Effects of Horror Films

Due to the Hollywood Production code films that include Dracula (Browning, 1931), Frankenstein (Whale, 1931), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mamoulian, 1931) were controversial to the film viewers back in the day and were very offensive toward specific audiences (Plantamura). Horror movies have been around for years and we watch them for the enjoyment and thrills. Do you like watching Paranormal Activity, Child’s Play or The Conjuring; well those films wouldn’t be made if it weren’t for the 1960’s when the production code was less strict or else we wouldn’t have these films. They weren’t like horror films we know today because they were very strict and respectful to the Production Code. It wasn’t until the 1960s after the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho horror films began to break the code and manipulate the Production Code (Johnson). Horror films need to trim down on a few aspects of the blood and gore because per Plantamura the shows after the 60s start to get bloodier after the Production code was changed. Even though it increased these films show more blood, they need to make the horror genre the way it used to be because if you look at the old horror films (Dracula, The Evil of Frankenstein, Curse of the Werewolf & The Phantom of the Opera) they have more of a gothic look to them because these films do not have blood and gore, they only show violent scenes to evoke fear and did succeed without it until after the 60s (Platamura). Horror films need to follow that trend of being mysterious and gothic looking. Horror films are meant to be evil figures living in spooky castles or dark and creepy places not bright and shiny settings. Although some of us may like the extra blood and gore or more slicing and dicing people, but does it need to be overly excessive. Let me say one thing to make a horror film does it mean blood, guts and gore or do we want to be scared?

            The horror genre needs to be like classic horror films like the older films and have a more gothic and dark look to them, that’s how they should be made. As Lydia Plantamura’s article states “Since the 1930s the American horror genre has been at war with the censors and have created controversy until the 1960s and 1970s that horror evolved into something truly terrifying, a process that took less than ten years.” Although it was pro-gore some people can be traumatized by seeing this stuff or even hearing crunching of bones for example in various horror films sometimes the evil character almost always bends a character in half. To concur with the article, they mention two films, Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) & Island of Lost Souls (Kenton, 1932), these films were very controversial when released. In Island of Lost Souls, the film is based on a novel by H.G. Wells The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) which about a shipwrecked character Edward Porter (Richard Arlen) spends a night on Moreau’s Island. Then he sees a man being operated on for experiments and he then finds more beast men that have gone through the same experiments and they stay on the island as prisoners of what man has done to these people. This film was controversial since stories of mad scientists shown on screen doing experiments on humans is very controversial because the Hollywood Production code didn’t want the audience to see, which made censors start the Production Code. It was considered an act of murder because cutting open a human being or doing dangerous experiments or moving and removing body limbs was considered too grotesque and was considered in the murder category of the production code. An example is found in an article by Beth Kattelman argues that “Unlike classical horror films, which tell and imply but show very little of the destruction wrought upon the human body, the postmodern horror films is obsessed with the wet death, intent on imaging the mutilation and destruction of the body.”

            Frankenstein was even a bigger concern to the production code when it was released. This film is about how a scientist Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) can create human life with pieces of dead flesh (Brain, heart and other various body parts). He then creates a monster with these pieces and electricity, the monster is then cooped up in a cell but manages to escape. This was really controversial even a letter from the censorship board to head of production Carl Laemmle Jr. and says “…the only incidents in the script are gruesome scenes that will make the audience reaction very horrific. We think you ought to keep in mind during this production that the telling of this story with this gruesome theme will not be permit to use of high incidents of the same character” (Edwards). This describes almost the same identical issue with Island of Lost Souls where the character as mention makes a body out of corpses is very controversial to the Production Code. The film had to go through a couple edits to eliminate some of those scenes. An example in one scene is the Frankenstein monster after escaping the lab nervously goes up to the little girl that is picking flowers and she is not frighten of him. As the monster sees her he does the same picking flowers he becomes confused as to why he does not have any more flowers to throw in the river. Then not knowing where to get more flowers he grabs her thinking she will float but you see a few splashes and nothing, then the monster is shocked wondering where she went and then runs away. In a few scenes, later we see the father carry his daughter’s body through the crowded town the story takes place. This scene was very disturbing towards the censors because after that the censors added to the controversy of not just a body being assembled by dead corpse but another thing to add was the cruelty of children or animals not to be shown on film.

            Horror films need to trim down on a few aspects of the blood and gore because per Plantamura the shows after the 60s start to get bloodier after the Production code was changed like allowing slasher characters, non-evil characters having pre-marital sex then being killed and characters in general doing scandalize things (underage drinking, smoking weed and doing drugs). This is all true because after the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, people were shocked that the censors allowed this type of film to be made and what was a big issue was the shower scene (Johnson). The shower scene was a big issue because of the knife going into Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), flashes of nudity, the violins, her body sliding down the tub, the blood being washed away and a close-up of the victim’s eye (Psycho Effect). These specific things in the film struck the censors because when they saw it they’ve seen a nipple and shots of the knife going inside her but Hitchcock informed them that it was their imagination. After this film was released it allowed the Production Code to be a little more lenient towards blood and gore.  Which brings up my next argument some of us may like the extra blood and gore or more slicing and dicing people, but does it need to be overly excessive?

            Ever since the Production Code was lifted during the 1960s and 1970s there was a major change in society. Due to the Vietnam War showing American audiences were seeing live graphic content showing the devastation of the conflict, the Civil Rights Movement affecting the United States within the homeland and the Watergate scandal having Americans losing faith in the government (Plantamura). Even though filmmakers looked at these events as an alright if it’s happening in our country we could put it in our films, which is not a case at all when making films. Also, to per the Bloods, Guts and Disgust article during these dramatic events the Production Code became less strict and the Motion Pictures Association decided to put in a new rating system that consisted of the ratings we know of today. When you look at some of the films especially the rated R films they show to much blood, guts and gore like the Friday the 13th films.

            Friday the 13th was released the movie was something the censors have never seen before and became the start of the sub-genre slasher films. Also, when you look at the film when in the first movie all the killings are too gory, especially in the scene where Kevin Bacon’s character is lying in bed and a knife comes through the bed and out through his chest the blood oozing out and splatter out and that’s too extreme because if he does get sliced through the neck yeah blood will ooze but not continuously. What it takes away from the film is being scared not walking out of the theatre and throwing up and people can have a bad memory triggers of past experiences that they could reimagine and can never forget those emotional scars (Kattelman). Like in the rest of the franchise when Jason kills a character in Part 3 walking in the halls doing a handstand and when Jason cuts one of the characters arms off and keeps slashing the dead body that is a little excessive when he strikes the blood splatters all over that is too much to traumatize some viewers and could possibly trigger their emotions. Also in Part 4 he kills a doctor with a hand saw, harpoons a guy in the thigh and squashes a guy’s hand then strikes him with the machete. Even though these films are rated R the blood and gore needs to be toned down more because the true definition of a horror film is being scared, frighten and jumping out of your seat not a shower full of blood.  Another film that is a big factor is also Nightmare on Elm Street franchise which is almost identical.

            Nightmare on Elm Street released four years after Friday and spanned a new vision of the slasher films. When you look at this film it’s gorier especially the character Freddy Krueger. Back during the Production Code eras, a character like him would never be made especially when he

kills his victims. In the first movie, he kills a character in his bed sucks him down the center and a few seconds all the blood shoots out almost funnel like shape which was unheard of before. Again, the franchise was also involved with too much blood and gore where Freddy in part 2 slices a guy in the back and then blood comes out of the shower head and when he disrupts a pool party after he slices certain people the spraying blood isn’t necessary. Also in part 4 he slices a person 3 three to four times which is again also traumatizing.

            As mentioned before we do watch these films for the enjoyment, excitement, jumping out of our seats and being spook and that’s what horror movies are about those elements. Do we need the blood and gore, should we go back to the way horror films were during the Production code, when is enough blood enough? For me I think films that are R rated should stay the same but should tone down the blood or body parts. Even though per film critics, reviewers and audiences of horror films it is a great money maker in the film industry. Although they were and still some are considered controversial and offensive they shouldn’t be that way. Horror films should be terrifying and scare you not traumatize or scar you for the rest of your life. Also for me wanting to be a horror movie director, I have watched horror films from different decades, sub genres and modern horror films and discover that this genre is meant to be scary, giving you chills, waiting for something to pop out at you or being chased. It’s not meant to be a blood massacre or shower, you’re not supposed to be scarred, you’re supposed to enjoy it and get spooked.

Works Cited

Edwards, Kyle1. “Morals, Markets, And “Horror Pictures”: The Rise of Universal Pictures and the Hollywood Production Code. Film & History (03603695) [serial on the Internet]. (2012, Fall2012), [citied October 20, 2016]; 42(2): 23-37. Available from: Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson).

Johnson, Brian D. “The Psycho Effect.” Maclean’s 123.5 (2010): 62-64. Readers’ Guide Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Kattleman B. Carnographic Culture: America and the Rise of the Torture Porn Film.” At The Interface / Probing the Boundaries 70.(2010): 3-15. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2016

Plantamura, Lydia. “Blood, Guts, And Disgust: The Effects Of Censorship Changes On American Horror Films.” Film Matters 6.3 (2015): 78-82. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. Web. 20 Oct. 2016

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