Poll: Horror Movies and Sex.

[lumenadducere]

Sex isn't just in there to pander to the main demographic of slasher films, it's actually a cinematic device. Generally, sex is considered a 'sin'; this means that if people have sex in a horror, particularly a slasher, they are going to die. There is an actual reason for this; i think it was Hollywood's way of being critical of the very things it was trying to portray, such as debauchery and amorality in horror flicks. especially in the Golden Age of Hollywood, where everything was censored with extreme prejudice. When i was doing my A-levels at school, i actually examined this in great detail in Film Studies, but i damn well forgot most of it now. Seriously though, any characters who are appear sexy, lewd or have sex are always going to be 'punished' by the big bad. This is sometimes averted if the person is about to have sex, but then they don't go through with it either by choice or no.

Thank goodness someone else here actually studied a bit of film. This is completely right - it's become a silly trope now, but with the original horror films (the ones all the stupid re-makes are based off of) sex was actually a device used to provide some level of moral justification for the people being killed. There's a reason the "slutty cheerleader" is always one of the first ones killed (often in the most gruesome way), whereas the virginal and nice "girl next door" is one of the survivors.

Heck, even looking back at the original Friday the 13th, Jason originally kills his sister when she brings a boy home and they start making out (although it's implied they're going to go further than that). He's literally a child at that point but it's only when his sister does the "immoral" thing that she winds up being killed. Afterwards we also find out about his broken family life, etc. - all of which provide further reinforcement of the old-fashioned values that used to be prevalent among adults of the time.

But again, those were the originals. Nowadays with our changed cultural values those same devices have become tropes that are outdated and ridiculous. It's too bad the genre hasn't really changed or caught up. But then again I'm not really a horror fan anyways - mostly because it's not horror, just slasher gore. And that's fine if it's something you enjoy, but it's never really been my thing.

 

[The Random One]

You know, I feel the same way about books in general. I'm tired of seeing sex scenes in books being tacked on as if the authors were gunning for some sort of quota.

 

[Cat Cloud]

Like explosions and guns, sexual content is used to attract the lowest common denominator. It's 'neccisary' to have sex they can pull in more sales. Personally, I don't watch horror so I don't care.

 

[Madara XIII]

Sex isn't just in there to pander to the main demographic of slasher films, it's actually a cinematic device. Generally, sex is considered a 'sin'; this means that if people have sex in a horror, particularly a slasher, they are going to die. There is an actual reason for this; i think it was Hollywood's way of being critical of the very things it was trying to portray, such as debauchery and amorality in horror flicks. especially in the Golden Age of Hollywood, where everything was censored with extreme prejudice. When i was doing my A-levels at school, i actually examined this in great detail in Film Studies, but i damn well forgot most of it now. Seriously though, any characters who are appear sexy, lewd or have sex are always going to be 'punished' by the big bad. This is sometimes averted if the person is about to have sex, but then they don't go through with it either by choice or no.

Thank goodness someone else here actually studied a bit of film. This is completely right - it's become a silly trope now, but with the original horror films (the ones all the stupid re-makes are based off of) sex was actually a device used to provide some level of moral justification for the people being killed. There's a reason the "slutty cheerleader" is always one of the first ones killed (often in the most gruesome way), whereas the virginal and nice "girl next door" is one of the survivors.

Heck, even looking back at the original Friday the 13th, Jason originally kills his sister when she brings a boy home and they start making out (although it's implied they're going to go further than that). He's literally a child at that point but it's only when his sister does the "immoral" thing that she winds up being killed. Afterwards we also find out about his broken family life, etc. - all of which provide further reinforcement of the old-fashioned values that used to be prevalent among adults of the time.

But again, those were the originals. Nowadays with our changed cultural values those same devices have become tropes that are outdated and ridiculous. It's too bad the genre hasn't really changed or caught up. But then again I'm not really a horror fan anyways - mostly because it's not horror, just slasher gore. And that's fine if it's something you enjoy, but it's never really been my thing.

That's the problem though. That was a huge outdated trope. A very predictable one at that. In the realm of Horror (Mostly Horror Literature) EVERYONE, be it women, children, the elderly, religious or not is a viable target for death or as prey for whatever lurks in the dark. That's what I loved about Lovecraft and Barker. It didn't matter how morally correct or what race you were, you were an open target if you were unfortunate enough to be in the presence of whatever is out to destroy or feed on humanity.

 

[zehydra]

well, yes, because sex isn't scary?

The problem with the horror genre is that it's flooded with random crap with a bunch of good movies sifting between them. Generally speaking, for a scary movie to be scary for me, it MUST FEEL LIKE IT'S REAL. This is usually the reason for me, at least, why most scary movies are shit. Poor continuity, acting, or plain (very)unbelievable scenarios, are all reasons for why it might not feel real. If I feel like "oh, this is just a movie", then it's not gonna be scary.


Also, Gore isn't scary.

 

[TheTim]

I voted yes because nudity is awesome in any movies.

That being said i very rarely watch horror movies as they scare the crap out of me.

 

[Madara XIII]

well, yes, because sex isn't scary?

The problem with the horror genre is that it's flooded with random crap with a bunch of good movies sifting between them. Generally speaking, for a scary movie to be scary for me, it MUST FEEL LIKE IT'S REAL. This is usually the reason for me, at least, why most scary movies are shit. Poor continuity, acting, or plain (very)unbelievable scenarios, are all reasons for why it might not feel real. If I feel like "oh, this is just a movie", then it's not gonna be scary.


Also, Gore isn't scary.

No it is not. It is there for Shock Value and if used properly can add to the horror as a nice aesthetic. Hellraiser proved that gore can work if done at a reasonable amount and continuing to give the sense of fear that Pinhead instills in his victims.

This is what irks me so. It'd be nice to have an H.P. Lovecraft movie because in all honestly he delivers fear, terror and awe without unnecessary human action, such as frat boy douches who will get what's coming to them or the morally correct upstanding citizen who has a good chance of surviving. No, Lovecraft said "Fuck That" anyone who would dare get in the path of said monster or abomination would be destroyed, eviscerated or torn limb from limb within seconds.
He didn't focus on the gore either, but instead the grotesque imagery of the monster with subtle yet potent enough details to give somewhat of an idea as to how horrifying it was.
He built a sense of terror and fear throughout his books whether it be predictable or not, but it constantly left me wondering WHEN the horror and climax would ensue.

Very rarely can we make movies like this and the day we do Lovecraft some Justice I can sleep well at night while minuscule shoggoths prance about in my head.

 

[Soxafloppin]

"Meh, the film films have an 18+ rating. Might as well throw in some big ass titties"

Above is probably what the directors think, not my opinion.

 

[Robert Ewing]

It's a good money maker. And horror movies are generally struggling in the money department anyway, because they don't get much backing.

Which is a tragedy.

Exactly, all the money goes into the once or twice a year movie epics like Titanic, Inception, Avatar. And the rest seems to go into family movies.

All the rest of the loose change is flung into romantic comedies, horror, sci-fi. Sucks to be in the movie industry.

 

[FamoFunk]

Yes.

I was watching Sickle Sunday as a matter of fact, and the first 30mins was full of ass, tits and vagina.
I wouldn't normally mind, but I though I was watching a horror, not armature porn, and as a heterosexual lady, tits and vagina do nothing for me, I wanted my guts and blood.

I did end up watching the whole film, it was bloody awful.

 

[Madara XIII]

There was a hot chick in Aliens?....I dont remember one.

No those movies were ones that didn't need sex appeal

 

[Togs]

It gets a little creepy when sex and horror get so haevily focused on in the same movie, leaving me a little worried that someone somewhere is using the whole thing as porn.

 

[Madara XIII]

It gets a little creepy when sex and horror get so haevily focused on in the same movie, leaving me a little worried that someone somewhere is using the whole thing as porn.

I will simply say Clive Barker and H.R. Giger.

Greatest Horror Boner Inducer EVER!!

Don't judge me! I know I'm a sick person

 

[Madara XIII]

Yes.

I was watching Sickle Sunday as a matter of fact, and the first 30mins was full of ass, tits and vagina.
I wouldn't normally mind, but I though I was watching a horror, not armature porn, and as a heterosexual lady, tits and vagina do nothing for me, I wanted my guts and blood.

I did end up watching the whole film, it was bloody awful.

So wait IT IS Necessary? Or was that a No?

 

[Bane_Star]

Take out the Blood and Gutz, keep the TnA, but keep the suspense..

Sex is Good, Messing up your head with Blood and Gore and Violence is far more damaging to your Psyche

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

No. No. No. No.
I'm really not for the whole sex appeal thing in horror movies. Though I'll say that they usually fall under the 'slasher' catagory (which is a barren wasteland under a massive pair of tits and knives). But when a horror movie needs to advertise using the leading lady's body (Under exception: Here. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth_(film)]), you should put your warning lights on. Sure B-Movies use it a lot, but they're B-Movies, it's their jobs to be about TnA and sex, drugs and rock and roll because that's what we want to see. Oh and shitty rubber monsters.
But TL;DR, No, a horror movie shouldn't be reliant on sex to get viewers. Slashers can because it's kinda their thing though...

 

[FamoFunk]

Yes.

I was watching Sickle Sunday as a matter of fact, and the first 30mins was full of ass, tits and vagina.
I wouldn't normally mind, but I though I was watching a horror, not armature porn, and as a heterosexual lady, tits and vagina do nothing for me, I wanted my guts and blood.

I did end up watching the whole film, it was bloody awful.

So wait IT IS Necessary? Or was that a No?

The "Yes" was a yes, it's not necessary (Christ, I can't remember now if the OP said it wasn't, either)

 

[UnknownGunslinger]

- Justin Bieber's Never Say Never

This made me chuckle

But seriously I like me some sexual context in a horror film
Would Audtion have been so freaking terrifying without the sadistic sexual perversions of Asami!.
Or the original Hellraiser without the sex scenes!
Or The Excorcist without that crucifix scene
I know those are examples of sexuality used well in movies to create dread, fear and generally all those nice things that make a horror movie tick.
But it goes to show sex and horror go tremendously well together when in the right hands.

But I see where you're getting at, gratuitous teen flesh is used a lot in some films for no apparent reason and doesn't help the story, the atmosphere, or the characters and seems to be just there for the hell of it.
Often distracting and unnecessary - I blame the 90's for that.
Stupid recent (sort of) example I can think of was The Unborn, seriously totally useless scenes half of the time.
Yes your lead is hot, but you still havent justified the ticket price yet!

On the other hand the gratuitous flashing of teen flesh helps tremendously those horror films that don't want to take themselves seriously and are just made for you to consume pop-corn and chuckle; like Jennifer's Body or Drag me to Hell.
And many more horrors barely allude to anything sexual at all in the first place and still work well.

So in the end I guess it boils down to this:
Not showing hot leads and bare flesh wont make a bad horror good, but it shure as hell will make it more tolerable!

 

[Madara XIII]

Take out the Blood and Gutz, keep the TnA, but keep the suspense..

Sex is Good, Messing up your head with Blood and Gore and Violence is far more damaging to your Psyche

HEY! I like my psyche screwed up the way it is. I don't need perversion to rear its nasty head into my twisted mind.....

I REGRET NOTHING I SAID!! *Runs off*