Lecture 14

TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
Tobe Hooper

Psycho basically start the homicidal/insane horror film which also triggers the beginning of the slasher films => gore =Torture porn.

A splatter film or gore film is a kind of horror film that "specularizes" graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. Liek disaster films, these films use special effects and an excess of blood and guts. The human body is focused on as something vulnerable and makes something theatrical about bodily mutilation. (similarly this is a time in which body modification in terms of tatooing, scarification etc, start to revive. George A. Romero coined the term "splatter cinema" to describe his film Dawn of the Dead, although it is generally considered by critics to aim somewhat higher by creating a subtext of social commentary, rather than gore for gore's sake. Interestingly enough although many reviewers saw social commentary in the film (especially with an African American lead) the film's creators deny this and argue that the casting of was based on his audition and his being the best performer of those who auditioned. This leads to more problems for the "color blind casting" approach, in that it argues that audiences can not ignore race in the casting. In this film it is especially tricky since he refuses to let people into the basement as a safe place, and ultimately survives himself by hiding there.

Linking graphic violence and sexually suggestive imagery in some films has been labeled "torture porn" or "gorno" ("gore" and "porno"). In films, the gore becomes so excessive that it becomes comedic (once again linking horror and comedy).

Characteristics

Splatter films, according to film critic Michael Arnzen, "self-consciously revel in the special effects of gore as an artform." Where typical earlier horror films located the horror in rhe unnknown - sometimes the supernatural - sometimes not. Splatter film's horror comes from physical destruction of the body. The camera is often very activeand Whereas earlier horror films have a tendency to re-establish the social and moral order with good triumphing over evil, splatter films stress disorder often indicated by lack of plot and order. These films also feature fragmented narratives and direction, including as Arnzen states from "manic montages full of subject camera movement...cross-cuttings from hunted to hunter, and ominous juxtapositions and contrasts."

Early gore appears in the theater in Grand Guignol. In films some Griffith films like Intolerance show actual body mutilation

Psycho and Hammer Films continue the tradition, along with some Japanese films like Jigoku (Hell) 1960 Nobuo Nakagawa

Splatter vs. Slasher:

Splatter requires more gore than slasher. (some chambara (sword fighting) films) are included as are some action adventure Some people have identified scenes of splatter in other genres. Some examples are The Wild Bunch (1969), a western, Saving Private Ryan (1998), a war film,Kill Bill (2003), an action film, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), a fantasy film, and The Passion of the Christ, a religious film about the crucifixion ofJesus Christ. Other splatter non-horror/thriller films include, Black Hawk Down (2001), Rambo (2008), Robocop (1987), District 9 (2009) andTotal Recall (1990).

The first "splatter Film" generally considered to be Blood Feast (1963) by Herschell Gordon Lewis. It involves a machete wielding madman caterer who kills and mutilates women (thus adding a sexual/gender component) both aspects of which will continue into the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the Thirteenth etc.

The first to make the genre popular was George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead - (1968) a cult film which played drive ins and midnight showings and then became more than a cult film. I Spit on Your Grave (1978) (recently been remade (2010)) led to problems of reclassification of the rating system for home video as well.

In some cases the gore became so intense as to be comedic and known as “Splatstick”. This driving home the relationship between horror and comedy,

In 1980 gore merged with a kind of film called “mocumentary” (a faked documentary) in a film called Cannibal Holocaust. Another appeared in The Last Broadcast (1998) and finally The Blair Witch Project (1999)

In the 2000s, there had been a resurgence of films influenced by the splatter genre that contained graphic depictions of extreme violence, nudity, torture, mutilation and sadism, labeled "torture porn" by critics and detractors. The year 2000 brought Scream 3, and most notably Final Destination, a splatter film consisting of survivors dying in Rube Goldberg machine-like ways. The film was a hit, spawning four sequels after its release, and also became a trademark franchise in the splatter film genre.

Torture porn

Eli Roth's film Hostel (2005) was the first to be called torture porn by critic David Edelstein in January 2006, but the classification has since been applied to Saw (2004) and its sequels (though its creators disagree with the classification). There has been a lot of discussion about whether the classification of films as "torture porn"says more about the classifier than the film.

The torture porn subgenre has proven to be very profitable: Saw, made for $1.2 million, grossed over $100 million worldwide, while Hostel, which cost less than $5 million to produce, grossed over $80 million. This led the way for the release of similar films: Turistas in 2006, Hostel: Part II, Borderland, and Captivity. The double feature Grindhouse (2007), produced and directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, has also been considered part of the trend.

The success of torture porn, and its boom during the mid to late 2000s, lead to a cross over into genres like crime thrillers

In the mid 2000's, torture porn was given a major boost within the horror industry by a new wave of French films which became internationally known for their extremely brutal nature Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, was labeled torture porn by critics when it premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival due to scenes of extreme violence, graphic sex, and genital self-mutilation. Self mutilation is also something which behan to happen in the real world with a new genre of psychological beahaviorx called self mutilators.

By 2009, the box office draw of torture porn films had mostly been replaced in the U.S. by the profitable trend of remaking or rebooting earlier horror films from decades past with the modernization making the convergence of torture porn with the remake trend very apparent.

In addition to remakes and reboots, torture porn maintained its own genre with the 2009 film The Collector, directed by Marcus Dunstan and co-written withPatrick Melton (both writers from the Saw series) which as of 2009 became the most profitable horror film franchise of all-time. The torture porn genre continues both in the US and abroad ,

Serial Killers

A definitions of Serial killer as people who kill more than 3 people is woefully inaccurate. Most hitmen, many miiitary personnel wpuld qualify.

Ed Gein (Gi:n) August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984

The story of Ed Gein has had a lasting impact on western popular culture as evidenced by its numerous appearances in movies, music and literature. Gein's story was adapted into a number of movies, including Deranged (1974), In the Light of the Moon (2000) released in the U.S. as Ed Gein (2001), and Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007). Gein served as a model for several book and film characters, most notably such fictional serial killers as Norman Bates (Psycho), Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs).

Like Norman Bates Gein had mother fixation; like Jame Gumb also made “woman suit”

Most prolific is uncertain. Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo in Russia, admitted to 56

Henry Lee Lucas in US

Henry Lee Lucas (August 23, 1936 – March 13, 2001) was an American criminal, convicted of murder in 11 different cases and once listed as America's most prolific serial killer; he later recanted his confessions, and flatly stated "I am not a serial killer" in a letter to researcher Brad Shellady. Lucas confessed to involvement in about 600 murders, but a more widely circulated total of about 350 murders committed by Lucas is based on confessions deemed "believable" by a Texas-based Lucas Task Force, a group which was later criticized by then-Attorney General of Texas, Jim Mattox, and others for sloppy police work and taking part in an extended "hoax".

Controversy

One of the most well-known opponents of collectors of serial killer remnants, Andrew Kahan, is said to have coined the term "murderabilia". He is the director of the Mayor's Crime Victims Office in Houston and is backed by the families of murder victims, and "Son of Sam" laws existing in some states that prevent murderers from profiting from the publicity generated by their crimes.

Film

Since its invention, portrayals of violence seem to have been an integral part of filmmaking. One of Thomas Edison's first phonograph recordings dealt with the confessions of serial killer H. H. Holmes. The creation of a monster helps society cope with the scarier side of humanity and starts to create a desensitization of media violence. The already vast and continuing production of serial-killer based works shows that the serial killer is simply fascinating to a large portion of American culture. (Anderson) We cringe at their bloody antics but remain transfixed watching violence on television. (“Serendip”) They seem unable to give love and affection to others and have been called moral idiots since their conduct is often motivated by an excessive physiological need for thrills and excitement. (Gado) This fascination may be our way of connecting with a power that has been repressed within us. (“Serendip”)

Serial killers are featured as stock characters in many types of media, including books, films, television programs, songs and video games. Films featuring serial killers include Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, The Watcher, Mr. Brooks, Zodiac, Seven, Copycat, Halloween, Scream, Man Bites Dog, The Hitcher, Monster, The Killer Inside Me and many others.

The television series Dexter revolves around Dexter Morgan, a police blood-spatter pattern analyst who moonlights as a vigilante serial killer, attempting to channel his homicidal urges in a "positive" direction by killing other murderers who have slipped through the cracks of the legal system. It is based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Other notable literature with a serial killer theme includes Davis Grubb's The Night of the Hunter, Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me and Thomas Harris' books Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, all featuring Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a cannibalistic serial killer. The television show Criminal Minds follows the cases of an FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit as it pursues serial killers.

TEXAS CHAIN SAW M

It is credited with originating several elements common in the slasher genre, including the use of power tools as murder weapons and the characterization of the killer as a large, hulking, faceless figure.

Hooper has cited changes in the cultural and political landscape as central influences on the film. His intentional misinformation, that the "film you are about to see is true", was a response to being "lied to by the government about things that were going on all over the world", including Watergate, the 1973 oil crisis, and "the massacres and atrocities in the Vietnam War". The "lack of sentimentality and the brutality of things" that Hooper noticed while watching the local news, whose graphic coverage was epitomized by "showing brains spilled all over the road", led to his belief that "man was the real monster here, just wearing a different face, so I put a literal mask on the monster in my film". The idea of using a chainsaw as the murder weapon came to Hooper while he was in the hardware section of a busy store, contemplating a fast way to get through the crowd.

TOBE HOOPER

Mini Biography

Before becoming a filmmaker, Tobe Hooper, a native of Austin, Texas, spent the 1960s as a college professor and documentary cameraman. In 1974, he organized a small cast that was made up of college teachers and students, and then he and Kim Henkel made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). This film changed the horror film industry. Hooper based it upon the real-life killings of Ed Gein, a cannibalistic killer responsible for the grisly murders of several people in the 1950s. Hooper's success with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" landed him in Hollywood and it remains a horror-film classic. Hooper rejoined the cast of "Texas" and with Kim Henkle again for Eaten Alive (1977), a gory horror film with Mel Ferrer, Carolyn Jones, William Finley, and Marilyn Burns (who played the lead in "Chainsaw"). The film centered around a caretaker of a motel who feeds his guests to his pet alligator. Also in the film was Robert Englund, whom Hooper helped advance his career and worked with him again in the future. "Eaten Alive" also won many awards at Horror Film Festivals.

Hooper was assigned to the Film Ventures International production of The Dark (1979), a science-fiction thriller. After only three day, he was fired from the film and replaced with John Cardos. Instead, Hooper had greater success with Stephen King's 1979 mini series Salem's Lot (1979) (TV). In 1981, Hooper directed the teen-slasher film The Funhouse (1981) for Universal Pictures. Despite its success, "The Funhouse" was a minor disappointment. In 1982, Hooper found greater success when Steven Spielberg hired him to direct his production of Poltergeist (1982) for MGM. It quickly became a top-ranking major motion picture, despite some differences that were resolved by Spielberg himself taking over Hooper's directing duties.

Poltergeist was perhaps a greater success than "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but it was three years until Hooper found work again. He signed a three-year contract with Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's Cannon Group, and directed more films, including Lifeforce (1985), the minor remake of Invaders from Mars (1986), and the disappointing sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). Since then, Hooper's career has gone downhill. He also directed two more Robert Englund films, Night Terrors (1995) and The Mangler (1995), in 1995 and he has also directed numerous horror television sitcoms. Recently, Hooper was asked to write a new script for Michael Bay's remake of Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was released in 2003.

AFTER THE FILM

Images

Death: Flash bulbs reveal body parts including skeletons (compare with shots of "grandpa" in chair - like Psycho)
Armadillo on road
Cemetary and bodies
radio report about building disaster
Viet Nam
Images of sun and moon (form cuts with light bulb etc.) and discussions of astrology and retrograde motion (going back in time to when slaughter house was working

weird objects - pots hanging on tree, bones hanging

Cinematic techniques

close-ups
rapid cuts
use of telephoto lens to collapse distances in 2 shots
shots through bets

Shock and suspense

sudden appearances of Leatherface
long chase sequence
dark sequences (typical of inexpensive films)
blue vs red color (red like hell)
Off Screen noises

generator
chicken
noises at freezer

Unclear problem of source of horror - no real explanation. Unknown is more firghtening.

Hooper says mask and disinformation about Viet Nam war and government and cover-ups.

What is unknown is more frightening (similar sentence in Haunting. No explanation of etiology. Insanity is like lack of understanding of cause.