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Shock and ahh!

Recent trends in horror films can be cruel and unusual punishments for theater goers

By Dan Kaplan and Matt Levin
Posted: 4/3/08, 10:31 PM EST Section: Splice
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Bad guy: The Dutch Businessman, who we later find out to be part of "Elite Hunting," a worldwide murder organization.

Most Gratuitous Scene: Easy. Josh (Derek Richardson) is abducted by the Dutch Businessman and receives all manner of torture including having his joints drilled into, his Achilles tendon cut and eventually, his throat slit.

Rated R for scenes of torture and violence.

"The Devil's Rejects" (2005)

Plot: In this sequel, three members of the serial-killing Firefly family from 2003's "House of 1000 Corpses" escape a siege by the Texas State Police at its headquarters. Together, the family begins a killing spree as the lone survivors. But with a sadistic sheriff and two bounty hunters following close behind, how long can they last?

Bad guy: The insane sheriff, John Quincy Wydell (such is the movie that serial killers somehow gain our sympathy.)

Most Gratuitous Scene: Wydell (William Forsythe) captures the remaining Firefly members and tortures them in full-on psychopath mode, nailing their hands to chairs and stapling pictures of victims to their bodies. "The Devil's Rejects" went through eight edits to be lowered from a NC-17 to R rating.

Rated R for sadistic violence.

"Saw" (2004)

Plot: This is the movie that set the torture porn genre in motion in the new millennium. Two complete strangers, Dr. Lawrence Gordon and photographer Adam Faulkner, awaken after a normal day and find themselves locked in an old washroom. Neither knows the other, but one has been told he must kill the other in order to save his family. It's all part of an elaborate game put on by the mysterious villain Jigsaw.

Bad guy: Jigsaw, an unorthodox criminal who, in lieu of simply killing people, constructs traps in which his victims ultimately kill themselves.

Most Gratuitous Scene: Toward the end of the flick, madness sets in for Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes), and he proceeds to saw off his own foot in an escape attempt.

Rated R for grisly violence and language.

mrlevin@syr.edu

sdkaplan@syr.edu
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Miranda

posted 4/04/08 @ 12:20 PM EST

I'm not sure if this was intended as an anti or promo piece for 'The Ruins,' but in either direction, I don't see the point.

Lumping together movies such as 'The Hills Have Eyes 2' and 'The Devil's Rejects' which are more shock-factor and gore-centric with genre-redefining works such as 'Saw' and 'Hostel' is, in my opinion, misleading. (Continued…)

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