Torture Porn

[Wondermonkey]

a.k.a the Saw franchise, the Hostel franchise, and the Hills Have Eyes franchise. The following is an article from The Huffington Post. It's a good read IMO, but mostly because I think it's spot on. I don't much care for this new genre of horror, but I always thought I was alone.

I'm glad I'm not. I also knew there was a reason I liked Joss Whedon. Read on...

A couple of weeks ago I was driving my son to school when I took a left onto LaBrea, and, as usual, sat in traffic for a couple of minutes. As we waited for the construction bottleneck to ease up, we sang along with the new Shins CD. And then, at the same moment, we fell silent.

We were both noticing the same thing.

It was a billboard for a movie. There was actress Elisha Cuthbert, super-heavily made up-dare I say whorishly-- being used as the centerpiece of the most repulsive, horrifying, woman-hating, human- hating thing I have ever seen in public.

The first image had a black-gloved hand over her mouth, titled CAPTURE. Next, her eyes begged for rescue as her mascara ran and her bloody finger tried to pry its way out of a cage, titled CONFINEMENT.

In the next picture, titled TORTURE, she was encased in a strange mask, with tubes coming out of her nose, draining blood. Maybe. We couldn't figure out if it was tubes or a hook-that was another thing about it-you had to keep looking to figure out what the hell was going on.

The last frame was Elisha, may her career rest in peace after posing for this, hanging dead, lying on her back with one breast prominently displayed. The word in this frame was TERMINATION.

That night I had a nightmare about the billboard, and by the next morning, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. This wasn't just horror, this wasn't just misogyny... it was a grody combo platter of the two, the torture almost a punishment for the sexiness. It had come from such a despicable inhuman hatred place that it somehow managed to recall Abu Ghraib, the Holocaust, porn and snuff films all at once.

The next morning I decided to take a different route. Except this time I saw two more of the same billboards. It felt like they were EVERYWHERE, peppered all over my city. That afternoon, after the ride home with two more ten year olds in my car-one, a little girl, whose face I watched in my rearview mirror as she tried to make sense of the billboard. Now I was ready to take action.

Instead of making dinner and doing my usual after schooly things, I googled my way to the main number for Lionsgate, the video distributor of this film- and left a message for CEO John Feltheimer asking him to take them down. I sent the number to a few other people, and that night, hoped to sleep without a nightmare.

The next day, my email in-box was filled with hundreds of letters from people thanking me for giving them a place to voice to their feelings. Back channel operatives had sent me Feltheimer's private line and I distributed that one to the latest angry people. Lionsgate said they had nothing to do with After Dark and didn't approve the ads in the first place- they felt they had no responsibility because Lionsgate would only be making money from the home video sales.

That afternoon I spoke to Jill Simpson at the MPAA who told me that something really strange had happened the week before. She said someone had actually come in to their offices-a woman named Sherry Harding-with this exact artwork-and had shown it to them in person for approval.

Jill Simpson said that no one ever does that, things always come in over email and in attached files. No one ever walks in with art like that.

Of course, the MPAA saw the horrific-ness and told them they couldn't put it up.

And two days later it was up.

At the end of my very first tirade day, someone sent me the name of the main scumbag behind this entire operation: super-sociopath Courtney Solomon of After Dark Films.

A few hours later, Solomon called me. He insisted the fact that the billboards were up at all was a printer error. "We were all at ShoWest," he said, re: the distributor conference in Vegas that week-"and we had no idea they were even up!" Solomon apologized and said they would be down in two days, then offered to make a donation to a woman's organization.

He promised me the ones they meant to put up were soooooo much better, just a woman buried alive. He wrote me a long apology letter, insisting that these were "ideas submitted" but never approved by them in-house.

The next night, I met with about ten women and men, moms and TV writers and regular people, plus a rep from the city council, feminist organizers and peace activists-- in the library of my son's school, to talk. People shared their feelings and their rage, and some shared awful memories of violent crime and rape, memories triggered by this 4-panel publicly displayed snuff film.

In the library that night, we made a decision to wage a campaign to make the live up to what they're supposed to do in this case. Their stated consequence for violating their advertising rules is the removal of a film's rating. Without a rating, After Dark will not be able to show the film in American theaters, causing a loss of revenue-the only consequence that is truly meaningful to studios and advertisers.

It's about a week later now, and we have found out a lot of things.

It turns out these weren't ideas submitted to After Dark, but rather photographs art-directed down to the detail by the lovely Mr. Solomon.

It turns out it took them six days to come down instead of two. One of the billboards could be seen from the Ivanhoe schoolyard.

It turns out they're using our rage as links on their advertising campaign, calling it the film that caused all the outrage. It turns out that after the billboards came down, they replaced them with the proud outlaw message: Captivity was here.

It turns out that Moriarty, the authority on horror films on aint-it-cool-news.com, gave this movie the stinkiest possible review and they knew no one would see it so they did this to drum up publicity.

The Hills Have Eyes billboard is still up, of a man dragging a corpse in a body bag. The coming soon one-sheet for the delighthful Lionsgate's Hostel II is one of the indescribably repulsive things I have ever seen.

The good news is this: we actually are at a cultural moment where we have the power to say-- just as we have with porn and cigarettes-fine for those who want it, but please don't advertise it on our streets, on our way to school and work.

Anyway, the discussion and agitation continues at

www.removetherating.blogspot.com

and we would love to hear from more people who want to weigh in, using our section. There's also info for where to send a letter or email to MPAA chairman Dan Glickman. The MPAA ruling is coming next week, and we are thrilled that as they make their decision, they are reading our thoughts on the blog. We are hoping they heed our wishes and that it is their plan to not only disable Courtney Solomon's pariah-complex ego machinery, but also stop all horror/torture filmmakers from advertising their vile fantasies in front of the rest of us.

What follows is Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon's awesome letter to the MPAA...


From: Joss Whedon
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:17 PM
To: Advertising
Subject: CAPTIVITY BILLBOARDS/REMOVE THE RATING

To the MPAA,

There's a message I'm supposed to cut and paste but I imagine you've read it. So just let me say that the ad campaign for "Captivity" is not only a literal sign of the collapse of humanity, it's an assault. I've watched plenty of horror - in fact I've made my share. But the advent of torture-porn and the total dehumanizing not just of women (though they always come first) but of all human beings has made horror a largely unpalatable genre. This ad campaign is part of something dangerous and repulsive, and that act of aggression has to be answered.

As a believer not only in the First Amendment but of the necessity of horror stories, I've always been against acts of censorship. I distrust anyone who wants to ban something 'for the good of the public'. But this ad is part of a cycle of violence and misogyny that takes something away from the people who have to see it. It's like being mugged (and I have been). These people flouted the basic rules of human decency. God knows the culture led them there, but we have to find our way back and we have to make them know that people will not stand for this. And the only language they speak is money. (A devastating piece in the New Yorker - not gonna do it.) So talk money. Remove the rating, and let them see how far over the edge they really are.

Thanks for reading this, if anyone did.

Sincerely, Joss Whedon.
Creator, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

So, thoughts on the genre? Ad Campaign in general?

[Serren]

I agree with Whedon and the anti-smut crowd on this one. Saw and these new torture porn movies leave nothing to defend. They are just garbage. Torture is all they can muster, and must be cheap to produce, thus sequel after sequel.

I am sure they will run there course and fade away though. The public is always ready to move on to something new, so hopefully whatever that is will be less torture filled. Or less seen, more creative torture at least....

[BrewCityUpstart]

Eh. I like some of them. The only porno-ish type crap is Hostel. Man, thats a brutal flick!

[Fragmintz]

I haven't seen any of these films, but the ads have made me curious. They look to be mostly cheap thrills that nag at the worst in us, so maybe it is better I haven't seen them at all.

[BrewCityUpstart]

I like horror flicks that are plausable- its more psychological that way.

[OnoMan]

I agree I even hated all the Friday the 13th's and Halloween and that stuff too, I love horror movies but they should actually scare you not just be gore and blood

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by BrewCityUpstart

I like horror flicks that are plausable- its more psychological that way.

Agreed, I think they're much more frightening when they chill your soul.

[Peench]

I haven't seen the ads and don't watch horror flicks. Flicks that really freak me out psychologically or in other respects (like Emily Rose, etc), are more satisfying than gratuitous dismemberment and torture. The ad campaign and the response surrounding it are deplorable. While they generated interest and buzz, I hope it backfires and their rating gets pulled completely. People who flaunt the rules so blatantly over something so horrible should not be allowed to profit.

[Crankbait]

Although a big fan of the Night of the Living Dead/Evil Dead type of horror film I can honestly say that this type of horror is nothing but shock.

There have always been these types of movies, ones that were a bit more over the edge like Maniac, Driller Killer, Bloodsucking Freaks, Faces of Death 1 through 75. But none of those were plastered into the mainstream like what we are seeing now.

Personally I have seen a few of these new remade movies Like Hills and have seen the original Saw and was left with a meh whatever. And I do not think it is something that should be promoted in the way that it is to the general public particularly kids, like mine.

My kids get exposed to that and scared from their marketing campaign have them stop by, I will show them torture.

bring me a boomstick.

[BrewCityUpstart]

Originally Posted by Wondermonkey

Agreed, I think they're much more frightening when they chill your soul.

I include the Saw flicks in that, though.

[D_Litch]

I like the Evil Dead and George Romero flicks, but I prefer physiological thrillers over gory horror movies.

I hope these ads don't ruin my Elisha Cuthbert fetish.

[MadBryan]

and they thought Spinal Taps "Smell the Glove" was offensive. We watched The Shining last nite. Creepy and fun

[Serren]

For me, they should be creating more of the Japanese horror stuff like The Ring. I also feel that the mind needs to be toyed with and freaked out before the eyes. That is where the real fun is. Even movies like Blair Witch and The Descent worked good on those mental levels.

I am all for blood and gore, just not the "over-the-top" we can do better then last time for no story value gore. Sometimes it feels like a whole entire movie is created for one "crazy" scene. That is sad.....

[Fragmintz]

Originally Posted by D_Litch

I hope these ads don't ruin my Elisha Cuthbert fetish.

Actually, my wife and I can't stand Kim Bower! She was always SOOOO stupid & we would cheer for the bad guys to kill her. Maybe some Hollywood exec is wise to that and said: "what people really want is a movie where Kim Bower gets tortured until she dies .... now that'll sell TICKETS!"

[D_Litch]

Originally Posted by Fragmintz

Actually, my wife and I can't stand Kim Bower! She was always SOOOO stupid & we would cheer for the bad guys to kill her. Maybe some Hollywood exec is wise to that and said: "what people really want is a movie where Kim Bower gets tortured until she dies .... now that'll sell TICKETS!"

I don't watch 24.

[Wondermonkey]

Check this out, it's from AICN.

The MPAA Bitchslaps CAPTIVITY And After Dark Films... So What’s Next?!

Y’know, I say this as a guy who is actually on the DVD commentary track on Kirby Dick’s THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED.

I say this as a person who has railed time and time again on this very site about decisions the CARA (the ratings administration of the MPAA) have made.

I say this as a working horror filmmaker, and someone who believes it is important that adults be allowed to see controversial material of their choice.

I say this as somebody who actually cackled with glee when informed that my latest DVD release was banned from Wal-Mart based on the title and the cover art.

Consider me shocked, but I totally agree with the MPAA in the actions they’ve taken against After Dark Films, and if I have any complaint, it’s that they didn’t go far enough.

I'm not alone in this, either. Joss Whedon's taking heat for voicing his outrage, and there's a great community of filmmakers and parents who have created this site, which I urge you to check out.

Oh, I can already hear you hitting the keys of your keyboards to call me names and yell at me, but hold on for a minute, okay?

The MPAA has always maintained that their main purpose is to help parents sort out the content of films so they can gauge whether something is suitable for children. And I’ve always said that they took that excuse and set themselves up as moral watchdogs for adult content, “protecting” us from imagery that they deemed too strong even for a mature ticket buyer, using the NC-17 or the X as a punishment rather than as a valid option for artists looking to examine difficult themes or ideas.

But when it comes to this particular case, I think the MPAA did exactly the right thing, and I think they are completely working to help parents, w