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The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family Author(S): PAT GILL Reviewed Work(S): Source: Journal of Film and Video, Vol

The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family Author(S): PAT GILL Reviewed Work(S): Source: Journal of Film and Video, Vol

The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family Author(s): PAT GILL Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 54, No. 4 (WINTER 2002), pp. 16-30 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391 . Accessed: 17/07/2012 02:24

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http://www.jstor.org The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films,and the Family

PAT GILL

IN I978, HERALDED a new SUD spread crime, easy access to drugs, unsuper of horror,the teen slasher film.Combin vised friendships.The danger iswithin, the ing inventiveviolence and a clever,eerily evoc filmsseem to say; the horrorderives fromthe ative suburban mise-en-sc?ne with engaging, familyand fromthe troublingordeal of being a believable, contemporaryteen protagonists late-twentieth-century teenager. Several critics and a superhumankiller, director and co-writer have noted horrorfilms' overt relationto and JohnCarpenter created a new, effectivetype of covertdependence on theAmerican family,and filmthriller. There were earlierfilms that fea I relyon theirexcellent discussions inthe argu tured teen-aged protagonists, such as The Tex ment thatfollows.2 My focus ismuch narrower as ChainsawMassacre (1974) and Carrie (1976), than the general category of horror, however, some of themgorier and almost all of them and much more punctual. I focus on teen slash more expensively made,1 but Carpenter's cam er films,posit the reason fortheir arrival inthe erawork and narrativestyle distinguished Hal late 1970s, theirmodifications through the loween from these predecessors. Accompanied years, and their recent parodie incarnations. by creepypiano music composed byCarpenter, the Steadicam roams throughthe small town Slasher Roots streets, stalking the victims. Its point-of-view merges into and out of the killer's; every innoc Linkedto a traditionof horrorwhose inceptionis uous movement is made suspicious, every sub most often located inEnglish gothic, contempo urban commonplace menacing. The suburban raryhorror films extend and revisethemes that haven, away from the dangers of the city, not dominated earlierhorror films. Critics generally only fails to protect itschildren, it has become fixthe beginningof Englishgothic inthe second the breedingground of livingnightmares un halfof the eighteenthcentury, with HoraceWal known to urban landscapes. pole's TheCastle ofOtranto (1764).3Contempo Infilms following Halloween, suburban and raryhorror plays outmany of thedefining char smalltown teenagersare put indanger timeand acteristicsof thegothic: defenseless heroines; again, at home, at school, at camp, and on holi suppressed passions; unspeakable desires; day. These filmsseem tomock white flightto fearful landscapes and haunted, uncanny interi gated communities,in particular the attempts ors; untrustworthyand suspicious relationsand of parents to shield theirchildren from the dan relationships;terrifying uncertainty and stifling gerous influences represented by the city: wide knowledge; familialsecrets and theirdreadful exposure; and jarringjuxtapositions of themor pat gill is an associate professor in the Institute al and the monstrous, the sexual and the gro of Communications Research at the University of the virtuous and the violent. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has written on tesque, Mark filth, crime, passion, nostalgia, and "male anxiety Edmundson believes that contempo films" of the 1990s. raryhorror films representa degradation of the

l6 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 gothic tradition.He explains thatthe initial and enforced alienation of the murdercus, wave of gothicfiction afforded a "means of monstrous protagonist,as well as thegender insight,"a "vitalizingeffect" (xiii) in itsrevela dynamicsat work inthe representationof hor tion, indarkened shades, of a world of layered ror.5They have pointed out the familyrelations complexity.He finds thatmost of today's gothic or repressed fearsand desires elaborated by does no such thing,calling contemporarygoth horror scenarios,6 and have described the cul ic (as manifested inselected films,sordid con turalassumptions and political circumstances fessional televisiontalk shows, the reporting at play and underattack.7 Ingeneral, critics and analysis of the0. J.Simpson trial,and who examine familialhorror speak of family some recent fiction), "no-fault, dead-end and structuresgone horriblyawry, not merely of politicallyimpotent" (68). The attractionof this deep-rooted dissatisfactionsand unbearable lattertype of gothic,Edmundson explains, is repression,but also of simulatedor makeshift that it"offers epistemological certainty;it al familyunits engaged in repugnant,gruesome lowsus to believe thatwe've foundthe truth" behavior: of obsessed father-creators and re

(68). The truthis that theworld isa hopeless, fractory son-monsters; appalling mothers and terrifyingnightmare. endangered or psychoticsons and daughters; ForEdmundson, gothic despair isa salve, a creatures in savage search of or rebellion from manufactured,albeit gloomy,meaning that deficientparents; parents inhideous huntfor relievesus ofmaking meanings of our own, of or inghastly revengeof lostchildren. Teen livingthrough an engagementwith "the com slasher filmsare indeed densely populated by plexityof our problems and the breadthof our instances of all these characters and arrange responsibilities"(68). It isalso a catalystfor ments. The familystructure that interestsme in what Edmundson calls "a cultureof facile tran horror films, however, is an absent one. Teen scendence," a contemporary willingness to slasher filmsboth resolutelymock and yearn lookfor salvation inthe formsof simplisticpop forthe middleclass Americandream, the prom psychologies and group therapies,psychic hot ised comfortand contentmentof a loving,sup lines,uplifting popular novels and self-help portivebourgeois family. books, narratives of angelic intercession and Slasher filmsshow teenagers inperil, with spiritualredemption, and "fantasies of renew no hope of help fromtheir parents. Mostly al" such as Forrest Gump and Iron John (179). In these parents are generally too busy or too in this argument, Freddy, the gleeful, brutal mur volved intheir own problemsor pleasures to dererof adolescents ofA Nightmareon Elm help. Even caring, concerned parents are impo Street (1984), serves a bizarrelyapotropaic tent;often they are hapless and distracted, function: his savage presence wards off the far unaware of theirchildren's problems and likely more unsettling circumstance of unknown evil, to dismiss or discount theirwarnings and fears. of personal guiltand social indifference.Our Indeed,parents likethese need guarding,and contemporary gothic fears astonish us, freeze childrenfrequently find themselves inthe us intellectually,successfully short-circuiting stressfuladult roleof protector.8At times the the possibilityof any imaginativepersonal or parents,albeit unwittingly,have created the social transformation. Gothic despair becomes monsters. Some action in their past has an end in itself,a pointof stasis resistantto broughtabout this relentlessevil forceto wreak visionary change. havoc among theirchildren. What is striking Althoughfew critics share Edmunson's view about most of these films is the notable use of the psychological reliefto be found inseeing lessness of parents, theirabsence, physically theworld as an evil, randomlyviolent, godless and emotionally,from their children's lives. universe,most do find thatgothic horrorfunc Teens must deal with the extraordinarilyresil tions inpsychologically and culturallysignifi ient monsters on their own. cant ways.4 Critics have analyzed the otherness Forthe past thirtyyears, sociologists, psy

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 I7 chologists,and familytherapists have pointed "Postmodern parents are not necessarily out the accelerated changes inthe structureof more self-indulgent or less self-sacrificing than contemporaryfamilies, theorizing recently on modern parents," David Elkind remarks. "It is the ramificationsof these changes on the de simplythat the demands of postmodern lifeare velopmentof children. Ingeneral, divorce has differentfrom those thatobtained inthe mod been seen as the primarycatalyst inthese ern world_This said ... the imbalance of changes. Inthe opening paragraphs of TheDi the family'sability to meet the needs of its vorceCulture, Barbara DafoeWhitehead writes members has shifted infavor of adult needs over those of childrenand youth" (3-4). Ado The entire of American divorce can be history lescents seem to suffer most, or at least the divided into two one periods, evolutionary most visibly,from the changes inthe families and the other For most of the revolutionary. caused eitherby divorceor byother structural nation's history, divorce was a rare occur modificationsof the family."Given the intense rence and an insignificant feature of family biological, physical,and cognitivechanges that and social relationships. In the first sixty are this time,"write Monica years of the twentieth century, divorce be occurringduring Marsh and comes more common, but itwas hardly com McGoldrick, Heiman, BettyCarter, monplace. In i960, the divorce rate stood at "in combinationwith the search forone's iden a still relatively modest level of nine per one tityand the inherentconfusion around negoti thousand married couples. After i960, how ating and regulatingboundaries and emotional ever, the rate accelerated at a dazzling pace. distance between one's familyand theoutside Itdoubled in a decade and contin roughly world, adolescents are extremely vulnerable for ued its until the upward spiral early 1980s, developing symptoms" (428). Elkindagrees, when itstabilized at thehighest level among arguing that adolescents need "protected advanced societies." (3) time,"a time inwhich adults need to provide theirchildren with values and limits.Unlike "Currently," report E. Mavis Hetherington, adulthood, Elkind explains, adolescence "is a Tracy C. Law, and Thomas G. O'Connor in "Di period of extremelyrapid physical, emotional, vorce: Challenges, Changes, and New Chang and social This of es," "it is estimated that halfof all marriages psychological growth. period growth leads to a unlike will end indivorce and thatapproximately rapid metamorphosis occurs 60% of these dissolutions will involvechil any transitionthat inadulthood. Adult transitiontakes withina relativelyfixed dren" (209). ForWhitehead, divorce is less a place firmament of physique, mental ability, and es cause than a product of what she sees as an tablished social roles. Adolescent transitions "ethical shift" inthe meaning and value of do not. Even young are now ex familyresponsibility. "Beginning inthe late though people posed to demands for identityformation from 1950s," she contends, "Americans began to an earlyage, theystill need time inadoles change their ideas about the individual'sobli cence to adjust to theirnew body configuration, gations to familyand society. Broadlyde theirnew emotions, theirnew thinkingabili scribed, this change was away froman ethic of ties, and their new of social interac obligation to others and towardan obligation patterns tion" (153). to the self (4).Whitehead explains that she The familydynamics and adolescent troubles does notmean thatpeople suddenly engaged inslasher out con ina wholesale abandonment of familialdu filmsgraphically bear the cerns of the writers above. Parents in these ties, but that "they became more acutely con filmsare generallyabsent, eitherphysically or scious of theirresponsibility to attend to their have work own individualneeds and interests"(4). Itwas emotionally. They demanding jobs, ing late inthe evening.They go on business this new emphasis on self-fulfillmentand indi trips or on vacations without the kids, or on vidual growth that allowed for a reconception, getaway weekends with friends. Sometimes the and increase, of divorce.

l8 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 parents have drinkingor drugproblems, or are an uphillbattle. The writers are painfullyaware involved in new relationships. Some parents thatthe myths promote their own fulfillment, arewell-meaning but ineptand insufficiently thatthey are as much prescriptiveas descrip attentive,making a show of interestwhile fail tive. Friends, parents, teachers, and social in ingto grantthe seriousness of theirchildren's stitutionsthat adopt these assumptions inad worries and fears. Other parents are exacting, vertentlyhelp to confirmthem by their abrupt,and impatient,too concernedwith their expectations and heightened recognitionof own pleasures and desires to pay attention to social maladjustment incertain designated the needs of theirchildren. At no timedo par groups.After twenty years, many sociological ents attempt to set values or explain limits.9 studies, politicalarguments, and fact-finding Theymay constraintheir children, but theynev reportsstill subscribe towhat these strikingly er teach them.The adolescent heroes inslasher self-aware children contended were harmful,

films are cool, resourceful, and independent, influentialmyths. but the grimevents thatunfold suggest the Adolescents inteen slasher films inhabit psychologicaland physicalprice theypay for worlds constructedfrom these and kindred theirfreedom from parental intrusionsand the myths. Ifthe rootsof these mythsare instress precocious self-reliance they are forced to de es introduced into the late-twentieth-century velop. InHalloween, Fridaythe 13th(1980), American familyby the intensifiedprevalence PromNight (1980), A Nightmareof Elm Street, of divorce,the result inthese films isa world (1981),Slumber PartyMassacre emptied of the family as a resource for coping (1982), (1983), FrightNight with growingup. The self-absorbedparents of (1985),Night of theCreeps (1986), The Lost these films,whether divorced or together,pro Boys (1987), (1987),Pumpkinhead vide no useful knowledge,no understandingof (1988), Buffythe Slayer (1992), Cherry their children's needs or fears, no viable mod Falls (2000), and theirmany sequels, teenage els fornegotiating the world, and certainlyno protagonistsmust face theirhorrors alone or protectionfrom that world. Even themost well with theirpeers. As theirfellow adolescents fall adjusted protagonists,the good girlsand boys to one monstrous force or another, they must whose moral integritymarks themas special save themselves and theirworld on theirown. and valuable, feelalienated and different,dis In The Kids' Book of Divorce, a 1981 guide satisfied and lonely. Homes in these films do writtenby twentychildren between the ages of not provide a haven from a world gone bad, or eleven and fourteen, a chapter entitled "Do We even a place of safe retreat. The boundaries of TurnOut Differently?"lists what theyoung au these homes are entirely permeable to evil. thorsfeel to be the commonlyheld myths about childrenfrom broken homes. The myths Slasher Worlds state thatchildren whose livesdiffer from per ceived standards "would become mentally dis The violence attributedto childrenof broken turbed;would commitsuicide by the age of 21; homes iseither projected onto the ubiquitous, would get rarediseases; would be on drugs; supernaturalOther stalkingthe school hall would become alcoholics; would become ways, the hometown streets, the lover's lanes, thieves and rob banks, steal cars, etc; would and the bedrooms of itsvictims, or it is retalia get divorced themselves;would murdertheir tory, the necessary response to repeated ma siblings, talkback to teachers; become violent; levolent attacks from a stalking monster. Teen smoke pot inclass; would be angryall the time; agers, especially vulnerable because of their would be lonelyall the time;have no friends; precariousposition on the cusp of adulthood, would thinksomething's wrong with them" mask their inchoatedesires and childishfears (111).The authors bravelyassert that"we think in self-conscious poses of cool carelessness. It these thingsare not true" (111),but theyfight is no accident thatBuffy the Vampire Slayer's

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 10 Relentless killer () returns once more to wreak havoc on unsus pecting teens inFriday the 13thPart Vll-The New Blood. Copyright ? 1988 Cor poration. Photo credit: Michael Ansell. high school is located near a cemeterythat isa these idyllicportraits could neverbe matched gateway to hell. The offhandcruelty of high inreal domestic situations, theyoung baby school social exchanges; the anxietyand dread boomers, the firstgeneration to be broughtup thataccompany adolescents uncertainof their on TV,felt dissatisfied with theirown relations bodies and feelings,an uncertaintymost poi and deprivedof proper familyexperiences.11 If gnantlybrought out inawkward public and youngbaby boomers did not recognizetheir personal encounters; the day-to-day stress, parents inthese televisioncomedies, however, shame, humiliation,and bewildermentof nego then theyalso did not recognizethemselves in tiatinghierarchies and cliques thatseem vitally the relentlesslycute, groomed childrenwhose important?all become more oppressive, even innocenceand simplicitywere never tarnished overwhelming,when combinedwith an absent and always carriedthe day. Contemporary home life.The teenagers inslasher filmsare youngviewers had the instantreality check of plagued by the putativesymptoms that result theirdaily livesto informthem that they were frombroken homes; the screams provokedby watching fantasy.The familialrelations and the anomalous monsters stalkingthese adoles childhood experiences elaborated inthese ear cents are a cryfor help unheeded by adults. lytelevision productions seem to reflectthe Slasher filmscovertly engage an odd nostal fantasiesof adults ratherthan the predilections gic yearningfor a traditionalfamily and tradi of contemporarychildren. Had Beaver or Kitten tional familyvalues. A numberof books have ever appeared at a realplayground, they would argued thatbaby boomers sufferfrom the cog have been dreadfulbores. nitivedisconnect between theirlived experi Ifthe immenselypopular slasher films indi ences and the sentimentalfamily fare they cate a popularmood, it isnot baby boomers on TV.Ozzie and Harriet,Father Knows Best, piningfor the idealized livesof televisionfami Leave Itto Beaver, TheDonna Reed Show,Make lies, livesthey realized were unliketheir own Room forDaddy, andMy ThreeSons depict and those of theirfriends. It is teenagersof the familiesat ease sociallyand financially,where 1970s and laterwho seem willing towatch end parents disagree only on minor matters, mo less rerunsof these shows on Nickelodeon and mentarymisunderstandings and temporary TVLand. Inrerunning such shows, these chan hurtfeelings are theonly distress, and solu nels feedviewers' appetite fornostalgic recre tions to problems emergewithin twenty-two ations of a mythicpast.12 The clever,tongue-in minutes.10Some criticssuggest thatbecause cheek promotionsof these old shows highlight

20 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 episodes' tritemoral summaries, insipidplots, the 1950s, there are other adults?social work unfortunatefashions, and astoundinglystupid ers, teachers, police?who manage to help, dialogue. Despite themockery, it seems as if who understandthe issues and make a differ latergenerations view these series as formsof ence, who, inshort, behave as adults. It is the history,as somewhat sappy but fairlyaccurate wholesale natureof the indictmentin slasher versionsof the livestheir parents enjoyed as filmsthat marks the differencebetween them childrenbut thatare denied theirprogeny. The and their predecessors. teenage protagonistsof slasher filmsreflect this Inslasher films,the decay of the family adolescent cultural apprehension of past har makes childrennot merely defenseless but also mony and presentdysfunction. Surprisingly prone to danger.A comparisonof the twoCape conversant with television and film "classics," Fears, one a suspense filmof the early1960s theyfrequently allude towell-known characters and the othera thrillerof the early1990s, helps and bits of dialogue, as theyjokingly referto a to highlightthis condition. The originalCape motherly cohort as "Mrs. " or comment Fear (1962) tells the storyof a wily,sinister ina tone both drolland ominous that"we're not criminal(Robert Mitchum) who stalks and even in Kansas anymore." The locale of teen slasher tuallyattacks an uprightlawyer (Gregory Peck) films?the small townor attractivesuburb and his innocent,well-adjusted family.The evil revisitsthe settingof familytelevision programs clearlycomes fromwithout: the sadistic crook of the 1950s and early1960s. Slasher films threatensthe safetyof thewife and daughter, seem to delight inundoing the happydomestic but he neverunsettles the familyas a unit.The scenes and comfortable, safe communities of familymembers remain lovingand supportive; thattelevision era, replacingthem with vapid or there isno doubt thatthe lawyer'sbehavior is nasty family encounters and a lurking, murder righteousand his ethics admirable. Inthe later ous neighborhoodpresence. These cinematic Cape Fear (1991), the lawyer(Nick Nolte) is attacks on the fa?ade of contentment and secu compromisedprofessionally and personally.He rityhave a wistfuledge; the satiricjibes at the has negotiated shady legal transactionsand suburban dream are fueledby a sense of injus has had an affair,putting severe strainon his tice at the false promise theyhold. marriage. Inboth films,the fathermanages to This indictmentof and longingfor the bour protecthis familyand killthe assailant, al geois American familyis not new to films. In though inthe 1991 version the criminalis as deliberate contrast to television programs fea tonishinglyresilient, repeatedly recovering from turingmodel parents solvinga superficialfamil catastrophic injuriesto batterfamily members ialproblem each week, many filmsof the 1950s once again. In this later Cape Fear, the family and early 1960s offeredhard-hitting investiga unit is restoredunder duress, but itsoriginal tions intotroubled family life.13 Although most fault linesexposed itto danger, separating of these films lookedat the hypocrisy,moral members from one another and making them turpitude,and indignityof relationshipsamong liable to repeated harassment.The villainous adults, some films,such as TheAsphalt Jungle ex-con (RobertDe Niro)attacks the familyat its (1950),Rebel Withouta Cause (1955), and most vulnerable point: the teenaged daughter. Home fromthe Hill (i960), explored the an Aware of the tensionbetween her parents, the guished, oftenviolent responses of teenagers youngwoman (JulietteLewis) is rebelliousand to problems at home. The selfishness and inad disaffected.She has no respectfor either par equacies of the parents inthese filmsare com ent; she makes perilous decisions on herown. parable to those of the parents found inteen As a consequence, the killer isable to lurethe slashers. There seems always a hope of paren daughter,to charmand eventuallyterrify her.14 tal redemption in these earlier films, however, The overwroughtfamily situation has put the a hope missing innearly all of the slashers. daughter at risk. And evenwhen parents fallshort inthe films of The families inthe slasher filmsof the 1980s

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 21 and 1990s, likethe familyin the second Cape slasher films:family is more oftena hindrance Fear, put the childrenat risk. Incontrast to both than a help, law enforcement is suspicious and versions of Cape Fear, however, in slasher films ineffective,and survivinginto adulthood de there is no redemptionof the originalfamily. mands a full comprehension of and a compara There isno enduringcore of parental strength, ble response to savage evil. not even one compromised by ambition, adul tery, or distraction, to be recovered through the Slasher Survivors strugglesof horrifiedparents. Many of the friendsof the survivorsin slasher filmspossess Carol Cloversees inthese filmsthe storyof the attributesassociated with childrenof broken "," the one who "encounters the muti homes, the attributesdecried as destructive latedbodies of her friendsand perceives the myths inthe Kids' Book ofDivorce. These ado fullextent of the precedinghorror and of her lescents are careless about their well-being and own peril" (35). Cloverargues that thegender willing to take risksfor new pleasures. Uninter of the FinalGirl is "compromised fromthe out ested in schoolwork or academic achievement, set by hermasculine interests,her inevitable sexuallyactive, well-acquainted with drugs sexual reluctance, her apartness from other and/or alcohol, self-consumed and cynically girls" (48), making her a masculinized individu dismissive about love, marriage, and their fu al who uses ingenuity,skill, and deadlyweap ture, sociable but often unkind, these teens ons to killher attacker."The FinalGirl has not suffer bizarre, gruesome deaths. Given money, just manned herself," Clover contends, "she clothes, and cars tomake up forthe lackof specifically unmans an oppressor whose mas attention and affection of their parents, sup culinitywas inquestion to beginwith" (49). For ported intheir unethical or unlawfuldoings by Clover,the plot thatpits the ferocious, re stridentmothers or fathersunwilling to learn pressed slasher against the armed, blood the truthabout theirchildren, these teens are drenched, survivinggirl would "seem to be one not an endearing lot. Doomed by their own of sex and parents. The patently erotic threat is shallow natures, the products and the victims easily seen as the materialized projection of of theirunrestricted lives, they die withoutever the viewer's own incestuous fears and desires. having lived, unmourned and unloved. Itis thisdisabling cathexis to one's parents InHalloween, protagonist Laurie's irresponsi thatmust be killedand rekilledin the service of ble but nonetheless good-hearted friendsthink sexual autonomy. When the Final Girl stands at of theirbabysitting jobs as opportunitiesto last inthe lightof daywith the knife inher share drinksand beds with theirboyfriends. hand, she has delivered herself intothe adult One byone theyare killed indrolly macabre world" (49). That the survivorsfind themselves fashionby Michael Myers, an asylum escapee insequels battlingthese demons once again, who years ago at the age of sixmurdered his however,suggests that it is not a break from sister forpreferring sex to takingcare of him. but a primaryeroticized attachment to parents The resilientLaurie fendsoff the repeated at that isovercome and internalized.It is notwhat tacksof Michael, while protectingher charge, the protagonistfinds or becomes at the end of aided at lastby an outsider, the doctorwho these filmsthat engenders the sequel, but the tended toMichael inthe asylum. No police returnof the absence fromtheir beginnings. come to her rescue. No neighborfolk inthe By the late 1980s therewere as many final small, picture-pretty Illinois town show up to boys or boy and girl teams as finalgirls, and help?indeed, theyturn off their lights as she the sexual inhibitionof theyoung heroinewas pounds on their doors. No parents, either of the no longer an issue. Indeed, inA Nightmare on teenagers or of the children leftin their charge, Elm Streets'- TheDream Child (1989), Freddy call to check on theirchildren or arriveto keen invades the dreams of the unborn childof the over them. Laurie learns the hard facts of teen heroine, an unwed teenaged mother. Clover's

22 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 contentions that the films construct "gender lostpotential of childhood, to the absence of bending scenarios" and their "own brand of family. Survivors are those who worry about gender transgression"(231) relyon the conge themselves and others, who voice moral con niallyandrogynous FinalGirls with whom cernsabout the activitiesof thegroup, who feel young men as well as young women could guiltand remorsefor their actions, and who identify.15The masochistic identificationwith accept the burden of settingthings right, even the survivorthat Clover posits stilloccurs in ifthat means killingsomeone or some thing. laterslasher films,but it is notgender but These protagonists recreate the proper, ideal charactertype that enables thisviewer rela family,one theyhave neverexperienced at tion.What Clover sees as androgynyin the home, performing the acts necessary to carry Final Girl seems more like mature self-posses on ina world inwhich parents can neverbe sion. InHalloween, Laurie (JamieLee Curtis) is counted on. The survivors are not many. Most not depicted as sexually ambiguous; hermoral of theyouths inslasher filmsare disengaged attributes, however, are shown to be as impor fromthe demands of life,although active inthe tantas her physical ones. The sexual activityof pursuitof momentary pleasure. Nothingwithin her friends serves as one more indication of orwithout has prepared themto recognizeor theirgiddy, thoughtlessnatures, suggesting face the demons thatthreaten them. They lack not thatLaurie is sexually repressed,but that traditionalconsciences, what used to be called her friendshave no propersense of hierarchy, moral fiber.17They are replicasof theirparents, no responsibilityto themselves or others. The juniorversions ofwhat theydespise and re finalperson inslasher filmsdoes not so much sent. Intheir embittered killing sprees, the bend gender as age, somehow gathering into slashers leave behind gorytrails of what they her or his character the maturity and responsi foundwhen theyarrived: wasted youth. bilitymissing inthe adults. The who survive traits young people possess Slasher Logic in common: they are smart, determined, quick thinking,and inventive,but most importantly, The generational transmissionof violence also theyare caring.They protect the weak, tend to has itroots inthis punning sense ofwaste. thewounded, go back intoknown peril to help Michael Myers ofHalloween was ignoredby his their friends, and risk their lives to save the sexually active sister and abandoned, at least group. In short, they are parental. It is not that at the moment, by his parents, who arrive Oedipal conflictsand incestuousdesires do not home fromtheir nighttime excursion tofind informthe narrativesof these slasher films,but him standingoutside with a knifedripping with thatthe overarchingpsychic drama seems to be the blood of his murdered sibling. Fifteenyears one of loss.16 The discontented teens all seem later,Michael wreaks havoc on babysitters(and to be ina state ofmourning for something they theirfriends) who are about the age of his sis cannot quite describe, and they use sex, drugs, terwhen he killed her. Jealousyand incestuous and drinkas substitutesfor it.The monsters desire maywell contributeto Michael's actions, haunting the streets, dormitories, and dreams but rageat failed familycare seems to provide of the protagonistsare less figuresof patriar themore compellingmotive. Clinically,Michael, chal controland punishmentthan theogres of alongwith Jasonof Friday the 13thand Freddy childhood nightmaresand the social hell of ofA Nightmareon ElmStreet, would be diag adolescence, which remain undiminished be nosed as character-disturbed individuals, indi cause no parent comes round to dispel them. If viduals who are "unattached" emotionally. themonsters are the productsof the parents, it Because theyhave not bonded properlywith isas the residueof theirabsence, indifference, theirparents, theyhave notdeveloped a sense and failure to understand. of humanityand so become increasinglyag The slasher villains themselves testifyto the gressive and hostile. "It is vital to understand

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 23 attachment ifwe are to stem the tide of high tude, failure, and absence as the typical at riskchildren growing up without a conscience" tributesadults bringto present-dayteen life. (47),warn Dr. KenMagid and CaroleA. McKelevy. The narrativesof these may be clever "To be closely involvedwith theirchildren, par and funny,but theystill functionexceptionally ents need more timeon a daily and weekly ba well both as horrorfilms and as covertsatires. sis_Never before inthe historyof this coun InBuffy the Vampire Slayer, popular,vapid, tryhave so many parents been away fromhome astonishinglyignorant high school cheerleader and theirchildren at themost criticaltimes" Buffy(Kristy Swanson) learnsthat she possess (118-119). In slasher films, the consequences es the mark of the slayer. As a consequence, of insufficientbonding take on spectacular she must save theworld froman onslaught of proportions as the enraged, conscienceless and zombies who emanate from the productsof unhappy homes rise fromthe dead cemeterynear her high school. At firstshe re to hauntvulnerable adolescents. Intheir sly sists her calling,far more concernedwith shop manner,Halloween, Fridaythe 13th,and A ping and the prom thanwith safeguarding life Nightmareon ElmStreet teach hard-hittingcon as we know it.She is the ideal offspringof her servative lessons about parents' responsibili feckless, self-obsessed parents, who seem ties to children. vaguely fondof her butwho pay no attentionto Michael and his compatriotslashers are also herwhatsoever and have no inklingof her ac the hobgoblinsof childhood fantasy,indestruc tivities,happily leavingher alone on weekends tiblebeings who seem able to be everywhere with her boyfriend.As Buffybegins to recognize and do anything.They can be seen both as the the imminentoutbreak of evil and her dutyto representativesof the childhood fearsnever prevent it,she becomes less and less likeher put to restby adult explanation and refugeand friends and parents. Personal and social re as the manifestations of teenage angst unmiti sponsibilities alienate her fromall she knows. gated by adult intervention.The principals, Returninghome lateon a school nightafter her guidance counselors, teachers, and law en firstnight slaying demons, Buffymeets her forcementofficers in slasher filmsfail time and mother inthe fronthall, who demands, "Do you again to understandand protectthe youth in knowwhat time it is?"Buffy stutters out the theircare. Oftenvenal and cruel,compelled by correcttime and hermother turns,hitting the political pressure or ambitions, theywillingly face of herwatch. "I knew this thingwas slow! sacrificethe children intheir care, coveringup You pay a fortune for something?Honey!" she incidentsand blaming the innocentin order to calls to her husband, "Come on, we're gonna keep theirjobs orto gain power. Even those be late." The scene unfolds as a joke: the sug adults who seem sincerely concerned cannot gestion thatBuffy's mother might be worried communicatewith theyoung people, and the about her daughteror angrythat she isout late misunderstandingsalways allow formore dead on a school night isquickly and cleverlyunder teens. In the humorous and somewhat satirical cut by her self-absorbed comments.As Buffy BuffytheVampire Slayer, the guidance counse comes to accept her role,she no longerfeels lor isa loserwho triesto seem hip and in comfortablein the solipsisticworld of her par touch. He nods knowinglyat the students' fears ents. Her life is transformed. No longer a and warnings,making ineptanalogies to his thoughtlessteen destined to become a replica "time in 'Nam"while wholly oblivious to the of her thoughtlessmother, she becomes a con death and destructiontaking place inthe here cerned, savvy young adult. Like most survivors and now. The parodie slashers such as Buffy, inslasher films,parodie and "serious," Buffy (1996) and itssequels, ScaryMovie becomes a caregiver and a caretaker. (2000), Beach Party (2000), and Shriek Insome slasher films,the protagonistshope ifYou KnowWhat IDid LastFriday the 13th to reestablisha diminished familyunit after (2000), dramatize greed, unconcern, inepti retrieving a mother or father from supernatural

24 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 K^H^RP^I^^^S^^^^V ^J^ENLMi jSHB CheerleaderBuffySum HMMm^"?w?mi???B^rJ^^Bn mers(KnstySwanson) ^^r^3i^8SB^^^^^IlH V^^|K^^^ takesonthe responsibility " v.w?- of theworld of ?a1 ?ifflP^^ ridding ^r_. ^?^^TDL? k.v^?^F JiE^^^^B vampiresinBuffy the v-^jjri|^g??^H^P ^???jKB'd^????f Vampire Slayer.Copyright ^ ..^jgS^^BWE^ ? 1992Twentieth Century ^?^teb ^^^ ^^^^^^ !^9 ^ ^^^ photo Ron

danger. Inthese films,the childrenbecome with the sordid sexual behavior of the adults. wise, determined parents, protecting their way She realizes that her continued existence de ward, naive moms or dads from the counterfeit mands thatshe abandon the hopeless taskof pleasure of sex and romance. InHellhound: restoring her family. She cannot have her par Hellraiserll (1988), youngKirsty (Ashley Lau ents, but she can be one to anotherdamaged rence), incarcerated in an asylum and accused girl; the filmends with Kirstyand Tiffanywalk of killingher fatherand stepmother,travels to ingout of the asylum to freedom. hell to retrieveher father.Heedless of his InThe LostBoys, Michael and Sam (Jason daughter's warnings, sexually enamored of his Patrieand CoreyHaim) discover thattheir predacious newwife Julia,Kirsty's father be mother's sweet, nerdy suitor is actually a came caught inthe netherworldthat his wife blood-suckingPeter Pan who needs a Wendy to and her paramour,his (dead) brotherFrank, tend to his crewof juvenilevampires. This had opened up inHellraiser. Kirsty fought to smart,deft filmmetaphorically suggests the freeher fatherin the first film and isquick to fateof thosemissing childrenwhose faceswere answer his cryfor help frombeyond thegrave once found on milk cartons and postcards. inthe second. Afterharrowing, extraordinarily Hungry,frightened, they are easy preyof the gruesome encounters with various manifesta bloodsuckers hauntingthe streets.The Lost tionsof hell, Kirstydiscovers that it isher uncle Boys affordsa frighteningyet poignantglimpse Frank,not her father,who has sent forher in of a horriblyperverse makeshift family of street "his own private hell," a chamber inwhich ev hustlerscomposed of bitter,crafty young run eryonebut he isenjoying sex. He plans to aways. As inHellhound, this filmhighlights the spend an eternityexploring the physical en predatorynature of adults. The lesson of both dowmentsof his nubile niece. Escaping her films is thatadults will exploit childrenfor their uncle, Kirstyreunites with Tiffany, another own ends whenever possible, and parents not youngasylum inmate,and togetherthey fight onlyare oftenunwittingly part of the problem to close thegates of hell, Kirstyacting as a pro but also are unwittingencumbrances to the tectiveolder sisterto the fragile,mute Tiffany. solution. In these films, parents actively endan As Kirstypoints out inHellhound, her life ger theirchildren by bringingdeadly strangers seems a nastyfairytale. She loses her fatherto intothe home. the sensual delightsoffered by herwicked Inthe most well-knownexamples of teen stepmotherand is forcedto deal on herown slashers, Fridaythe 13thand A Nightmareon

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 25 Elm Street and theirmultiple sequels,18 the (HeatherLangenkamp) finally wrests the truth killersderive directlyfrom parental malfea about Freddyfrom her alcoholic, divorced sance. Inthe firstof theFriday the 13thseries, mom, who, though shown material proof, refus the slasher turnsout to be themother of jason es to believe thatFreddy is responsible forthe Voorhees, a childwho drowned at camp be rash of teen murders. Nancy's father, a police cause of inattentive camp counselors. When officerwho has much to lose ifthe murder of the campgrounds reopen afteryears of dorman Freddyis uncovered, is concerned forthe safety cy,this mother takes her revengeon the group of his daughterbut loathe to believe her re ofyoung people hired to readythe camp. The portsof her nightmare.Nancy must face Freddy mother's implacable fury at these new counse on her own, and although she demands thathe lors,teens who had nothingto do with the restoreher friendsand familyto lifeand seems death of her son, suggests a displaced anger, a fora moment to gain herwish, thefilm ends terrificallynagging rage and guilt fordepositing with thegarish murders beginningagain. her son at camp insteadof tendingto him her InNightmare on Elm StreetPart 2: Freddy's self. Inthe second entry,Friday the 13thPart 2 Revenge (1985), Freddytakes controlof the (1981), Jason has been miraculously resurrect body of Jesse (MarkPatton), a teen-aged boy ed, full-grown and wearing mom's hockey whose familyhas moved intoNancy's house on mask, out tomurder any teenswho cross his ElmStreet. Inthis film, the parents arewell path as a formof homage to and retributionfor meaning but incapable of understandingthe his dead mother. Jasonavenges a familyhe threatto theirson. They bickerabout how to never had and a mother he hardlyknew. The treat Jesse, suspecting a wayward nature or survivors of Jason's attacks are those who un drugs, but failto investigatethese or any other derstand Jason'spsychotic investmentin his cause of their son's malady. These parents dead mother,or who have had familyproblems seem fairlyinnocuous: theyfind theirteenager of theirown thatmake themespecially attuned exasperating,and while theyexpect him to to and concerned for others. behave maturely, they respond to him as ifhe were a child. They care about but do not know Slashers on Elm Street their son, and have no idea that any more effort on theirpart is necessary.The filmreveals with The Nightmareon ElmStreet series isperhaps woeful claritythe inadequacies of thisdisen the most overt indictment of parental derelic gaged family.Behind the fa?ade of a happy tionand disregard,and isworth discussing in home inthe heartland lies parental ignorance some detail. FreddyKrueger infiltratesthe and teen torment. Children's questions and dreams of the adolescents of ElmStreet, turn accusations are met with denial or excuses by ingthem intonightmares in which the dream parentswho do notwish to engage them fully. ers flee from the ever-changing, ever-present The prosperousmiddle class familyin their slasher to their inevitable,horrid deaths. Be comfortable, well-appointed house hides ter fore Freddy became a supernatural dream stalk rorsthat will fatallyaffect their children. er, hewas a childmurderer, killing "over twenty Ingeneral, the parents inthe Nightmare saga children inthe neighborhood." Finallyappre refuseto discuss Freddy,and are impatientwith hended by the police, Freddywas freedon a and dismissive of theirchildren's desperate legal technicality.The parentsof ElmStreet fears. "It's not you," Nancy, the lone survivor of took the law intotheir own hands, literallyin thefirst film, tells the adolescents duringa cinerating him.19 Years later, he has returned to tense therapygroup encounter inA Nightmare reclaimthe childrenof themob thatkilled him, on ElmStreet3: TheDream Warriors (1987). his face horriblyscarred by burns and one of "Your parents, my parents, they burned him his hands covered by a glovewith long,thin, alive, and now we're paying for their sins." Nan razor-like fingers. In the firstNightmare, Nancy cy has grown up to become a psychiatric coun

26 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54-4 / WINTER 2002 * WHpk jjJfcMBWI^ Copyright? 1987New .^mmST?vJ^H^^^^^^^I ?Une Cinema.

selor specializing indream therapy,hoping to Again, parents figure as callous, destructive help otherswho sufferas she did fromdeadly forces in their children's lives. Kristen's boy nightmares. Nancy's insider knowledge and friendRick and his sisterAlice livewith their sincere concernenable the teens to drop their spiteful,alcoholic father,who detests Kristen defenses and bondwith one another,becoming and treats his children as servants. Kristen's the "dreamwarriors" of the title.Nancy helps to mother iseven more egregious inNightmare 4. forma familyof sorts,but dies inher attempts Bored by the discussion of Freddy,she decides to protect"the lastchildren of ElmStreet." to calm herdaughter's anxieties by slippinga One of theyoung clinic inmates,Kristen, tranquilizer in her soda. seems especially good at enteringothers' dreams and helping themto elude Freddy.Her "Something the matter with the cuisine?" the mother tells the staffat the clinic thatKristen's chain-smoking, elegantly dressed mother asks. behavior is simplya bid forattention, and she "Well mom, 1*11tell you. When two of your isobviously annoyed when Nancy comes to friends die in the same day, letme know interviewher about the incitingfactors of her what itdoes to your appetite." daughter's illness,which themother attributes "You're just tired. Don't think Ihaven't to the removalof her credit off-handedly privi noticed that you haven't been sleeping, Kristen'sbedroom leges. isfilled with drawings young lady. That has got to stop, honey." and otherparaphernalia graphically indicating Suddenly feeling groggy, Kristen realizes Freddy's presence, but her mother has obvious thather mother has fed hersleeping pills. In lynever bothered to investigate.The teens in quiet terror, she asks, "Oh God, What did the therapygroup revealsimilar strained rela you do?" "Look I'm I'm tionswith theirparents. Kristenand two friends Kristen, sorry. just?" "Sorry? Sorry that you and your tennis pals manage to surviveto A Nightmareon ElmStreet torched this guy and now he's after me? In 4: TheDream Master (1988), but neitherher case you haven't been keeping score, it's his friendsnor she willmake itany further.Freddy fucking banquet and I'm the last course!" slaughtersthe two friendswithin thefirst ten "Kristen, we went over this in therapy!" and the last Elm minutes, Kristen, remaining "No mother, you just murdered me. Take new Street child,and her friendsare leftto that to your goddamn therapy." cope with Freddy's new atrocities.

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 27 The caffeinepills and coffeeKristen had been an exact copy. Frankly, Idon't feel like play takingto stay awake cannot counterher moth ing football and raping co-eds." "One of these er's pills. Kristenunwillingly succumbs to days," Maggie replies, to have to face your father." sleep. Her final,fatal encounter with Freddyis "you're going the direct resultof hermother's actions. Freddyis happy to help. He arranges a night AfterKristen and herother friends die one by mare inwhich Spencer becomes a computer one, Alice gains strengthand courage,putting generated action figurewho engages with his Freddyto rest(temporarily). Newly indulgent father,a giant bullywho beats his son to death. and heartsickover the loss of his son, her father Two other teenage patients encountertheir triesto pull himselftogether to be a parent to abusive parents innightmares concocted by his daughter,but itis she who consoles him,a Freddy,and these teens die horriblyas well. In beaten, diminishedman. InNightmare on Elm theFinal Nightmare, parents are materiallyre Streets, Alice's unbornchild affords Freddy an sponsible forthe miserable livesof theirchil opportunity to wreak more havoc, and to save dren and symbolicallyresponsible fortheir her son, she must resurrectFreddy's dead deaths.20 Inthis film, abused childrencannot mother,a nun raped by a multitudeof criminally face theirfears and survive.Only the adult child insaneasylum inmates(presumably all of them has the power to counterthe evil effectsof par the fatherof Freddy),to drag Freddyback into ents, and the onlygood parent isa dead one. thewomb. The parentsof the nowmurdered Inthe Nightmare films, as inthe Halloween boywho fatheredAlice's childwant to adopt the series, the onlyadults who offera modicum of baby, and threatento take itaway fromAlice as help are health care professionalswho directly soon as she delivers. Alice's father supports her workwith the sufferingteens. Slasher films desire to keep the baby, but iswoefully unable have depicted psychiatristsand, especially, to help her.Alice must fightfor her incipient clinic directors as ignorant, self-serving, and familyboth inthe dream and the realworld, exploitive,but therealways seems to be one or aided onlyby a (dead) motherwho knows her two therapistsamong the corruptlot who tryto son Freddy should never have been born. understandand protectthe teens. That they InFreddy's Dead: TheFinal Nightmare (1991), generallyfall short suggests the broad break part six of the series, Freddy'schild, a full down of the social institutionsthat support grownpsychologist working with troubled childrenand the family.Slasher filmsexpose a youths,must killher fatherto save a new batch dreadful,deadly abyss at the core ofmiddle of adolescents frombeing destroyed.The film class familylife. They provide negative exam opens with an iratefather lecturing his son in ples ofwhat familyclinicians, psychologists, thevisiting room of the RecoveryHouse. As the social workers, and sociologists see as effica fatherangrily departs, he snaps at the psychol cious domestic environments.It is the failures ogist,Maggie (Lisa Zane): "Nice job on my kid. I of the familythat make childrenvulnerable to expected to see some improvement." "He's not the nightmares of adolescence, failures of mor a Toyota,"she snaps back. Turningto the boy, al character, understanding, and protection. Spencer, she asks

"You okay?" Slasher Consequences "Yeah, Dad just came to lay down some her ground rules forwhen i come home. No more In introductionto Normal FamilyProcesses, running away. No more setting cars on fire." FromaWalsh, while acknowledgingthe difficul "Well, there are other ways of getting his ties increating any singlemodel forhealth, attention besides blowing up the garage." identifiesa numberof "importantprocesses for even "Yeah, he barely blinked. All he healthyfamily functioning" (58). These include: wants me to do now is to grow up to be him?

28 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54-4 / WINTER 2002 Connectedness and commitment of mem thetic) slasher; in teen slashers, the killer is a mon strous, often dead, villain. bers as a caring, mutually supportive rela 2. See in particular Jackson and Williams. unit ("We are tionship family"). 3. Valdine Clemons places the roots of Gothic in the autono Respect for individual differences, Medieval/Renaissance periods. an my, and separate needs. 4. For excellent, succinct summary of the varying critical assessments of horror films, see "The Horror For nurturance, protection, and socializa Film" inThe Cinema Book. tionof childrenand care takingof other 5. Such as Halberstam, Freeland, Clover, Dika, and vulnerable family members, effective pa Pinedo. rental/executive leadershipand authority. 6. See, for example, Carroll, Clemons, Williams, Adaptability:Flexibility to meet internalor Telotte, and Schneider. 7. See Halberstam, Sharrett, Botting, and Tropp. external demands for change. To cope ef 8. and Hellhound: Hellraiserll. fectivelywith stress or changes thatarise. 9. Indeed, some parents (Disturbing Behavior communicationcharacterized Open by [1998]) willingly have their children surgically altered clarity of rules and expectation, pleasur to become hard-working, well-behaved, docile chil and some able interaction, and a range of emotional dren, teachers (The Faculty [1998]) happily sacrifice their charges to aliens. For readings of the expression and empathie responsiveness. conservative of the Effective and conflict political implications depictions problem-solving of families, see Williams, Conrich, Sharrett, and jan resolutionprocesses. (58) covich. 10. Coontz offers compelling historical testimony to counter the of Walsh notes thather listrecords optimal condi myth the functional traditional family. 11. See Taylor, Harris, and O'Brien. tions,and that"typical" functioning families 12. Jameson makes a stronger claim, contending use that and these strategies incorporate adapt that in the late twentieth century, a nostalgic, senti processes to theirspecific needs. Slasher films mental conception of the past has replaced history in portrayfamilies inwhich none of these pro the popular conception (11). 13. For a discussion of this "adult fare" and its cesses are working. These films offer a sus promotion, in part as a hard-hitting alternative to tained conservativecritique of familylife, syrupy television, see Klinger. themiddle class dreamwhile mock mourning 14. Maltin writes that the 1992 Cape Fear "fleshes ing it.Parents refuseto committo theirchil out its characters" and "adds interesting psychologi dren: theirdisinclination, work, pleasures, or cal layers," but he complains that it turns into a , calling it, interestingly, "Cape Fear for the Freddy addictions prevent them from taking their pa Krueger generation" (210). rentalresponsibilities seriously. None of the 15. Both in his book and in "Trying to Survive," even the most and parents, well-meaning kind, Williams offers strong counters to Clover's claims. ever succeeds inmaking the connections nec 16. For a reading that contends against this and a for the slasher essary to create a functioning family. As a re posits strong Oedipal dynamic film, see Williams he sees and sult, childreneither become shallow, selfish 211-237 (Hearths); Freddy the like as manifestations of a virulent patriarchy. of theirparents, to replicas susceptible deadly 17. In both /Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and or stalwart survi mishaps grisly predators, and Pumpkinhead (1989), teens accidentally kill a vors of an adolescent hellwho must relinquish pedestrian. Their slack ethical standards, revealed theirdeficient families inorder to create func either in their attempts to cover up or in their failure to accept the consequences of their deeds, unleash a tioningones of theirown. hideous moral scourge that haunts the guilty and terrorizes new teens fora number of NOTES sequels. 18. On the popularity of slasher and . The Texas Chainsaw Massacre concentrates on the merchandizing of the films inwhich he appears, the macabre makeshift family of grislymurderers; the see Conrich. teenaged victims say little; the viewers know nothing 19. Other slasher films have adopted the narrative about them. They are littlemore than screaming, ploy of generational debt. In I've Been Waiting for You running prey. Carrie, too, differs fromwhat I call teen (1998), a teenage girl is thought to be the vengeful slashers in that the title character is also the (sympa reincarnation of a witch her New England townsfolk

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 54.4 / WINTER 2002 29 burned a hundred years ago; inThe Clown at Midnight "The Horror Film." The Cinema Book. 2nd ed. Ed. Pam (1998), high school students die one by one as they Cook and Mieke Bernink. London: BFI, 1999.194 help to clean up an old opera house inwhich a teen's 208. mother was murdered. Jackson, Kathy Merlock. Images of Children inAmeri 20. Freddy appears one last time (so far) inNew can Film: A SocioculturalAnalysis. Metuchen: Nightmare (1994). Heather Langenkamp, the actress Scarecrow P, 1986. who played Nancy in parts one and three, plays her Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or the Cultural self, an actress haunted by nightmares of Freddy as Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. readies a new script. In an extraordinarily Jancovich, Mark. Horror. London: B.T. Batsford, 1992. reflexivemanner, the film questions the nature of Klinger, Barbara. "'Local' : The Adult reality and the power of stories to create and contain Film in the 1950s." : Stage, Picture, evil. Heather's child Dylan loses his father to Freddy's Screen. Ed. JackyBratton, JimCook, and Christine machinations, witnesses the grisly death of his nanny, Gledhill. London: BFI, 1994.134-146. is repeatedly terrorized by Freddy, and watches his Magid, Ken and Carole A. McKelvey. High Risk: Chil mother brutally kill the monster. We are leftto wonder dren Without a Conscience. New York: Bantam about the lasting effects of his hideous experiences. Books, 1988. The film elaborates on the familial issues addressed Maltin, Leonard, ed. Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie and in the other installments and suggests as well that Video Guide. New York: Signet, 2001. Freddy's iconic status has dangers both inside and McGoldrick, Monica, Marsha Heiman, and Betty Cart outside the frame. Even for spectators, knowing about er. "The Changing Family Life Cycle: A Perspective Freddy is not without its costs. on Normalcy." Walsh. 405-443. O'Brien, Jodi.Social Prisms. Thousand Oaks: Pine REFERENCES Forks P, 1999. Pinedo, Isabel Christina. Recreational Terror:Women Botting, Fred.Making Monstrous: Frankenstein, Criti and the Pleasures of Horror Film Viewing. Albany: cism, Manchester: Manchester UP, 1991. Theory. State U of New York P, 1997. Carroll, Noel. The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes Schneider, Steven. "Monsters as Uncanny Metaphors: of the Heart. New York: Routledge, 1990. Freud, Lakoff, and the Representation of Monstrosi demons, Valdine. The Return of the Repressed: Genre ty inCinematic Horror." Silver and Ursini. 167-191. Horror from The Castle of Otranto toAlien. Albany, Sharrett, Christopher. "The Horror Film inNeo-Conser State U of New York P, 1999. vative Culture." Grant. 253-276. Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in Silver, Alain and James Ursini, eds. Horror Film Read theModern Horror Film. Princeton: Princeton UP, er. New York: Limelight, 2000. 1992. Taylor, Ella. Prime Time Families: Television Culture in Conrich, Ian. "Seducing the Subject: Freddy Krueger." Postwar America. Berkeley: U of California P, 1989. Silver and Ursini. 223-236. Telotte, J.P. "Through a Pumpkin's Eye: The Reflexive Coontz, The Way We Never Were: American Stephanie. Nature of Horror."Waller. 114-128. Families and the Nostalgia Trap. New York: Basic Tropp, Martin. Images of Fear: How Horror Stories Books, 1992. Helped Shape Modern Culture, 1818-1918. Jeffer Vera Dika, "The Stalker Film, 1978-81." Waller. 86-101. son: McFarland, 1990. Elkind, David. 77es That Stress: The New Family Imbal Unit at Fayerweather Street School. The Kids' Book of ance. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1994. Divorce. Ed. Eric E. Rofes. Lexington: Lewis Publish Edmundson, Mark. Nightmare on Main Street: Angels, ing, 1981. Sadomasochism, and the Culture of the Gothic. Waller, Gregory A, ed. American Horrors: Essays on Harvard Cambridge: UP, 1997. theModern American Horror Film. Urbana: U of Freeland, Cynthia A. The Naked and Undead: Evil and Illinois P, 1987. theAppeal of Horror. Boulder: Westview P, 2000. Walsh, Froma, ed. Normal Family Processes. 2nd ed. Grant, Barry Keith, ed. The Dread of Difference. Austin: New York: Guilford P, 1993. U of Texas P, 1996. Whitehead, Barbara Dafoe. The Divorce Culture. New Halberstam, Judith.Skin Shows: Gothic Horrors and York: Knopf, 1997. the Technology ofMonsters. Durham: Duke UP, Williams, Tony. Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the 1995. American Horror Film. Madison: Farleigh Dickinson Harrisjudith R. The Nurture Assumption: Why Chil P, 1996. dren Turn Out theWay They Do. New York: Free P, -. "Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s 1998. Family Horror." Grant. 164-180. Hetherington, E. Mavis, Tracy C. Law, and Thomas G. O'Connor. "Divorce: Challenges, Changes, and New Changes." Walsh. 208-234.

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