOBER 26, 2013 5:11PM

Day 19: Best Use of Gore

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30 Day Horror Movie Challenge

Day 19: Dangling Eyeballs, Slashed Tendons, Pop Rocks and Wit

Hard as it is to believe, I don't actually care all that much about gore in my horror fiction.  If you don't have mood, tension, suspense and an eerie atmosphere, a pancreas being ripped out of a hapless victim won't be doing it for me.  This is often why I find myself indifferent or even hostile to the genre known as "torture porn." At its mediocre-to-worst, it just represents an utter lack of imagination and storytelling talent.
Hostel would be my exception to that rule.  I've written about it before here, to note that it deals in Final Boys instead of Final Girls.  I think the film is witty.  It says a lot about American tourists abroad, American exceptionalism, the male libid0 and European stereotypes.  And there is a well-crafted suspenseful thriller in between the various severed limbs and the dangling eyeball of poor, poor Kana.
Now from torture porn we go to the late 90's movement which I've dubbed "The Williamson Wave," sparked by Kevin Williamson and his epic Scream trilogy (now quadruplegy ).  Movies in this movement are typified by their casts of up-and-coming hot young TV stars and their metatextual self-referential references to the horror genre.  A few were good, many were just okay.  But Urban Legend remains one of my cheesy favorites, and the use of gore was superb, as the killer used urban legend motifs to execute [SPOILER].....





her - yes, her - kills.  As one of the few horror films featuring a female slasher-killer, it stands out.  And Rebecca Gayheart's crazy eyeliner-eyed antics had me charmed, and had me laughing.

Author tags:

chillerpop, all hallow’s eve, all saints day, all souls day, samhain, halloween, chillerpop, open salon, salon, horror, terror, horror movies, horror fiction, fiction, music, gothic, spooky, fright, belief/religion, travel, 31 days of halloween, american exceptionalism, danielle harris, rebecca gayheart, urban legends, sirens, eastern europe, backpacking, european travel, american tourists, hostel, 30 day horror movie challenge, gore

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Ever seen what I believe is the first gore film, "Blood Feast," from 1963? It starred former Playboy Playmate Connie Mason in a performance so wooden she's almost a chair. Fine, low-budget crap silliness of the most entertaining order. I still chuckle just thinking about Fuad Ramses eyebrows.

However, it must be said that, sometimes, "a pancreas being ripped out of a hapless victim" is just the thing.

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