CHUD.com Community › Forums › CREATURE CORNER › Creature Corner Main › Horror and the American Family
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Horror and the American Family

post #1 of 10
9/3/04 at 2:10am
Thread Starter 
A simple discussion of THE HILLS HAVE EYES I was engaged in the other day has lead me to give some thought as to the importance of the family unit in horror films ... Naturally, movies such as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and THE SHINING came to mind, but then I got to thinking about how time has effected the role of the family ...

Back in the early days of horror ( 30s- 40s ), the "monsters" were often the embodiment of what society rejects, and because they were a threat to the basic structuring unit ( family ), it was necessary for them to be destroyed ... The 1950s kinda took this and globalized the family, mixing in the atomic / space-age theme ...

What followed in the 1960s and 70s was most interesting for me ... The family ( along with urban society, capitalism and religion ) became the foundation of an oppressive existance ... PSYCHO and the underappreciated PEEPING TOM began what I consider the era of modern horror, and introduced criminals who had been driven to insanity by the family structure ...

... and this is what I believe sets the great films of this era apart

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and THE HILLS HAVE EYES and number of other grim independent films took inspiration from the stark reality of the Vietnam War and reintroduced horror to the American family, this time in a much more disturbing, allegorical way : victimizing it's own true believers ...

The previous discussion on this board about THE SHINING had me thinking about that film, and how completely different it is in meaning to another "family" horror in THE OMEN ... While both are classics, the internal/extrenal themes and meanings couldn't more different ....

I think that over time, horror films have shown that there is a growing cultural ambivalence towards the once precious family existance ........ Unfortunately, that can be a very taboo topic these days, especially with the reliance of ticket sales and marketing .......

Any thoughts, or other favorities ???
Reply
post #2 of 10
9/3/04 at 9:00am
Good topic.

Some interesting ones:

The Amityville Horror
HAM favourite Sonny Boy
Bad Boy Bubby
Jack Be Nimble
The People Under The Stairs


Robin Wood's American Horrors touches on this quite a bit, as does Carol Clover's Men, Women & Chainsaws. Certainly as fundemental to the genre as codification of masculinity and feminity. If only for the reason that, second to those "self" identifying societal parameters, the only other thing that truly unites audiences is that they have all been brought up in one fashion or another by a "family" unit no matter how closed or disperate. And what better way to tap into universal fears than attack some thing that is universally identifiable ?
Reply
post #3 of 10
9/3/04 at 9:20am
Rosemary's Baby explores a facet of this.
The Devil attempts to infiltrate the world again by going through the family unit. Ultimately he succeeds because of Rosemary's overwhelming maternal instincts. At the film's end she not only accepts, but loves the baby as only a mother could.
Reply
post #4 of 10
9/3/04 at 9:40pm
I think the post-PSYCHO and PEEPING TOM era taps into the monster as being created by the family because at the time, monsters were being created by the family. The oppresive and suffocating "nuclear family" of the previous era had created a host of neurosis and such that the Baby Boomers are still dealing with to this day (and we are paying for).
Reply
post #5 of 10
9/4/04 at 12:02am
Interesting. What has horror turned to in this day and age? Is it going for the throat and exposing the ugliness of the true family and not the Cleaver-esque family of the 50's and 60's. In May we have a young girl who is eventually driven mad by her mother. In Ginger Snaps we have the suicidal sisters who are obsessed with how pathetic their family life is and yet in the end the strongest bond was themselves.

All families have skeletons. At least every family I know does. Truth is underneath the frindly wave from across the street and the happy playful kids in the backyard is darkness of one kind or another. When you really look at it it's a truly frightening thing.
Reply
post #6 of 10
9/5/04 at 4:22pm
Very interesting topic.


I suppose one could say that the true horror of these movies is that a threat doesn't come externally, but from something in which we feel safe and secure. However often these threats really do come from external sources working to undermine that security by exploiting cracks within the foundation, however small. The true horror then is that our lives aren't as secure as we'd like to think they are.


Even in Halloween, where the threat come from Laurie's on family, Micheal was still an external source whom she didn't know she was related.

In the Oman and Rosemary's Baby, Satan takes advantage of these families to further his plans. In both certain desires and wants are exploited (in the Oman, Greg's want for a child, in RB Guy's want for a career)

The Shining is debatable, cause I've never read the book, I can only speak from the movie....but the demons of the hotel play on Jack's insecurities.

Amityville Horrror, the guy was just an asshole

Speaking of which, I recently stated that I didn't buy his story on some ezboard site, only to find that he himself quickly replied to me...I didn't read it, but it cracks me up that I may have incured the wrath of George Lutz.

What can I say, I am easily amused.

But even with that, if you just go on the story, the "demons" in the house play on George's insecurities with himself and his situation.
Reply
post #7 of 10
9/5/04 at 4:48pm
"Poltergeist" (where the nice white suburbs take the place of the "old dark castle")

"Stepfather", no words necessary.

"Friday the 13th". A stretch, but it's kids getting away from mom & dad, fucking, getting high, and getting killed. An extension of common urban legends, even though it wasn't really intended to be a comment on the safety of the status quo, it is how it was taken by some critics. Mom, dad, and Nixon where right, you didn't listen, now you're dead.

Nightmare on Elm Street. Again, the suburbs hide secrets far worse than the ghettos and slums. A pro-youth slasher film, somewhat blaming the disconnected parents for their kid's current distress.
It's one of my favorite films to dissect as a model for good horror, because it plays on a theme that resonates today. Whenever you see an "incident in the suburbs" on the news, there is almost always an interview where a resident says: "I/We never thought it could happen here", Oh irony, of ironies!
Reply
post #8 of 10
9/12/04 at 8:52am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Floydian Trip
Interesting. What has horror turned to in this day and age? Is it going for the throat and exposing the ugliness of the true family and not the Cleaver-esque family of the 50's and 60's. In May we have a young girl who is eventually driven mad by her mother. In Ginger Snaps we have the suicidal sisters who are obsessed with how pathetic their family life is and yet in the end the strongest bond was themselves.

All families have skeletons. At least every family I know does. Truth is underneath the frindly wave from across the street and the happy playful kids in the backyard is darkness of one kind or another. When you really look at it it's a truly frightening thing.

2 good ones Floyd ... Not only do GINGER SNAPS and MAY deal directly with family ties, but both show the daughters and the torment that goes with growing up and society ....
Reply
post #9 of 10
9/12/04 at 8:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaya the Necromancer

Amityville Horrror, the guy was just an asshole

Speaking of which, I recently stated that I didn't buy his story on some ezboard site, only to find that he himself quickly replied to me...I didn't read it, but it cracks me up that I may have incured the wrath of George Lutz.

What can I say, I am easily amused.

But even with that, if you just go on the story, the "demons" in the house play on George's insecurities with himself and his situation.
Watch yourself, George is coming for you.

Seriously though, I always though it was a little weird how in the book they always glaze over the constant child abuse, including an instance in which they actually beat their children. Shouldn't the police have looked into that or something.. I agree when you say that whole story is made up and that guy is just an ass. He did nothing but scream at his kids and wife, but then it was demons who made him do it.
Reply
post #10 of 10
9/12/04 at 8:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack19
Watch yourself, George is coming for you.

Seriously though, I always though it was a little weird how in the book they always glaze over the constant child abuse, including an instance in which they actually beat their children. Shouldn't the police have looked into that or something.. I agree when you say that whole story is made up and that guy is just an ass. He did nothing but scream at his kids and wife, but then it was demons who made him do it.

Hee...I've actually heard some theories that the whole story was part of a deal Lutz had made with one of Defeo's lawyers. To what end I am not sure. I don't think the courts would recognize demonic posession as a justifiable homicide...just a thought.

Still, at least one of the lawyers was linked with Lutz and the book.

Really, the whole thing has been a black eye on paranormal investigation.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Creature Corner Main
CHUD.com Community › Forums › CREATURE CORNER › Creature Corner Main › Horror and the American Family