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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications HORROR GLOBAL, HORROR LOCAL: A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF TORTURE PORN, J-HORROR, AND GIALLO AS CONTEMPORARY MANIFESTATIONS OF THE HORROR GENRE A Thesis in Media Studies by Lauren J. DeCarvalho © 2009 Lauren J. DeCarvalho Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts August 2009 ii The thesis of Lauren J. DeCarvalho was reviewed and approved* by the following: John S. Nichols Professor of Communications Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research Matthew F. Jordan Assistant Professor of Media Studies Thesis Advisor Marie C. Hardin Associate Professor of Journalism Jeanne L. Hall Associate Professor of Film and Video *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii ABSTRACT The overbearing effects of Hollywood continue to blur the lines of distinction between national and global cinema, leaving scholars to wonder whether the latter type of cinema has since trumped the former. This thesis explores the depths of this perplexity by looking at the cultural differences in post-1990s horror films from three countries: the United States, Japan, and Italy. Scholarship on women in horror films continues to focus on the feminist sensitivities, without the slightest regard for possible cultural specificities, within the horror genre. This, in turn, often collapses the study of women in horror films into a transnational genre, thereby contributing to the perception of a dominant global cinema. Therefore, it is the aim of the author to look at three culturally-specific subgenres of the horror film to explore their differences and similarities. With a selection of fifteen films, five theatrical releases from each country, the author of this thesis utilizes narrative analysis as the primary means of exploring how each works through cultural anxieties and how each represented women, in hopes of determining whether or not a national cinema still exists. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….………….1 Chapter 1. AMERICAN TORTURE PORN..…………………………………………………...11 The Controversial Horror Subgenre…...............................................................................11 Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects (2005)..……………………………………………...14 Eli Roth’s Hostel (2006)…………………………………………………………………26 Eli Roth’s Hostel: Part II (2007).………………………………………...……………...32 John Stockwell’s Turistas (2006)………….……………………….…..………………..39 Darren Lynn Bousman’s Saw II (2005)..………………………………………………...44 Reflections……………………………………………………………………..………...50 Chapter 2. J-HORROR…………………………………………………………………………..54 When Technology Meets the Supernatural…....................................................................54 Hideo Nakata’s Ringu (1998)………..…………………………………………………..56 Hideo Nakata’s Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara (2002)…………………………………65 Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-on: The Grudge (2003)…………………………………………..69 Takashi Miike’s Chakushin Ari (2004)………………………………………………......72 Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Kairo (2001)……………………………………………………….76 Reflections……………………………………………………………………………….82 Chapter 3. ITALIAN GIALLI...…………………………………………………………………88 Stylistic Appeal: Nudity, Gore, and Violence…Plus a Killer Soundtrack……………....88 Dario Argento’s La Sindrome di Stendhal (1996)……………………………………….93 Dario Argento’s Nonhosonno (2001)…………………………………………………….98 Dario Argento’s Il Cartaio (2004)……………………………………………………...102 Eros Puglielli’s Occhi di Cristallo (2004)……………………………………………...107 Alex Infascelli’s Almost Blue (2000)……………….…………………………………..111 Reflections...……………………………………………………………………………115 Conclusion…...………………………………………………………………………………....119 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….129 INTRODUCTION Within the last two decades, the distinction between national and global cinema has become increasingly ambiguous. The primary catalyst for this obscurity is a culmination of globalization, technology, and popular trends. This is not to say that the effects of globalization are recent phenomena; they certainly are not. Yet as a result of advancing technology, globalism’s effects are further reaching than ever before. In fact, from a business standpoint, it seems perfectly logical for filmmakers to want to borrow and recycle cinematic successes as a way to emulate the products put forth by their international counterparts. The problem lies in discerning where to draw the line of distinction that separates national and global cinema. Recently, scholars have been wondering whether a previously national cinematic practice has been replaced by a hegemonic global cinema. Different genres have been interrogated to determine how many of the traditional cultural differences remain. Horror is one such genre that is becoming more invasive and pervasive within global culture, mostly because it seems to have created an ongoing market. According to popular press, "horror is hot--again--in Hollywood, capable of turning low-budget violence into a box-office bonanza. In the past three years horror films have populated the top 50 international box office lists and turned in combined ticket and DVD sales of an impressive $1.5 billion" (Egan 2007). For example, in their 2005 book, Horror International , Editors Steven Jay Schneider and Tony Williams ultimately take the perspective that, despite growing similarities, a national cinema is still alive and well. At the same time, they descry that a plethora of cross-cultural influence makes it hard to decipher between nations and their cinema since nearly every “nation, region, and cultural artifact” is affected by outside influences (Schneider and Williams, eds. 3). This thesis pushes these observations and seeks to 2 address this question of globalization as it manifests itself within the horror film in general and in particular, the way that women are represented within the genre. As a child, I can recall my experiences watching Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) with my family. Feelings of enjoyment, mesmerism, but mostly fear came over me as I kept covering and uncovering my eyes at the sight of the antagonist Freddy Krueger’s metal claws. My mother always tried to assuage me by claiming that it was ketchup, not blood, on Freddy’s victims. Despite knowing the films were not real, I still always felt uneasy. To this day, I continue to be terrified, yet captivated, by the horror film genre and the way it taps into the dark side of the cultural imaginary. Simply stated, there is something intriguing about this genre’s ability to construct fear in viewers, which may explain why it has such a widespread fan base. I suppose film scholar, Noël Carroll, hits the nail on the head when he addresses this contradiction of emotions in The Philosophy of Horror (Carroll 158-9). Dubbing it the “paradox of horror”, Carroll discusses how it is that people take pleasure in watching the horrific and disgusting, particularly since people tend to shun what is loathsome to them in everyday life. His answer to this paradox is that horror films tend to elicit cognitive interests, such as curiosity and fascination, due to their plot structures (which usually involve a narrative form). What is horror? Primarily, horror is all about the intentions of a film’s director and his or her desire to elicit certain emotions, mostly fear and anxiety, on the part of the viewer. Renowned horror writer, Douglas E. Winter emphasizes the importance of these feelings when he defines horror as “not a genre” but as “an emotion” (Winter 12). While Winter makes some 3 interesting points in his own definition, I feel the real horror lies in the uncertainty that viewers face as they watch the blurred distinction of reality within the realm of the horrific unfold before their eyes. There is a sense of disconnect that viewers feel between the real and the imaginary, whether it be in the form of a monstrous villain who encroaches on reality or the uncertainty one feels as he or she enters unchartered territory. Through the utilization of varying combinations of gore, xenophobia, and the mysterious, it is ultimately the director that guides these emotions to a definitive point. Additionally, it is imperative to note that the horror film draws from and seeps into a wide score of subgenres. While there are simply too many to delineate here, there are three, in particular, that are crucial for understanding the current iterations of the genre: the splatter; the psychological horror; and the slasher film. The splatter subgenre places undue emphasis on the graphic violence and gore aspect of a film’s plot. The psychological horror’s plots delve into a character’s mind and thrives on that person’s—and viewers’—emotions, such as fear or guilt, in order to contribute to the overall tension of the film. The slasher film, which is often mistakably grouped as the same as the splatter film, revolves around a psychopath’s killing spree where typically his choice of weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, places prominence on phallic imagery (Clover 47). Together, these subgenres have evolved into the three current subgenres analyzed here: the torture porn, the J-horror, and the giallo. It is important to make note that this cross-cultural study evolves in the manner that it does as a result of leaving room for cultural specificities. This is to say that careful consideration was given to the analysis of each particular subgenre. Additionally, by allowing each subgenre, as the dominant mode of horror cinema in each of the respective countries, to shine in their own 4 terms and light, this analytic thesis has allowed