Splatter film
Though splatter is associated with fairly extreme horror films, and such works form the main focus of the book, a relatively diverse range of titles dating mainly from the 1960s to late 1970s are also included, for example John Waters' Female Trouble, Ted Post's Magnum Force, Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky, and Walter Hill's Western The Long Riders.
[3] This filmography implies that the influence of film-makers such as Sam Peckinpah or Andy Warhol, to name two, is as significant to the development of the form as Grand Guignol, Hammer Films or Herschell Gordon Lewis.
During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the use of graphic violence in cinema has been labeled "torture porn" or "gorno" (a portmanteau of "gore" and "porno").
Arnzen argues that "the spectacle of violence replaces any pretensions to narrative structure, because gore is the only part of the film that is reliably consistent.
"[5] These films also often feature fragmented narratives and direction, including "manic montages full of subject camera movement ... cross-cuttings from hunted to hunter, and ominous juxtapositions and contrasts.
"[5] The splatter film has its aesthetic roots in French Grand Guignol theatre, which endeavored to stage realistic scenes of blood and carnage for its patrons.
In 1908, Grand Guignol made its first appearance in England, although the gore was downplayed in favor of a more Gothic tone, owing to the greater censorship of the arts in Britain.
[1] The first appearance of gore—the realistic mutilation of the human body—in cinema can be traced to D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916), which features numerous Guignol-esque touches, including two onscreen decapitations, and a scene in which a spear is slowly driven through a soldier's naked abdomen as blood wells from the wound.
Perhaps the most explicitly violent film of this era was Nobuo Nakagawa's Jigoku (1960), which included numerous scenes of flaying and dismemberment in its depiction of the Buddhist underworld Naraka.
Eager to maintain a profitable niche, Lewis turned to something that mainstream cinema still rarely featured: scenes of visceral, explicit gore.
[19] The financial success led the way for the release of similar films: Turistas in 2006, Hostel: Part II, Borderland, and Captivity, starring Elisha Cuthbert and Daniel Gillies, in 2007.
Billboards and posters used in the marketing of Hostel: Part II[22] and Captivity drew criticism for their graphic imagery, causing them to be taken down in many locations.
[34] 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.
[37] A number of these remakes, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) (and its sequel in 2007), Funny Games (2008), The Last House on the Left (2009), and I Spit on Your Grave (2010) were referred to as torture porn in press reviews.
[12] Other recent torture porn films include Would You Rather (2012), The Collection (2012),[50] Truth or Dare (2013),[51] Who's Watching Oliver (2018),[52] Don't Click (2020),[53] Hacksaw (2020),[54] and The Host (2020).
