Explain Torture Porn to Me, Please

[Lissa]

Okay, so we all know I'm not a fan of horror. I don't have Issues with people liking horror, but I'm not much on Friday the Thirteenth or Nightmare on Elm Street myself. But I can understand why other people are.

However, I honestly don't understand the attraction of what EW has aptly been calling "torture porn." Movies like Saw, Hostel, etc. I just don't get the attraction. And because I have a weak stomach and refuse to actually watch the movies, there may be something in there that I'm not actually seeing, because all I see are the trailers.

So. Is anyone here a fan of stuff like Saw or Hostel? If so, can you tell me why? I'm not looking to be judgmental here- I don't like it, but I can appreciate that just because you do doesn't mean that you actually would go kill people in a horribly messy way. I'm just genuinely curious as to what the attraction is.

Volunteers?

[sirgallahad2]

With a movie like Hostel, it's not so much the gore or the violence. The movie inspires genuine fear. It brings out that "Holy crap what do I do NOW?" kind of feeling. Human beings are the dominant species on the food chain only because of our ability to reason, deduce a threat, and make SOME kind of plan. Because of the society we live in, we no longer have to hunt our food. For the most part, we will never be hunted in return. Our survival as a living being is decided more by how fast you can get to a grocery store, instead of your wits, cunning, and willingness to take another life to survive. SO when you watch Hostel and paxton is being hunted through the slaughter house and he can be killed at every turn, it brings out a very primal fear in the human psyche. I believe that is why people truly get into those kinds of movies. That and from the male perspective, there was a LOT of T&A in the first 45 minutes of Hostel. The OTHER human instinct.

[Lissa]

Thanks- that was the kind of thoughtful answer I was looking for. (And I had heard about the beginning of Hostel being pretty much a porn movie )

I can understand what you're saying about the fear aspect. I did really like Silence of the Lambs. I guess what I don't understand is why people want to see the gore aspects. But, like I said, I'm a total wimp. I had to hide my eyes in Syriana when they ripped George Clooney's fingernails out, and I'm not even sure how much of that they showed. And it was only because there were some really interesting aspects of Flags of Our Fathers that I made it through that one- I nearly asked Duckie to turn it off at one point. But I suppose that, for some people, the gore aspect builds the fear more vividly?

[StarOpal]

Just to say, Lissa, your not alone. For me, though, the gore doesn't really bother me so much as the feel those movies have. The way they focus so much on the torturing, I don't like it and I don't get it.

In the reverse, my brother likes those movies and and he just doesn't get how I can't see what he sees in them. He keeps telling me, "No, no, you'll like Hostel. The ending makes up for all that stuff you don't like." But that's not the point. I have to get through the rest of the movie to get to that point.

I guess it just comes down to there are two distinct groups of people on the subject, because I don't think I've ever met anyone inbetween with their feelings on these movies. They're always in one extreme or another.

Quick note on Silence of the Lambs: I have a friend who thinks "that's the most romantic movie ever." I guess it just takes all kinds, Lissa.

[Hucklebubba]

If we could all briefly transport to a pocket dimension where I could make potentially-infuriating blanket statements without fear of reprisal, I would say that people with a yen for movies like Saw and Hostel are profoundly screwed in the head, but we can't, so I won't.

Besides, if I were to make such a declaration, I'd then have to reconcile it with the fact that I sometimes deliberately mess up the interrogation sequences in the Punisher videogame. Simply because having Frank throw a Yakuza thug into a giant meat grinder, whereupon he quips, "Didn't catch his name. Guess I'll just call him "Chuck." is the greatest thing ever.

[TheLuckyOne]

Oh, thank God. I saw the thread title and thought you were inquiring about S&M. And then I was going to have to ask what, exactly, Duckie has been looking into. *Brrrrrr*

-D

[Lordmoon]

Personally I love these types of films simply for the reason that I love old-school Tom Savini style of gore makeup. How much better would the first Resident Evil had been if they actually went with “real” zombie makeup rather then digital effects?

Actually, the first Saw doesn’t belong in this category. Saw I, much like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the infamous scene in Reservoir Dogs, does not actually have very much on screen gore. Majority of the torture and brutality is done of camera with just enough visuals to let your mind create it’s own nightmare. Don’t believe me? Watch any of the three films mentioned and actually count the number of scenes where the camera focused on the gore.

[Spiderdancer]

This would be why it's called "torture porn" and not "blood porn."

I will watch very gory movies because they mostly don't bother me on a visceral level(I don't watch ones with vomit as a significant theme because that DOES bother me on a visceral level). I don't watch movies where the main theme is one person's sadistic torture of another one irregardless of how much gore is in them. It's not the blood and guts to which I object.

If I thought it was really about identifying with the victim, I might agree with sirgallahad's first post there. But I don't believe that. How well are action figures of the kids from Elm Street or the baby from The Hills Have eyes really selling? How many people remember the names of one character other than Leatherface from TCM?

I think most fans aren't identifying with the potential victims, but with the monsters. I hear a lot more of "Dude, he ripped her GUTS out!" than "Ow! That's terrifying!"

I don't watch zombie movies because I'm interested in the question of how well I would survive a holocaust of walking dead (about five minutes, is my estimate). I watch them because I'm fascinated with the idea of undeath. I, too, am identifying with the monsters. The difference is that I prefer monsters that are in some way pitiable - pathetically hideous rather than frighteningly so.

Of course, the line between those is also probably located somewhat differently for me than for most people.

[colneljohnmatrix]

Have you all ever seen "Bloodsucking Freaks"? or any of the hard Asian stuff like "Men Behind The Sun", "Guiena Pig", "Ichi The Killer", "The Untold story" or "Imprint"? now those are REAL torture movies.

[Lordmoon]

Yeah, the first few Guinea Pig films in the series were pretty brutal. Not sure if this is an urban legend or not but apperantly when Charley Shen saw the first Guinea Pig film he thought it was a real snuff film and reported to the FBI. It sounds out there but if you've seen the film you'd definetly be scratching your head as to how they did the eye scene.

[PoolMan]

GUINEA.

[Lordmoon]

I have no idea what you're talking about

[irish]

My take is more socio-political: we are pulling peoples fingernails out in secret prisons in the Middle East and in the former Soviet Union IRL. Art imitating life