A splatter film is a subgenre of

horror films Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...

that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of

gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...

and

graphic violence Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as film, television, and video games. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated. Intended limitedly for mature ...

. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the human body and the theatricality of its mutilation. The term "splatter cinema" was coined by

George A. Romero George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...

to describe his film '' Dawn of the Dead'', though ''Dawn of the Dead'' is generally considered by critics to have higher aspirations, such as social commentary, than to be simply exploitative for its own sake. The term was popularized by John McCarty's 1981 book ''Splatter Movies'', subtitled: ''Breaking The Last Taboo: A Critical Survey Of The Wildly Demented Sub Genre Of The Horror Film That Is Changing The Face Of Film Realism Forever''. The first significant publication to attempt to define and analyse the 'Splatter Film', McCarty suggests that Splatter is indicative of broader trends in film production. Though Splatter is associated with fairly extreme Horror Films, and such works form the main focus of the book, a relatively diverse range of titles dating mainly from the 1960s to late 1970s are also included, for example

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

' ''

Female Trouble ''Female Trouble'' is a 1974 American dark comedy film co-composed, photographed, co-edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters and starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Michael Potter, Cook ...

'',

Ted Post Theodore I. Post (March 31, 1918 – August 20, 2013) was an American director of film and television. Highly prolific, Post directed numerous episodes of well-known television series including '' Rawhide'', ''Gunsmoke'', and ''The Twilight Zone'' ...

's ''

Magnum Force ''Magnum Force'' is a 1973 American neo-noir vigilante action thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film ''Dirty Harry''. Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on '' Ra ...

'',

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

's ''

Jabberwocky "Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The ...

'', and

Walter Hill Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

The Long Riders ''The Long Riders'' is a 1980 American Western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the ''Best Music'' award in 1980 from t ...

''. This filmography implies that the influence of film-makers such as

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institut ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

, to name two, is as significant to the development of the form as

Grand Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialised in natura ...

, Hammer Films or

Herschell Gordon Lewis Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the " splatter" subgenre of horror films. He is often called the "Godfather of Gore" (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though hi ...

. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the use of graphic violence in cinema has been labeled "torture porn" or "gorno" (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsBraindead'', ''

Evil Dead II ''Evil Dead II'' (also known in publicity materials as ''Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'') is a 1987 American comedy horror film directed by Sam Raimi. It is considered both a remake and sequel (or "re-quel") to the 1981 film ''The Evil Dead'', and wa ...

'' and to some extent ''Dawn of the Dead'', all of which feature over-the-top gore, can be construed as

comedic Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, and fall into the category of splatstick.

Characteristics

Splatter films, according to film critic

Michael Arnzen Michael A. Arnzen (born May 17, 1967) is an American horror writer. He has won the Bram Stoker Award three times. Early life and education Arnzen was born on May 17, 1967, in Amityville, New York. After a brief stint in the United States Army ...

, "self-consciously revel in the special effects of gore as an artform." Where typical horror films deal with such fears as that of the unknown, the supernatural and the dark, the impetus for fear in a splatter film comes from physical destruction of the body and the pain accompanying it. There is also an emphasis on visuals, style and technique, including hyperactive camerawork. Where most horror films have a tendency to re-establish the social and moral order with good triumphing over evil, splatter films thrive on a lack of order. Arnzen argues that "the spectacle of violence replaces any pretensions to narrative structure, because gore is the only part of the film that is reliably consistent." These films also often feature fragmented narratives and direction, including "manic montages full of subject camera movement...cross-cuttings from hunted to hunter, and ominous juxtapositions and contrasts."

Origins

The splatter film has its aesthetic roots in French

theatre, which endeavored to stage realistic scenes of blood and carnage for its patrons. In 1908, Grand Guignol made its first appearance in England, although the gore was downplayed in favor of a more

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

tone, owing to the greater censorship of the arts in Britain. The first appearance of gore—the realistic mutilation of the human body—in cinema can be traced to D. W. Griffith's ''

Intolerance Intolerance may refer to: * Hypersensitivity Hypersensitivity (also called hypersensitivity reaction or intolerance) refers to undesirable reactions produced by the normal immune system, including allergies and autoimmunity. They are usual ...

'' (1916), which features numerous Guignol-esque touches, including two onscreen decapitations, and a scene in which a spear is slowly driven through a soldier's naked abdomen as blood wells from the wound. Several of Griffith's subsequent films, and those of his contemporary

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

, featured similarly realistic carnage.

Modern era

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the public was reintroduced to splatter themes and motifs by groundbreaking films such as Alfred Hitchcock's '' Psycho'' (1960) and the output of

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve class ...

(an artistic outgrowth of the English Grand Guignol style) such as ''

The Curse of Frankenstein ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus '' by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of t ...

'' (1957) and ''

Horror of Dracula ''Dracula'' is a 1958 British gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel of the same name. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dra ...

'' (1958). Perhaps the most explicitly violent film of this era was

Nobuo Nakagawa was a Japanese film director, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced horror films he made in the 1950s and 1960s. Career Born in Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews to th ...

's '' Jigoku'' (1960), which included numerous scenes of flaying and dismemberment in its depiction of the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

underworld

Naraka Naraka ( sa, नरक) is the realm of hell in Indian religions. According to some schools of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, ''Naraka'' is a place of torment. The word ''Neraka'' (modification of ''Naraka'') in Indonesian and Malay ...

. Splatter came into its own as a distinct subgenre of horror in the early 1960s with the films of

in the United States. Eager to maintain a profitable niche, Lewis turned to something that mainstream cinema still rarely featured: scenes of visceral, explicit gore. In 1963, he directed ''

Blood Feast ''Blood Feast'' is a 1963 American splatter film. It was composed, shot, and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, written by Allison Louise Downe from an idea by Lewis and David F. Freidman, and stars Mal Arnold, William Kerwin, Connie Mason, ...

'', widely considered the first splatter film. In the 15 years following its release, ''Blood Feast'' took in an estimated $7 million. It was made for an estimated $24,500. ''Blood Feast'' was followed by two more gore films by Herschell Gordon Lewis, ''

Two Thousand Maniacs! ''Two Thousand Maniacs!'' is a 1964 American horror film written and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and starring 1963 ''Playboy'' Playmate Connie Mason. It follows a group of Northern tourists who are savagely tortured and murdered during a ...

'' (1964) and ''

Color Me Blood Red ''Color Me Blood Red'' is a 1965 American splatter film written and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis about a psychotic painter who murders people and uses their blood as paint. It is the third part of what the director's fans have dubbed "The Bl ...

'' (1965). The popularity of the splatter film in the 1970s was met with strong reactions in the US and the U.K. Roger Ebert in the U.S., and Member of Parliament Graham Bright in the U.K., led the charge to censor splatter films on home video with the film critic going after ''

I Spit on Your Grave ''I Spit on Your Grave'' (originally titled ''Day of the Woman'') is a 1978 American rape and revenge horror film edited, written, and directed by Meir Zarchi. The film tells the story of Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton), a fiction writer based ...

'' while the politician sponsored the Video Recordings Act, a system of censorship and certification for home video in the U.K., p.276 This resulted in the outright banning of many splatter films, which were deemed "

video nasties Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that ...

" in the British press. Some splatter directors have gone on to produce mainstream hits. Peter Jackson started his career in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

by directing the splatter movies ''

Bad Taste ''Bad Taste'' is a 1987 New Zealand science-fiction comedy horror film directed, produced and filmed by Peter Jackson, who also stars in and co-wrote the screenplay, along with Tony Hiles and Ken Hammon. Independently produced on a low budge ...

'' (1987) and '' Braindead'' (1992). These films featured such over-the-top gore that it became a

comedic device Comedic device refers to a kind of device used to make a statement more humorous. In layman's terms, it is what makes things funny. List of comedic devices Repetition Repetition is the essential comedic device and is often used in combination with ...

. These comedic gore films have been dubbed "splatstick", defined as physical comedy that involves dismemberment. Splatstick seems to be more common in Japan, with the examples of '' Robogeisha'', ''

Tokyo Gore Police is a 2008 Japanese action splatter film co-written, edited and directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura and starring Eihi Shiina as Ruka, a vengeful police officer. ''Tokyo Gore Police'' was released to several film festivals in North America. It rece ...

'', and '' Machine Girl''. Splatter films have pioneered techniques used in other genres. For example, the popular 1999 film ''

The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Josh ...

'' is similar to the 1980 film '' Cannibal Holocaust''. The story in ''Cannibal Holocaust'' is told through footage from a group of people making a documentary about a portion of the Amazon which is said to be populated by cannibals. Although the ''Blair Witch'' directors had not seen ''Cannibal Holocaust'' at the time of filming, this "

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

" format was later used in their film. One of the more recent examples of a splatter film is ''

Terrifier ''Terrifier'' is a 2016 slasher film written and directed by Damien Leone. It stars Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, Catherine Corcoran, and David Howard Thornton. The film follows partygoer Tara Heyes (Kanell), who becomes the target of a se ...

'' (2016) and its sequel '' Terrifier 2'' (2022). Both films are infamous for their gore, two main examples being Dawn's hacksaw kill in ''

'' (2016), where

Art the Clown Art the Clown is a fictional character in the ''Terrifier'' franchise and related media. He first appeared in the short films ''The 9th Circle'' (2009) and ''Terrifier'' (2011) before making his feature film debut in ''All Hallows' Eve'' (2013). ...

saws Dawn in half, and Allie's bedroom kill in '' Terrifier 2'' (2022), where Art theatrically mutilates Allie to death. Terrifier 2 was said to be so gory and so violent that audience members have reported to be

vomiting Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteri ...

and

fainting Syncope, commonly known as fainting, or passing out, is a loss of consciousness and muscle strength characterized by a fast onset, short duration, and spontaneous recovery. It is caused by a decrease in blood flow to the brain, typically from ...

Resurgence and "torture porn" label

In the 2000sparticularly 2003–2009a body of films was produced that combined elements of the splatter and

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...

genres. The films were dubbed "torture porn" by critics and detractors, most notably by

David Edelstein David Edelstein (born 1959) is a freelance American film critic who has been the principal film critic for ''Slate'' and ''New York'' magazine, among others, and has appeared regularly on NPR's ''Fresh Air'' and ''CBS Sunday Morning'' programs. O ...

,Edelstein, David (February 6, 2006).
Now Playing at Your Local Multiplex: Torture Porn
". ''New York Magazine''. Retrieved on June 11, 2007. who is thought to have coined the term. Like their splatter forerunners, torture porn films reputedly emphasize depictions of

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

, gore, nudity,

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

mutilation Mutilation or maiming (from the Latin: ''mutilus'') refers to Bodily harm, severe damage to the body that has a ruinous effect on an individual's quality of life. It can also refer to alterations that render something inferior, ugly, dysfunction ...

and

sadism Sadism may refer to: * Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation * Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...

. Also like splatter films, the extent to which torture porn lives up to its sensational reputation has been disputed.Jones, Steve (2013) "The Lexicon of Offense: The Meanings of Torture, Porn and ‘Torture Porn’", in Feona Attwood et al. (eds.) ''Controversial Images: Media Representations on the Edge'' (Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan). Filmmaker

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, having directed the films '' Cabin Fever'' (2003) and ''Hoste ...

's '' Hostel'' (2005), released in January 2006, was the first to be called torture porn by critic Edelstein, but the classification has since been applied to ''

Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...

'' and its sequels (though its creators disagree with the classification),Warner, Kara.
Saw IV Press Conference
". ''UGO.com''. ''

The Devil's Rejects ''The Devil's Rejects'' is a 2005 black comedy horror film written, produced and directed by Rob Zombie, and is the second film in the ''Firefly'' film series, serving as a sequel to his 2003 film ''House of 1000 Corpses''. The film is centere ...

'' (2005), '' Wolf Creek'' (2005), and the earlier films ''

Baise-moi ''Baise-moi'' is a 2000 French crime thriller film written and directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi and starring Karen Lancaume and Raffaëla Anderson. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1993. The film rece ...

'' (2000) and ''

Ichi the Killer Ichi the Killer may refer to: * ''Ichi the Killer'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film based on the manga series of the same name * ''Ichi the Killer'' (manga), a manga series written and illustrated by Hideo Yamamoto {{disambig ...

'' (2001).Skenazy, Lenore (May 28, 2007). "It's Torture! It's Porn! What's Not to Like? Plenty, Actually". ''Advertising Age''.May 3, 2007.
Is there a link between 'torture porn' and real sexual violence?
". ''The Guardian''. Retrieved on June 11, 2007. A difference between this group of films and earlier splatter films is that they are often mainstream Hollywood films that receive a

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical r ...

, and have comparatively high production values. The torture porn subgenre has proven to be very profitable: ''Saw'', made for $1.2 million, grossed over $100 million worldwide, while ''Hostel'', which cost less than $5 million to produce, grossed over $80 million.Murray, Steve (June 7, 2007).
'Horror porn' a bloody success
". ''Associated Press''. Retrieved on June 11, 2007.

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

, the studio behind the films, made considerable gains in its stock price from the box office showing.La Monica, Paul R. (June 8, 2007).
'Torture porn' helps Lionsgate roar
". Retrieved on June 14, 2007. The financial success led the way for the release of similar films: ''

Turistas ''Turistas'' (; English: ''Tourists'', released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as ''Paradise Lost'') is a 2006 American horror film produced and directed by John Stockwell and starring Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, Desmond Askew ...

'' in 2006, '' Hostel: Part II'', '' Borderland'', and '' Captivity'', starring Elisha Cuthbert and

Daniel Gillies Daniel John Gillies (born 14 March 1976) is a New Zealand-Canadian actor, film producer, director and screenwriter. He played the role of Elijah Mikaelson on the television series '' The Vampire Diaries'' and its spin-off '' The Originals,'' as ...

, in 2007.Kinsella, Warren (June 7, 2007).
Torture porn's dark waters
". ''National Post''. Retrieved on June 11, 2007. Indeed, in 2009 the ''Saw'' series became the most profitable horror film series of all time, prompting the release of ''

The Collector ''The Collector'' is a 1963 thriller novel by English author John Fowles, in his literary debut. Its plot follows a lonely, psychotic young man who kidnaps a female art student in London and holds her captive in the cellar of his rural farmhous ...

'' starring

Josh Stewart Joshua Regnall Stewart (born February 6, 1977) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Holt McLaren in the FX TV series ''Dirt'' and as Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., on the CBS series ''Criminal Minds''. He was also cast as ...

and Juan Fernández within that year. Despite these financial successes, torture porn is perceived as a pejorative label by many press critics, filmmakers, and fans. "Torture porn’s" pejorative connotations were anchored by high-profile salacious advertising campaigns. Billboards and posters used in the marketing of '' Hostel: Part II'' and ''Captivity'' drew criticism for their graphic imagery, causing them to be taken down in many locations.May 1, 2007.
For your entertainment
. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved on June 11, 2007. Director Eli Roth sought to defend the subgenre, claiming that critics’ uses of torture porn "genuinely says more about the critic's limited understanding of what horror movies can do than about the film itself", and that "they're out of touch."Horowitz, Josh (March 28, 2007)
'Hostel' Helmer Eli Roth Says Horror Should Have No Limits: 'It's All Fake'
". ''MTV''. Retrieved on June 11, 2007. Horror author Stephen King defended ''Hostel: Part II'' and torture porn stating, "sure it makes you uncomfortable, but good art should make you uncomfortable." Influential director

stated, "I don't get the torture porn films ..they're lacking metaphor." The success of torture porn, and its boom during the mid to late 2000s, led to a crossover into genres other than horror. This became evident with the release of many crime thrillers, particularly the 2007 film ''

I Know Who Killed Me ''I Know Who Killed Me'' is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson, written by Jeff Hammond, and starring Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough and Brian Geraghty. The film's story revolves around a young ...

'' starring Lindsay Lohan, and the 2008 film ''

Untraceable ''Untraceable'' is a 2008 American psychological thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross. It was distributed by Screen Gems. Set in Portland, Oregon, the film involves a seria ...

'', starring

Diane Lane Diane Colleen Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at age 14 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film '' A Little Romance''. The two films that could have catapulted her to st ...

and Billy Burke. The British film ''

WΔZ ''WΔZ'' (pronounced ''double-u delta zed'') is a 2007 British crime horror thriller film directed by Tom Shankland and starring Stellan Skarsgård, Melissa George, Selma Blair and Tom Hardy. The film was released in the United States with the ...

'', starring

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...

and

Selma Blair Selma Blair Beitner (born June 23, 1972) is an American actress. She played a number of roles in films and on television before obtaining recognition for her leading role in the film '' Brown's Requiem'' (1998). Her breakthrough came when she s ...

, and its US counterpart ''

Scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a n ...

'', starring Angela Bettis and

Ben Cotton Ben Cotton (born July 26, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. His most notable roles are on the TV series ''Stargate Atlantis'' playing scientist Dr. Kavanagh, his portrayal of "Leon Bell" in the game Dead Rising 2, Shane Pierce, the ...

, continued to facilitate this hybrid form of torture porn, which was also, to a lesser degree, evident in films such as '' Rendition'' (2007) starring

Jake Gyllenhaal Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (; ; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and his older sister is actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He ...

, ''

Law Abiding Citizen ''Law Abiding Citizen'' is a 2009 American vigilante action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray, written by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler (who also co-produced). The film takes place in Philadelphia, telling the stor ...

'' (2009), and ''

Unthinkable ''Unthinkable'' is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Gregor Jordan and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss. It was released direct-to-video on June 14, 2010. The film is noteworthy for the controversy it genera ...

'' (2010) starring Samuel L. Jackson. In the mid-2000s, the splatter film was given a major boost within the horror industry by a new wave of France, French films—commonly referred to as New French Extremity, the New French Extremity—which became internationally known for their extremely brutal nature: ''Martyrs (2008 film), Martyrs'' (2008), directed by Pascal Laugier, ''Frontier(s)'' (2007), directed by Xavier Gens, and ''Inside (2007 film), Inside'' (2007), directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Rapper Eminem explored the genre in his music video for the single "3 a.m. (Eminem song), 3 a.m." that year. Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's ''Antichrist (film), Antichrist'', starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, was labeled torture porn by critics when it premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival due to scenes of extreme violence, graphic sex, and genital self-mutilation. By 2009, the box office draw of torture porn films had mostly been replaced in the U.S. by the profitable trend of remaking or rebooting earlier horror films from decades past, with the modernization of films such as ''Dawn of the Dead (2004 film), Dawn of the Dead'' (2004), ''The Amityville Horror (2005 film), The Amityville Horror'' (2005), ''House of Wax (2005 film), House of Wax'' (2005), ''Black Christmas (2006 film), Black Christmas'' (2006), ''Halloween (2007 film), Halloween'' (2007), ''My Bloody Valentine 3D'' (2009), ''Friday the 13th (2009 film), Friday the 13th'' (2009), ''The Wolfman (2010 film), The Wolfman'' (2010), ''The Crazies (2010 film), The Crazies'' (2010), and ''A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 film), A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (2010). A number of these remakes, such as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film), The Hills Have Eyes'' (2006) (and its The Hills Have Eyes 2, sequel in 2007), ''Funny Games (2008 film), Funny Games'' (2008), ''The Last House on the Left (2009 film), The Last House on the Left'' (2009), and ''I Spit on Your Grave (2010 film), I Spit on Your Grave'' (2010) were referred to as torture porn in press reviews. At the close of the decade, ''The Human Centipede (First Sequence)'' (2009) and ''A Serbian Film'' (2010) were among the most notable torture porn releases. Although not as financially successful as ''

'' or '' Hostel'', ''A Serbian Film'' and ''The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)'' (2011) gained attention in the press for their graphic depictions of forced Coprophagia, fecal consumption and necrophilia, and both films were censored in order to attain release in the U.K. Other torture porn films such as ''Grotesque (2009 film), Grotesque'' and ''The Bunny Game'' were banned outright by the British Board of Film Classification, BBFC. Subsequently, torture porn has increasingly become a DVD-oriented subgenre. For example, ''Hostel: Part III'' (2011) was released direct to DVD, unlike the previous films in the series. The film received less negative attention in the press as a result of its lower-profile release. Other recent torture porn films include ''Would You Rather (film), Would You Rather'' (2012), ''Shiver'' (2012), and ''The Collection (2012 film), The Collection'' (2012). As fewer and fewer high-profile cinematic torture porn films are being released, however, the subgenre is slowly dying out, as many journalists have proposed.Barnes, Brookes (2009) ‘Audiences Laughed to Forget Troubles’, ''The New York Times'', December 30. The genre elements were also used in episodes of many popular American television shows, including Fox's ''24 (TV series), 24'', CBS's ''Criminal Minds'', Showtime (TV network), Showtime's ''Dexter (TV series), Dexter'', The CW's ''Supernatural (U.S. TV series), Supernatural'', NBC's ''Blindspot (TV series), Blindspot'' and FX (TV network), FX's ''American Horror Story''. Some scholars have published analyses of torture porn films. For example, a book chronicling the torture porn phenomenon and the surrounding controversy – Steve Jones' ''Torture Porn: Popular Horror after Saw'' – was published in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Splatter film Splatterpunk, Film genres Horror genres Dystopian fiction Thrillers Splatter films, Obscenity controversies in film