In “An Introduction to
the American Horror Film,” Robin Wood describes a simple structure for the
Classical horror film as normality “threatened by the Monster,” but following Psycho the significance of the monster shifted
(Wood 117). The greatest fear addressed in a majority of horror films since 1960
is the fear of other people. It took a directors like Michael Powell and Alfred
Hitchcock to first break this barrier for filmmakers in the genre to “expose
the illusory securities and limited rationales of contemporary life to reveal
the chaos which underpins modern existence and constantly threatens to ensure
its collapse” (Wells 75). Peeping Tom and Psycho helped contribute to the feeling of social insecurity, as they
created monsters that were fully human and would change the face of horror.
Marion (Janet Leigh) is
killed in a motel shower rather than the usual spooky locations such as haunted
castles or moon-lit wilderness, thereby crossing a “substantial social and
emotional barrier” which implied “a general condition in which average people
felt less safe” (Worland 87). The British horror film Peeping Tom not only contained a human psychopath as the monster,
but he makes the audience complicit in one of the genre’s most defining
cinematic moments. While also utilizing the point-of-view photography to place
the audience in the killer’s perspective, the camera is actually used as a
weapon as its tripod is affixed with a deadly point. Both films show a shift in
cinema which made audience members complicit with the acts of atrocity by
utilizing voyeuristic pleasure as a tool in the terror. Psycho opens with a shot through an open hotel window where we are
able to witness Marion
Though In Cold Blood (1967) is not technically
a horror film, the film realistically relayed the facts from the brutal slaying
of a rural family within their own home. The message delivered to audiences was
simply this: “in a world where this type of criminal exists—if this can happen
to a decent God-fearing family, nobody’s safe anymore” (Maddrey 163). This message
only seemed to be amplified in the decade that followed. People were suddenly
far more terrifying than any variety of monsters that mad scientists could
create. The success of Psycho can
again be attributed to the shift in horror morality by its treatment of the
human monster. In the opening sequences, Hitchcock gathers the audience’s
sympathy for Marion (Leigh) as she steals $40,000, only to shift sympathy onto Norman
The horror films of the
70s seem to be lacking a ‘faith in normality’ that had exited prior to the United States ’ involvement in Vietnam
In the 1970s Wes Craven
made it crystal clear that in order for the monster to be destroyed, “the
protagonist must, to survive, become more violent, more savage, then the
ostensible monster,” with The Last House
on the Left (1972) and The Hills Have
Eyes (1977) (Crane 12). In the 1980s survival was dependant upon purity,
with sexual promiscuity most often inviting attacks from the killers. The
manner in which the attacks occur and how the audience in invited to
participate is often an indicator of the social concerns of the times in which
the films are made. This is also why there have been an onslaught of home
invasion horror since the attacks of 9/11(Them
[2006], Inside [2007], Funny Games [2007], The Strangers [2008], Mother’s
Day [2010] Trespass [2011], You’re Next [2011], Straw Dogs [2011], The
Aggression Scale [2012], The Purge
[2013]), usually giving little to no explanation for the attacks. When horror
first emerged, we learned that it was haunted mansions and eerie castles that
were meant to be avoided in order to stay away from the deadly forces of this
world. Since then, we have gradually come to realize that the place we often
feel safest is the most terrifying to imagine deadly. Oh, what a world we live
in, that we can no longer feel safe at home.
5. Scream (1996-2011)
With all of the
talk about the social significance of psycho killers, Scream is a film which shows how safe audiences felt in the 1990s. It
was a horror film about the love of 1980s horror, making more reference to
movie rules than any type of reality, made by Wes Craven, a director who
thrived in the previous decade’s horror films. It is a popcorn horror film,
meant to entertain with humor and thrills simultaneously, while making no real
statement in the process. The most shocking part of the film was the opening
scene, which killed off star Drew Barrymore, whose face was featured on the
poster as though she were the star. This method borrowed from Hitchcock’s Psycho was an indicator of the
self-referential borrowing/homage which the film franchise would rely on
through each installment.
4. Friday the 13th (1980-2009)
The progression
of the iconic horror monster that is Jason Voorhees is actually much more
interesting than the films themselves. As anyone who has seen Scream or just has a basic knowledge of
horror films would know, the first film has Jason as a victim, whereas his
mother is the killer avenging the negligence of camp counselors all around. As
a child Jason drowned, and his mother kills the camp counselors that try and
open a new camp at Camp
Crystal Lake
In the first
sequel, and Jason’s first appearance as a killer, he doesn’t have the
superhuman strength that he will develop as the series continues, nor does he
seem impervious to pain. It doesn’t take much to knock Jason over, and in one
scene he is even frightened away by a chainsaw, giving a humorous comparison to
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We are
even given a view of his living conditions in the woods, letting us know that
he is human and requires the same basic needs on top of his thirst for blood.
In the search
for Jason’s identity more than just Leatherface was used as a model. As the
iconic hockey mask first appears in the third film (which also introduces 3-D
to keep the same scares from becoming stale), there is a transitional phase in
Jason’s appearance in this film. For most of the film he is shown only through
first-person views or legs walking. Once he does appear onscreen he dons a
sheet over his face in the same manner as the serial killer from the 1976 film,
The Town That Dreaded Sundown. The
eerie difference is the fact that Jason only uses one eyehole.
Although there
are many problems with the cookie-cutter plots of the Friday the 13th movies, it is difficult not to give the
series more credit than the more recent Saw
series. At least Friday the 13th
had the sense to make clear that the entire procedure was a spectacle of
amusement by the second sequel, releasing it in 3-D. My guess is that they
realized audiences might tire of seeing the exact same thing, unless there was
a new perk to the experience.
Though Jason is seen as more of a
supernatural serial killer because of his unwillingness to stay dead, it wasn’t
until the fourth film that he became something outside of the living realm. I
suppose Jason had died before, but there was always a vaguely realistic answer
for his survival. The series seemed intent to at least try and explain the
famous killer’s survival after each climactic death from previous sequels, but
he becomes superhuman and supernatural in his ability to survive at this point
in the lengthy franchise. The Final
Chapter finally takes Jason out of the woods, by way of the morgue, though
he doesn’t stay in his bag for long. The series would continue the
sequel-a-year trend, with a revival of the infamous human monster occasionally
after that, including a re-imagining in 2009.
3. Nightmare on Elm
Street
Technically, I
suppose, Freddy Krueger is entirely supernatural in his abilities to kill, but
it just seems a shame to exclude him from a list that includes Jason Voorhees,
Michael Myers and Leatherface. Supernatural or not, his choice of weapon also
seems to beg for inclusion in this list of slashing serial killers. Whereas
many of the other killers included in this list took several sequels to become
immortal, Krueger somehow started out that way. We join the narrative when his
human terror has ended, replaced by the supernatural ability of revival for
each sequel.
Nightmare on Elm Street has a remarkable place in film history. Not only was
writer/director Wes Craven able to revive a genre, but he also basically made
New Line what it is today and gave Johnny Depp his first film role. This is
also one of the only slasher franchises that remained entertainingly creative
through nearly all of the many sequels, excluding the atrocious remake in 2010.
2. Texas
Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is often associated with slasher films, due to the
murder of four young co-eds and a ‘final’ surviving girl that seems to fit the
Carol Clover’s famous study of the sub-genre,[1]
though Worland points out that “unlike the typical explanations for the
psycho’s vengeance in the slasher cycle (or Hitchcock’s Psycho), Chainsaw Massacre
gives little or no coherent grounds for the killer’s actions from grave robbing
to cannibalism” (Worland 222). Though
featuring monsters of living human flesh, Hooper’s monsters are filled with an
‘aggressive malevolence’ similar to Romero’s zombies (Worland 99). Even more
significant is the absence of any means to destroy the monster, as Worland
states:
In Living Dead, traditional symbols and figures of civil, religious or
scientific authority, the ultimate solution to the monster’s rampage in
traditional horror films, are either dismissed or virtually become the
‘monsters’ themselves in the careless shooting of heroic Ben; in Chainsaw Massacre, such figures or
institutions are absent entirely. (225)
While the slasher films of the 1980s would be built upon
structure, death proceeding sinful nature almost as a cautionary tale to
youthful viewers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
exists in the morally complex era of the 1970s. There is an element of chaos in
the terror, as though anyone could fall victim to the horrors of psychopaths
and it is only due to a chance encounter along the way. An argument could be
made that all of the carnage in the film comes from the initial kind act of
picking up a hitchhiker, and just as easily by the randomness of the choice to
make a pit stop at the very home of the psychopath they encounter along the
road.
1. Halloween (1978-2009)
From that astonishingly long and
uninterrupted first shot that puts the audience in the point-of-view of Michael
Myers, John Carpenter changed the face of horror movies for decades to come.
Credit is often given to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
for being the first slasher film, but it is Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom which shares much more of
the credit, especially this opening shot of Halloween. There is a sequence in Peeping Tom in which the killer uses the
sharp edge of a camera tripod to kill a victim, as the camera is still rolling.
The implication is that the camera itself is a killer, implicating all viewers
as accomplices to the enjoyment of the murder. This would continue into the
1980s, becoming a staple of the slasher genre along with the gruesome deaths of
the least moral characters and survival of a single pure heroine.
Jamie Lee Curtis was the first “final
girl” in her debut role as Laurie, the babysitter who survived the attacks of
the boogeyman, Michael Myers. She would continue to re-appear in the series as
various female offspring are chased by the masked madman with a dozen lives.
The first Halloween film is a modern horror classic. The second one continues
the same story, picking up immediately after the previous film had left off.
These first two films technically take place on the same Halloween night, and
then Michael Myers vanished until the fourth film in the series. The third film
strayed from the storyline to have a plot about some haunted masks instead, but
the fourth film is a return of sorts. Both Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 continue
the story of Michael Myers, and he remains human rather than supernatural
despite how unbelievable his survival in each film may seem.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
brings back the original storyline, minus Jamie Lee Curtis as the sister under
attack. Instead it is her daughter who is targeted by Michael. Jamie Lloyd
(Danielle Harris) is just a small child, but she is helped by her babysitter
and cousin, Rachel (Ellie Cornell). These two spend the next two films
attempting escape from Michael, over the course of two different Halloween
nights. In Halloween 4, Rachel agrees
to baby-sit her cousin begrudgingly only to discover that they are being hunted
down by an escaped killer.
How Michael is
able to continuously escape as well as survive the brutal onslaught that ends
his reign each film is a mystery. This is another where Michael is able to
escape during transport and makes his way back to his hometown, apparently now
able to drive. The fourth film is famous for amping up the amount of gore as
well as a twist ending that is somewhat discarded for the next film.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
has the same characters and continues the storyline in a similar way that was
successful with the first two films. Both Rachel and Jamie are back as the
victims of a once again attacking Michael Myers. By now there is no question
about his destructive abilities and after he was gunned down only to survive,
there is no telling how he can be stopped.
The sixth film
marks the end of Donald Pleasence’s reoccurring role as Dr. Sam Loomis, the
only one to remain in the franchise since the original. This is about all that
makes Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael
Myers (1995) stand out. The attempts to revive the series with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and
then Halloween Resurrection (2002)
were unimpressive, despite the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to battle her
long-lost brother. Still, these were masterpieces compared to the Rob Zombie
re-imagining, which had white trash melodrama in the middle of suburbia as
reason for Michael penchant for destruction.
Clover, Carol J. “Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.”
Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1992.
Crane, Jonathan Lake
Horror Film. Thousand Oaks
Maddrey, Joseph. Nightmares
in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American
Horror Film. Jefferson : McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers, 2004. Print.
Russell, David J. “Monster Roundup: Reintegrating the
Horror Genre.” Refiguring
American Film Genres: Theory and History. Ed. Nick Browne. Berkeley
and Los Angeles : University of California
Wells, Paul. The
Horror Genre: From Beelzebub to Blair Witch. London
Press, 2000. Print.
Wood, Robin. Hollywood From Vietnam New York : Columbia
University Press, 2003.
Print.
Worland, Rick. The
Horror Film: An Introduction. Malden
Print.
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