Sebastian's FIST 418 Blog

This week, we watched the film Creature from the Black Lagoon , and read two chapters from Carol Clover's Men, Women, and Chainsaws .  Though this movie cannot exactly be classified as a slasher film, it is interesting to consider its relation to the genre, along with other "occult" films. There is really no "final girl" like character to be found in the film. There is but one significant female character, and unlike a final girl she shows little in the way of perceptiveness, intelligence, or assertive authority against the monster. Instead, she seems more similar to the supporting characters in your typical slasher, who are picked off one by one. Her burgeoning femininity reinforces this connection, and puts her at odds with the typical "boyish" final girl archetype. However, like the final girl, she does ultimately survive the monster. It is not of her own wit or intelligence though, as she is rendered a damsel in distress that the men of the film...

This week, we watched the film The Shining  by Stanley Kubrick (Based on the novel by Stephen King), and read two chapters out of Barbara Creed's Men, Women, and Chainsaws. Kubrick's film in many ways differs from the typical horror fare that Creed usually refers to in her book. Most of the works discussed would likely be classified as "low" horror, which for much of film history was deemed unworthy of academic discussion due to its seemingly "obvious" mechanisms of action. The Shining,  however, is a critically acclaimed film made by an established auteur in Stanley Kubrick. It would follow, then, that we may expect the film to be a little less lacking in subtlety, and may have a "bottom line" that is a little less readily apparent. This "bottom line", Creed asserts, is present in all film (and it may well be extrapolated to all art). "If mainstream film detains us with niceties of plot, character, motivation , cinematography, pa...

It was interesting to explore the phenomenon of Blaxploitation this week, and to consider how the unorthodox Ganja and Hess  works into this preexisting framework. One stark difference I noticed was the absence of a real "other/monstrous" and "good/normal/human" dichotomy. As Benshoff observes, "...there are few 'normal' people in the film--no professor Van Helsing out to kill the vampires...". Instead, the film's focus remains with the antiheroes. The narrative structure and pacing of the film is also quite unusual, as drawn out philosophical musings are interspersed with violent killings, and clinically edited fast-paced sequences. The lack of a true "good" and "evil" in the film can make it at times appear confusing, but moreso compelling in its deviance from the norm. The non-linear and open structure of the film lends itself to many different interpretations.  According to Benshoff, "In general, blaxploitation f...

Human Roast Pork Buns  is a bizarre mix of slapstick comedy, trite cliches and horrible, horrible violence. I must confess, slasher and gory horror is not my usual preference when it comes to film. That said, this film may rank among the most disturbing I have seen in terms of raw violence.  As the police crew searches the beach and discusses the evidence, the film's tone seems to be rather campy, with elements of dark humor. However, the scenes of the murderer turned shop owner and human meat caterer seem to have a different tone entirely. At some points it feels as if the scenes are taken from different films entirely. While the police are involved in comedic hijinks and ogling the boss's female companions, the shopkeeper murders his victims one by one in increasingly gruesome fashion. This juxtaposition of comedy and horror can provoke a feeling of utter disgust that I don't think would be so easily achieved without this device. Cutting from the police team's shena...

This post will concern the film The Babadook, Barbara Creed's Horror and the Monstrous Feminine, and Sigmund Freud's The Uncanny . It was interesting to consider the horror film itself and Creed's analysis of horror's relation to the monstrous feminine alongside Freud's psychological analysis of the "uncanny". One aspect I found particularly interesting was the difference in what is considered uncanny in reality, versus what is considered uncanny in fiction. Almost all popular "fairy tales" contain elements that would likely be considered very uncanny were they to occur in real life. According to Freud, this can be explained by our inherent beliefs when observing a fictional world. When we read such a story, we have an understanding that all manner of fantastical creatures and magical powers may exist within this world. For this reason, "Wish-fulfillments, secret powers, omnipotence of thoughts, animation of lifeless objects, all the eleme...