Sex, blood, gore and monsters

by Nicole Findlay

With their implausibly stupid protagonists and gore splattered monsters, horror films are more often than not dismissed as tripe produced for the entertainment of teenagers. André Loiselle feels the genre offers a far more subversive critique of modern society.

In his upcoming book, Stage to Scream: Theatricality in the Horror Film, Loiselle, professor, SSAC, contends that the genre offers the most stinging commentary on violence and our increasing acceptance of it.

“It is precisely because it operates below the radar of political correctness that horror has the freedom to explore issues that other, more respectable genres would never touch,” said Loiselle. “In fact, it could be argued that horror is the only genre that consistently deals with controversial moral issues, inviting its audience to confront their own response to difficult situations and contentious subjects.”

His thesis runs counter to a common perception that the genre encourages a voyeuristic thrill that ultimately desensitizes us to violence.  Rather horror films hold up a mirror to society’s acceptance of a decade in which the nebulous “war on terror” saw nations shadow boxing with a rotation of villains.

“Saw’s serial sadist “Jigsaw” offers a striking analogy for North American political figures who use “raison d’etat” to justify their assault on human life,” said Loiselle. “Only horror film dares to confront its spectators with their own ambivalence about such politics.”

Loiselle’s book examines the over-the-top theatricality of antiheroes portrayed in movies like Hostel, Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Fracture. The histrionics of these modern day monsters can be traced back to medieval morality plays in which audiences witnessed barbaric acts of sex and violence performed by demons that both repulsed and fascinated them. The intent of these plays was to reinforce religious compliance through a cathartic process of tightly-regulated subversion. Loiselle contends that the paradox of corrective evil upon which the horror genre is built is actually a means to encourage social reflection. Rather than perpetuating violence, the horror genre portrays evil for the purpose of exposing our culture’s uneasy relationship to the unruly body, excessive discipline, sexual perversion and the irresistible pleasures of pain.