Okay, here's the question . . . how much gore is too much gore? I love horror. I grew up reading Poe, King, Koontz . . . I get it. And I love The Walking Dead. But do I have to see the zombie's head bashed in over and over again? I know what it looks like. I know how it sounds, been there, done that. So why beat a dead horse, er, zombie? I like the scare, but not the gore. Am I simply getting old? Okay, that was totally rhetorical, no answer necessary. My main question is this, how much is too much? What happened to the envelope? Is there an envelope anymore, or has it been completely decimated?
The Walking Dead is almost old news, right. But the reason I'm rehashing it now is because I felt the same way when I watched the premier of The Following starring Kevin Bacon. Big fan of Bacon (LOL), but the opening of the show, with the tortured animals in the basement, no. Lost me right there. I gave it another chance on the second or third episode (not really sure which one), same thing. The focus on the victim's face as he was dying, no. Don't need that either. Where's the darn story??? I think it should be retitled The Gory Faces of Death. What a let down.
Okay, those are just my opinions, but hey, I'm sometimes honest to a fault. Either that, or I'm just getting tired of watching TV between my splayed fingers, i.e. "Dude, is it over yet?" (No, I'm not a teenage boy, Dude is my hubby.)
Now, for the real reason I'm writing this post . . . how much gore is too much? I really wanna know!
So I'm not kidding when I ask for your thoughts. I'll tell you my opinion: I think gore in books is much easier to take than gore splashed across my TV in living color.
Does that make me a gore-hypocrite? Or would that be a gore-pocrite?
What do you think? How much is too much?
4 comments:
lol I actually love Bacon's new show 'The Following'. But I agree, it does have a bit more gore than I'd like. I watch it for the suspense, the thrill, not to see dismembered animals or tortured people. I guess if you wanna watch "scary" entertainment you have to realize that the industry has largely left the scare tactic and switched it for the shock tactic.
I'm not a fan of gore. I don't think you need much of it at all. Gore is the lazy way to freak people out rather than build up the tone for suspense. But that's just my opinion.
I totally agree, Chrissteen. I still watch The Walking Dead--through splayed fingers. And I agree, shock is the lazy way to hold people's attention. I will have to remember that in the novel I'm writing. Thank you for your input!
I'm like you, Ann, I can handle gore in books. I think because when I get to the point that I'm getting disturbed, I just change the page. In movies though, it's almost like a competition.
So let's see, we have a desensitized generation, what can we do to get a scream out of them? But the problem is, each time they up the anty, people become more and more desensitized, so the problem just continues to grow.
I'm more a fan of King. He doesn't really do gore, he scares the pants off you though and that's the kind of horror I like. Slasher flicks don't do it for me, you want to see me terrified turn on The Shining and turn off all the lights in my house. Ewwww.... shudder.
Me, too! SK can still scare me!
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