Horror and Slasher Films

Sara Johnson
Professor Marie Yerks
Composition 106
10 December 2009
Horror Films and Slasher Movies
In this paper, I will explore just how detrimental the short and long term effects of horror films can be. I will prove that the younger a person is exposed to the gruesome images in horror films, the more likely they are to suffer from nightmares, and anxiety, and exhibit violent behavior. The increasing gore in horror films are corrupting our youth by poisoning their minds. Horror films warp and distort their morality, judgment and even their sense of well being and safety.
Our generation is not easily impressed and they want better sound and better graphics. The competition is always on to make movies more realistic. The film industry has really gone to great lengths to please their audience’s growing demand for amazing movies. Horror films are a genre of film that has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. It is amazing how the horror films of our generation have set a new standard for future horror films. The gore has increased dramatically in the past few decades.
Horror movies in the 40’s and 50’s have never portrayed blood and if a victim was attacked the camera usually turned from the actual encounter and only shadows were seen. Horror movies in the 60’s evolved a little more and became more realistic. The horror films in those days had a little more gore and on displayed blood but again, the camera never showed really graphic scenes of someone being tortured or mutilated. Beginning in the 70’s and progressing through the 80’s and 90’s horror films developed more gore and blood. They also started showing guts “blood and guts” or the victim’s insides coming out of a person’s body. The plots also became more focused on violence as more and more of a horror films content was spent in violent imagery, both with violent scenes lasting longer and longer and occurring with more frequency. All this in response to the youth of that generation’s obsession with seeing more “blood and guts” on screen. Unfortunately, the next generation of the present, our generation, wanted more also. The infamous “Saw” movies took horror films in a new direction when they came to theatres in the 2000’s, bringing new meaning to gory horror films. Taking torture to a whole new level by making the victims choose between maiming themselves or dying a gruesome death. All with of course even greater graphic detail.
In the 40s and 50s, Dracula and Wolf man were men that targeted women, captured and killed them. In the 70s, The “Omen”, and “The Exorcist” were horror films where the demonic spirits possess young children and cause them to commit evil crimes like murder. 80’s horror movies introduced serial killers. “Nightmare on Elm Street” with “Freddy Kruger,” and “Friday the 13th”, with “Jason,” targeted males and females, but very interestingly teenagers. Removing adults who would complain about the level of violence from the audience, making young people identify even more with the violence, and at the same time making these movies the “must see” movies of the season for the young. The movie “Halloween” also has a man wearing a mask that targets and kills teens, male and female. 2000’s the birth of the saw movies where a man captures people (male and female) then he hooks them up to various torture devices and forces them to torture themselves by cutting off their own limbs etc…in order to escape the trap he has put them in.
These movies also continued a new trend from “The Omen” and “The Exorcist,” the plot theme that the “bad guy” really doesn’t die. Because they are sequels and the dangerous character is always resurrected somehow in the next movie. These movies begin to introduce ideas very subtly that can effect feelings of safety and well being, especially in younger and less sophisticated minds. Maybe Freddy is in your closet... danger is always lurking about… you’re never really safe… The introduction of subtle plot themes that can effect well being have continued with “Scream.” Your best friend may be planning to kill you… you can’t trust anyone… the enemy may be someone close to you that you trust… The trend has come up to the present in “Final Destination” where even fate itself may have it in for you. Even if you escape one violent death, another will continue to attack you until you finally succumb.
With the increasing gore in horror films now-a-days, our generation and the generation under us are slowly being desensitized to the value of human life. I will prove exactly how much psychological damage violent and gory horror movies have influenced teens and young children to imitate the horrific violence portrayed on screen.
Teens and young children are easily influenced. They are at the age where they are vey gullible and will believe almost anything, especially what they see on T.V. Teens and young children are also like sponges; they will imitate what they see and hear on T.V. I think children and young teens that are exposed to violent horror films are more likely to engage in violent activities. I also believe, seeing that kind of violence at a young age can have long term effects on them as adults.
By being exposed to violent horror films at a young age could possibly make them curious in a more sinister way. In extreme cases some young boys could try to act out what they saw in a gory film to see what it’s like to kill someone. It is apparent that horror movies affect a child’s psychological development. A child’s mind is prone to absorb what is displayed on screen. Studies and surveys have agreed that horror movies do indeed affect a child’s psychological development.
In “Horror Films: Tales to Master Terror or Shapers of Trauma?” American Journal of Psychotherapy (2007), authors, Bruce Ballon and Molyn Leszcz used many in-depth psychological examples to illustrate how a film can be incorporated into a person’s real life experiences. The article is very convincing in establishing the idea that many people are unable to keep the fantasy world of films separate from their real lives. In their article, they mentioned a troubled teenage male who killed a seven year old and drank his blood, after seeing it in a movie. The teen was suffering from post-traumatic stress and other mental, so he wasn’t able to differentiate fantasy from reality. The horror film only sparked the fuse that was already inside his brain in the first place.
It is no longer an opinion; it is a mere scientific fact that horror movies due indeed affect the adolescents’ mind. The images of blood, dismemberment, and torture will sit in a persons mind for years. After seeing a horror movie, odds are the graphic images will stay in your memory. The restraints are off in the movie industry. Scenes years ago, that would routinely haunt people, in comparison to today seem elementary. Things progressively evolve overtime and the movie industry is no exception.






Work Cited

Purdue OWL. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 10 May 2008. Web. 15 Nov. 2008.
Bruce Ballon, Molyn Leszcz. “Horror Films: Tales to Master Terror or Shapers of Trauma?”. American Journal of Psychotherapy (2007). Print
Saw VI. 2009. Film
Dracula. 1931. Film
The Omen. 1970. Film
The Exorcist. 1973. Film
Nightmare on Elm Street. 1980s. Film
Scream. 1996. Film
Final Destination. 2000. Film
Halloween. 2008. Film