Violence in Horror

It is past time that horror writers and filmmakers tone down the level of violence in their works. I admit I have enjoyed my share of slasher films, but after a while the rolling heads, spilling guts, oozing brains, and bodies split down the middle get old. But lately some writers have become too lazy to build suspense, to do the difficult work of characterization and plotting, and write violence instead. Anyone with good descriptive skills who can paint an image in the readers' minds can write a violent scene. If violence is an integral part of the plot that is one thing--if it is only there as filler material for vacuous minds--that is another thing.

As movie special effects become more sophisticated, violent scenes have become more realistic, and makers of slasher films seed bigger and better special effects. They miss the fact that the movie Halloween, one of the finest films in the horror genre, had little explicit violence. Even the first Nightmare on Elm Street was restrained compared to today's horror/slashers, and it had a decent plot and characterization.

Contemporary filmmakers might respond that violence is what the audience wants, especially the younger audiences that make the bulk of horror/slasher fans. I have noticed this myself as a university professor--when I taught a class on philosophy and horror fiction, I would invite the students to watch a horror movie. They were only interested in the violent ones; a classic horror film such as the original version of The Haunting, did not interest them at all. One can legitimately ask whether the bloodthirstiness of today's students has formed a symbiotic relationship with contemporary horror/slasher films. Young people are becoming more violent due to many factors, but I doubt that watching more realistic slash-ups will alleviate their violence; it might even enhance it.

Though overdone on the violence aspect, the first Saw movie was saved by the deep moral implications regarding duties to self and other people. Would it be right to shoot an innocent person to save one's family? Yet after the first films, the others were redundant and were more bloodfests than anything else. I know the producers made money, and that's all that matters, right? Not when it comes to good writing and making a quality film. Keep your integrity and your soul, writers.

Movies such as Sinister and The Conjuring have brought back the old tradition of holding the audience in suspense until the monster (in the case of these films, a ghost and a demon respectively) appears. That involves suspense, but the presence of a monster brings in the horror element. I hope that trend continues.