A reflection

Blood is prevalent in so many types of films that it would take years to fully digest how it is used as an effect and why. Even the Meyer's "Thicker than Water" could only discuss blood symbols in the ancient world with a limited amount of success.

Human blood on the screen is one thing that can make us as viewers immediately relate to a character and have a rush of emotion invested in the movie. Even when we see teenagers in slasher movies make mistakes time and time again and think to ourselves how stupid they must be, we still jolt when their blood splatters. The grotesquery of seeing a cannibal tear apart a man's body affects us, even if the man being torn apart is a despicable figure. Gore is a seminal way that can cause a really visceral connection between an audience and an actor -- no dialog or emotional storytelling needed.

Why do we enjoy these feelings caused by bloody scenes then? Is it our own pent up violence waiting to be released? Is it a simple adrenaline rush? Or is it some deep-down hatred of our fellow man? Is it some psychosexual thing that we get off on seeing the objects of our sexual affection destroyed? Or is it a cultural phenomenon, that we are indulging in something uniquely taboo with other people?

Slasher films

We all know what slasher films are, so I will not linger too long on the subject. In the genre, we see many examples of mass chaos caused by a psychotic killer on a rampage against, by and large, very fertile young men and women. Blood as fertility is seen time and time again here, as is bloodshed simply for the sake of shock and horror.


Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The mother of all slasher films with an amazing amount of bright red blood and catastrophic body splatters. Somehow, the awkwardness of the attacks makes the fear more palpable and the realism of the blood is overshadowed by the constant production of new splatters. An exercise in excess rather than restraint, setting the tone for the entire genre.


Friday the 13th (1980 and on)

This clip shows every death scene in all of the Friday films back to back. One can get a sense of the overwhelming amount of stage blood they must have used! And the screaming!


Scream (1996)

A meta-slasher series! The trailer above lays out, ironically, the "rules" so many slasher flicks followed (like I said, some big-breasted, sexually active, seemingly stupid girl gets mauled first!).

Why do "we" like watching these kinds of films so much and seeing this particular demographic get stabbed to death? Is it that we find it somehow gratifying to see youth destroyed? Or is murder of sexy people even sexier? Does the simple relentless violence in slasher (or for that matter, extreme gore like Hostel or Saw) films get our rocks off somehow?

The American Nightmare

I stumbled upon this great horror documentary! The beginning hints very strongly at an opinion that horror films are an expression and release of the fears of every day life: a reflection of violence rather than a creation of itself.


Here's part 1 of "The American Nightmare"

Cannibalism: probably NSFW

Another angle on consumption of flesh and blood is portrayed through cannibalism. It's portrayed in media as something only savages, or the very deranged, do. When compared to the vampire genre, cannibal films rely more heavily on shock value, gore, and the actual sight of blood.


Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This film seems to be the gem of the genre, and incidentally has a similar trick to suggest realism by using shaky "camcorder" style footage. Prior to this in the film, the white "invaders" raped and killed a girl and burned down the natives' village, seemingly "earning" their fate here. The use of blood here is surprisingly subdued for the gory reaction of disgust I immediately experienced. It seems the flashing of flesh with shocks of red is enough to suggest the horrifying gore here. To top it off, horror of all horrors, Cannibal Holocaust here highlights genital mutilation and consumption, which is an entirely different topic. Compared to slasher films of the 90s or modern cg blood fests, this blood is neither splattering nor in your face, but its presence here is necessary.


Cannibal Girls (1973)

Ha! This film brings the sex appeal back to cannibalism, as "very sexy" women seduce men in order to consume them. I'm having a difficult time finding bloody scenes online, but the trailer suggests it's "especially gruesome." I bet.


Delicatessen (1991)

Delicatessen is a surreal film which I cannot recap in a few sentences here, but suffice it to say that cannibalism is a main thread here. In this alternate world, food is very scarce and this small town butcher feeds its people by ensnaring young men to do work for them... and then killing him and slicing up his meat for sale. Not gory by any means, but it's a highly complex film which uses cannibalism in an almost casual manner.



Cannibal films, like many other "blood" films I've written about here (or, one could say, most films in any genre) seem to attempt to portray sexuality and blood side by side. Nude natives consume a man's penis before the rest of his flesh and rape a woman before eating her. Lady cannibals use their sexual wiles to seduce men into becoming dinner. The role of blood effects here is secondary, but the role of blood symbolism and tradition is certainly present.