Social Media Post - Revenge (Coralie Fargeat 2017)

 Social Media Post - Revenge 

SPOILER ALERT!

 The on-screen depiction of acts of violence against women, especially rape, and the victim’s response (especially if it resembles revenge) have always provoked powerful responses from the viewing public and critics. One troubling aspect, according to Carol Clover in her 1992 book, “Men, Women, and Chain Saws,” is the male audience’s sadistic and voyeuristic reaction to the suffering of the victim and her turn to avenging hero. She describes how theater audiences, of mostly adolescent males, undergo a curious identification switch during the film - first they watch and cheer at the attack on the victim, depicted in unflinching, graphic displays. Then they “reverse their sympathies to cheer the survivor on as she assaults the killer” (Carol Clover - Men, Women, and Chainsaws, p23).

Social Media Post: WIWLN Goes to Paris

"Stop! This is the Kingdom of the Dead"

Where does horror reside? One answer is in the abject. The abject is a place where we are exposed to transgressive objects - things that should not be or fewest things that should not be seen. Crossing into the abject is to abandon the known, familiar and welcoming for the unknown, unfamiliar and unwelcoming. As horror fans, we are often dedicated to exploring the abject from the safety of our friendly places.

 

Our own bodies are often the first exposure to this frightful realm. Knowledge of the whole unseen world under our skin can be both fascinating and frightening. The first sight (or taste!) of blood, seeing the exposed organs of a carcass or the pictures in my mother’s anatomy textbooks and the first time touching a corpse are cemented in my mind. These days, encountering a skeleton outside its meat envelope is no longer disconcerting, but being amongst the six million skeletons residing in the Paris Catacombs was a somber reminder of what awaits us all.

 

Dr. Pretorius toasts a freshly harvested skeleton's new life in The Bride of Frankenstein.

The Killer Victim - Social Media Post

 The Killer Victim

Two of the most common motives in revenge films are the Lex Talionis Adjudication and Survival Mode. Lex talionis is Old Testament, eye for an eye justice. An act of righteous retribution, delivered by the victims, balances the scales. In Survival Mode, the priorities are different. The victim must turn the tables on the killer to stay alive. 

Social Media Post: Horror Rises from the Tomb

Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)

Spanish horror cinema from the 1970s is full of mind bending craziness. Screenwriter and director Jacinto Molina Alvarez, better known as Paul Naschy, holds an especially enduring place within that lunacy. His 1973 Horror Rises from the Tomb, (El espanto surge de la tumba) is an excellent example of his love of classic horror cinema and his “everything but the kitchen sink,” over-the-top storytelling. His script explores the eternal nature of evil and the power of good to overcome it. There are ancient warlocks and witches, multi-generational curses, bloody hearts being ripped out of living bodies, and plenty of other audacious delights.

Social Media Post: A Taste of Blood

A Taste of Blood , Argentina


Last week I got a chance to watch a pre-release screener of Argentinian vampire film Sangre Vurdalak, which has been on my watch list since 2020! The movie will be available in North America on Blu-ray and VOD on May 10th as A Taste of Blood. directed by Santiago Fernandez Calvete and based on Aleksey Tolstoy’s 1839 short story “The Family Of The Vourdalak.'' The film examines a family coming apart as they battle a monster whose main weapon is their love for each other.

 
Mario Bava previously filmed the “Family of the Vourdalak” in 1963 as part of his Black Sabbath anthology, with Boris Karloff giving one of his finest performances as Gorca, the family patriarch. Calvete has done an admirable job of updating the story and moving the setting to rural Argentina while keeping the elements the same as the source: a family waits in anticipation for the return of their father, worried that he has been turned into a vampire. There are a couple of pretty good scares, but also some heartbreaking moments, as the director points out that those who love us the most are also the ones that hurt us the most.

Releasing May 10, the film stars German Palacios, Tomas Carullo Lizzio, Naiara Awada, Lautaro Bettoni and Alfonsina Carrocio.