I have developed a new affection for gore. Movies, which slice and dice reality with a rusty dagger.Movies directed by men who have fully understood the tragedy of growing up.
Apart from beating the viewer into a bloody pulp, this genre of films appeals to aesthetic cynicism, bearing a kind of humour, which is mostly inconspicuous by its absence to the average filmgoer. It’s easy to classify such films into the ‘B-Grade Horror’ category but that would be grossly unfair.
Without existing solely to scare the shit out of conservatives, they creep into movie theatres with evil intentions, but seldom without a greater purpose.
They fought a war against civil injustice. They took sides in issues such as abortion and liberal politics. Hell, they even shouldered the white man’s burden. Social deviation, child abuse, and religion – everything was dealt with severely and with as much blood as possible.
Gore fests such as ‘Abominable Dr Phibes,’ ‘Last House On The Left‘ and ‘Cannibal Ferox‘ gave a horrific spin to isolation and its terrifying aftermath. Tobe Hopper’s ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre‘ took the troubled road down to demented family values. ‘Shivers‘, directed by David Cronenberg, told you everything that you didn’t want to know about sex. And George Romero’s classic ‘Dead’ series was filled with enough acidic metaphors to dissolve a civilization.
Of course, there is no denying that clichés run amok. The ‘mysterious’ killer, more often than not, is obviously recognizable. The plot is subject to change until the end credits roll. And love succeeds, but not without a large dose of the absurd. But every time such drastic repetitiveness is evident, murder most foul is just breath away!
For the ones who yearn for films with A-list casting, dramatic pauses and a whole lot of sugary action, stay away from gore flicks. This genre is solely for the ones who turn a blind eye to normalcy.
