Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Splatterflick

Splatterflicks are a particularly messy sub-genre of gore but the word is used interchangeably to refer to any gory horror movie. The real stars of these films are the SFX department. While many splatterflicks feature a seemingly inexhaustible string of Creative Kills, their primary focus is not just gore but blood - and buckets of it. George Romero, known for his standard-setting zombie films, is credited with having coined the term to describe his film, Dawn of the Dead

Splatterflicks generally have their roots in the lush imagery of the Hammer Films movies of the 1970s. Most of these were period pieces
involving Vampires and the Supernatural with high-end production values and sexy feature players in various states of undress. And lots of bright red blood. Dario Argento's films easily fit this sub-genre though they are considerably more sadistic than Hammer Films or even the average Slasher.

While certain similar sub-genres such as Torture Porn and "Gorno" are closely related to Splatter, the former tend to revel in the torment of their victims' suffering and brutality of the attackers. Splatterflicks focus on shock and sheer gore - to "go for the gross-out." as Stephen King once said. Yet the Grand Guignol of France was notorious for its graphic depictions of death and bloody violence and some of the very earliest films included scenes of great carnage, such as D.W. Griffith's Intolerance. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho was relegated to this category on its release.

Copyright 2014, The Weirding

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