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What’s up with all these “TORTURE” films?

post #1 of 45
11/1/08 at 9:30pm
Thread Starter 
I admit I am the furthest thing from cool: wife, kids, dog, Japanese sedan, and a 4 bedroom house in the burbs - that s me. So I am not Mr. Pop culture, but I don't get why these sick torture films are making so much money? What is the attraction?

I have only seen part of one these films - kind of a funny story really. I walk into the video store ?2? Years ago and I see the #1 rental is a film called "Hostel". The kid at the counter tells me "great film" and since my wife and I backpacked around Europe in the early 90"s the title seems harmless to me. (I know I should read the back etc, but when you got two kids under 5 in toe you rush through picking your movie so you can help them get the latest "Dora film").

Of course the film starts out nice enough, then turns into a torture flick. Though we turned it off half way through, the film left a mental image with me, that I will not forget and I can't imagine why people would enjoy watching something like this.

So what the deal? Why do these films do so well? I have nothing against a scary movie, but this stuff isn't scary it is sadistic.
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post #2 of 45
11/1/08 at 9:34pm
I dunno, but I think it gives all these pansy-ass "Emo" kids a seeming emotional outlet for all of their angst and irritation about the unbelievable difficulties of their cushy suburban lives. I mean, when life is so difficult that your Mom will only pay for TWO Lattes per week at Starbucks instead of the seven you really wanted, you simply HAVE to have a violent outlet in which to place your frustrations. People being mutilated on film is just the thing...
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post #3 of 45
11/1/08 at 9:41pm
^ I think we also need the good professor's answer to this question?
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post #4 of 45
11/1/08 at 9:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spatlese View Post
^ I think we also need the good professor's answer to this question?

He tends not to poke his head outside DT; so feel free to formulate a good, Fabulously worded question and post it you-know-where.
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post #5 of 45
11/1/08 at 9:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rach2jlc View Post
He tends not to poke his head outside DT; so feel free to formulate a good, Fabulously worded question and post it you-know-where.

LOL. Ok maybe later after I've had some vino.
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post #6 of 45
11/1/08 at 9:59pm
The first Saw was clever and brought something new to the horror genre. Unfortunately, what followed was its less-than-stellar sequels and the introduction of these torture films (see Hostel) to a wider audience. That being said, torture films gross me out to the utmost degree. Enough with this shit already.
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post #7 of 45
11/1/08 at 11:53pm
Torture horror is the new porn, morally deplorable yet socially acceptable. Even better, you get to sit in a theater with 100 other people and squirm in unison, and not have to deal with any of the shame or guilt usually associated with viewing pig sex.
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post #8 of 45
11/1/08 at 11:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoSurface View Post
Torture horror is the new porn, morally deplorable yet socially acceptable. Even better, you get to sit in a theater with 100 other people and squirm in unison, and not have to deal with any of the shame or guilt usually associated with viewing pig sex.

what guilt?
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post #9 of 45
11/2/08 at 12:01am
This fascination is nothing new, people used to enjoy stonings and hangings, and that's real-life shit. There's still a hotel restaurant in a small town in New Mexico with a photograph on the wall of a late-19th century hanging in the town where the guy's head popped off and landed on the platform.
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post #10 of 45
11/2/08 at 10:14am
Dick Cheney is bankrolling the new Hollywood while laundering his Halliburton $$$
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post #11 of 45
11/2/08 at 12:07pm
I can't stand these movies. The whole "Saw" thing just grosses me out and I find it's just insulting to someones intelligence to push this gross mindless shit on people. In my opinion the only reason why people spend millions to go see this shit is because it is outrageous.
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post #12 of 45
11/2/08 at 12:17pm
In most of these movies the violence is used as a tool to connect with the viewers. Do you think that Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma would be an interesting watch without all the violence?
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post #13 of 45
11/2/08 at 3:24pm
Also not a fan of "torture porn." And yet, this is considered much more acceptible/normal than nudity. What does that say about our society when a graphic depection of mutilation is considered less offensive than an exposed nipple?
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post #14 of 45
11/2/08 at 3:25pm
Sort of goes along with the UFC/MMA culture in my opinion.. Sad reflection of the times..
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post #15 of 45
11/2/08 at 4:10pm
I think the growing prevalence of these films is driven partly by the disconnection from basic physical reality felt by today's youth (and Generation X). Insulated from want and from effortful existence, coddled by electronics, they paradoxically seek reality in virtuality; and death, the final fact from which not even suburbia escapes, becomes the ultimate touchstone of reality. The blood and viscera serve as an explicit reminder to the audience of the frail physical bodies from which they feel increasingly divorced.
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