the genre of horror films…

Horror films are difficult to categorize. I’ve been thinking about what constitutes a horror film since I started this blog in late April. The horror genre is a mixed bag because it often mixes comedy, drama, science fiction, mystery, and suspense.

Clive Barker, a master of horror, states:

Most horror, whether it’s real or fictitious, literary or cinematic, deals with the eruption of chaos into human existence [or else the revelation of its constant, unseen presence.]

I think I’ve got my own idea of what is and what is not horror. I have a difficult time classifying JAWS or Alien as horror films but no problem calling The Thing a horror classic. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense and is both hypocritical and contradictory. There isn’t a lot of difference between a film like Alien and a film like Halloween. Both films feature strong female protagonists faced with villians who want to kill them. In Ripley’s case, the villian is an alien. In Laurie Strode’s case, the villian is a homocidial maniac named Michael Myers. In both cases, the objective of the protagonist is to escape from the villian.

Yet it would be wrong to claim that survival is the one element that bonds all horror films. Survival is, certainly, an important element of horror films but it is really one of the key plot points that drives most films. In a film like Con Air, the key factor for Nicolas Cage’s character is survival but that hardly classifies it as a horror movie.

In “An Introduction to the American Horror Film”, Robin Wood says that there are 5 recurrent motifs in the horror genre:

1. The monster as a human psychotic or schizophrenic [ex. Psycho].
2. The revenge of Nature [ex. The Birds].
3. Satanism, diabolical possession, the Antichrist [ex. The Exorcist].
4. The Terrible Child [ex. Night of the Living Dead].
5. Cannibalism [ex. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre].

Wood classifies five motifs that fit into what I normally consider horror films. So why do I still feel confused? I want to be able to say there is one specific plot element that can be found in any given horror film. Bruce Kawin points out in his essay “The Mummy’s Pool” that, “Genres are determined not by plot elements so much as by attitudes towards plot elements.”

Kawin sums up precisely why I am confused. My attitudes towards plot elements are inevitably confusing my understanding of the genre. I don’t consider Alien a horror film simply because it takes place in space and should, thus, be classified as a science fiction film. On the other hand, I have no problem calling Jason X [essentially a remake of Alien] a horror film because it uses the iconic image of Jason Voorhees.

When I sit down to watch a film like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Cannibal Holocaust I know what I’m getting into. Horror films are visual nightmares.

Bruce Kawin claims, “One goes to a horror film in order to have a nightmare — not simply a frightening dream, but a dream whose undercurrent of both anxiety both presents and masks the desire to fulfill and be punished for certain conventionally unacceptable impluses.”

The question then arises: why do people watch these films. Kawin suggests that these nightmares act as masks to suppress socially unacceptable desires [like murder?]. I don’t completely agree with this assertion but I feel it has some validity. I think that people want to feel scared and to experience a visual nightmare as a form of catharsis.

Wes Craven sees these films in the same light:

I’ve always felt that horror films are a mirror. Whatever is in the news that is deeply troubling will turn up in horror films. It’s all about confronting your worst fears and the worst things you feel are out there, and seeing a central character you identify with getting out of it, somehow – getting through it. Because horror films are kind of like the boot camp for the psyche, of young people, especially.

I abhor violence and I’m not a big fan of gore but there is something that makes me watch when a character is being tortured or murdered. Do I want to act out this type of behaviour? Absolutely not. There is a sense of comfort in knowing that I am sitting in my living room and will be unscathed at the end of the film. In a very rare case, I’ll have a sense of fear or dread but too often I feel desensitized to what passes as horror these days. I think a lot of horror fans think that horror movies are strictly about fear. In many cases, horror films are about embracing fear and overcoming it. If horror films were strictly about fear, then no one would be watching. I truly believe that the majority of people who watch horror movies are participating in some form of catharsis. The characters on screen are acting on impulses that we repress in reality. In a recent film like Alexandre Aja’s remake of The Hills Have Eyes, the character of Doug is portrayed as a liberal and weak. When he savagely takes revenge on the mutated villians, the soundtrack soars and the viewer is given a sense of justice. He acts with brutal force and revenge. It’s fantastic.

I love the horror genre. Can I come up with an answer to what is horror? Not really. I think that the genre can easily cross borders. The one thing I am certain of is that horror films are visual nightmares. How these nightmares affect viewers is entirely up to the active participant – you. While the genre is often mocked and derided, I feel that the audience’s participatory level with horror films is strong and extremely important. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to clearly define the genre or why anyone is willing to watch these films. I do know that I’ll continue to watch horror movies because they are visual nightmares and because I can’t remember the last time I actually had a real nightmare.