THESIS HAPPILY NEVER AFTER: REALITY, FANTASY, AND CULTURAL DISSONANCE IN RAPE-REVENGE HORROR CINEMA Submitted by Bradley Kaye Department of Communication Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Fall 2014 Master’s Committee: Advisor: Hye Seung Chung Scott Diffrient Bradley MacDonald i Copyright by Brad Kaye 2014 All Rights Reserved i ABSTRACT HAPPILY NEVER AFTER: REALITY, FANTASY, AND CULTURAL DISSONANCE IN RAPE-REVENGE HORROR CINEMA This thesis examines the “ultra-low brow” exploitation films of rape-revenge horror in order to locate the cultural discourses inherent in all cultural artifacts. The films follow a two- part, formulaic narrative wherein a young woman is stalked, raped, and either killed or left for dead. The result of the first half of the films dictate their second halves. If the woman lives she takes personal revenge on her assailants and if she does not her parents become avengers in her stead. The genre itself provides fertile ground for examination as a number of generic conventions and archetypes are at work in creating the personage of the woman-as-avenger. Adaptation and simulation of social ills is at the heart of these cultural artifacts as they simultaneously address and deal with a social problem, but do so in a way that fails the real victims of the real social problem. The resulting torture of the rapists has been seen as having feminist connotations similar to the “final girl” in Carol Clover’s analysis of slasher films. This is problematized as the films recreate, often shot-for-shot, the woman (or parents) taking the place of the rapists – enacting Sisyphusian-like, ironic punishment. The violent, masculine paradigm used in the attack is thus appropriated for vengeance. The viewer may sympathize with the goals of the avenger(s) but is ultimately be left with a false consciousness surrounding the real social problem of rape. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Though there are many people I would like to appreciate for helping me on in this journey, I would first and foremost like to thank my best friend, editorial reviewer, critic, and spouse Lahoma. I literally could not have done it without you as you were both my inspiration and harshest critic – the project was far more reflective than it would ever have been without your support. Your presence and example helped me to persevere whenever my enthusiasm lagged. I can say without reservation that I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you and I love you. As always I would like to thank my parents and brother for their support and interest in the project. Getting to explain the project beyond the boundaries of academia helped me conceptualize the impact and goals in a unique way. My thanks to my advisor, Hye Seung Chung, for her knowledge, expertise, and flexibility in assisting in the creation of this thesis. I can say with some certainty that character and function of this project were shaped by her courses and tutelage. Another big thanks to Scott Diffrient who shares my interest in this type of film and who has shaped my desire to study films in general. To Bradley MacDonald, more thanks is owed as his was the instruction on theory that originally set the project in motion. Last but not least, I would like to thank the Communication Studies department as Colorado State as a whole for their acceptance of this rather oddball scholar and the room to find my voice. I feel extraordinarily blessed to have been part of such a wonderful place. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Identification of Texts ................................................................................................................. 4 Justification ................................................................................................................................. 8 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 10 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 11 Genre Theory. ........................................................................................................................ 11 Adaptation and Simulation. ................................................................................................... 19 Gender in Cinema. ................................................................................................................. 23 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 30 II. Making the Monster: Rape-Revenge Horror as a Genre .......................................................... 33 Building Horror ......................................................................................................................... 33 Of Monsters and Men ................................................................................................................ 37 The Horror Aesthetic ................................................................................................................. 41 In a Nightmare, Darkly.............................................................................................................. 47 III. It’s Only a Movie: Adaptation and Simulation in Rape-Revenge Horror Film ...................... 52 The Perfect Crime ..................................................................................................................... 53 Rape Culture in Storytelling ...................................................................................................... 55 The Procession of Simulacra in a Cinematic Context ............................................................... 60 The Ballad of Per Tysson's Daughters in Vänge (Töres döttrar i Wänge). ........................... 62 The Virgin Spring (1960). ..................................................................................................... 62 The Last House on the Left (1972). ....................................................................................... 64 I Spit on Your Grave (1978). ................................................................................................. 65 The contemporary films. ........................................................................................................ 66 The Consequences of Simulation .............................................................................................. 71 IV. An Anatomy of Conflict: Gender in the Rape-revenge Horror Film..................................... 79 iv Prying Eyes and Dying Eyes ..................................................................................................... 82 A Cruel World ........................................................................................................................... 99 V. Conclusion: Cultural Dissonance in Cinematic Texts ........................................................... 104 VI. References ............................................................................................................................. 116 v I. Introduction A man in the throes of grief thrusts his bloodstained hands to the sky as he swears to build a church in his daughter’s memory. “With these two hands…,” he promises as he beseeches his god for clemency for the murders he has committed. A clear, pure spring bubbles forth as the man embraces his daughter for the last time; redemption, it seems, is at hand. The parents and their other daughter (complicit in her sister’s murder through silence) cleanse themselves in the water; the ability to wash their nightmare away could not be clearer. "With these two hands." The Virgin Spring's penultimate scene The Virgin Spring bubbles forth, the film’s final frame A man and his wife desperately grasp one another amidst the gory rubble of their home. Unable even to speak, they silently hold onto one another as two policemen gape in horror at the carnage they were too late to prevent. The only reality left is a shattered one. In depths of their vengeance the man and his wife gazed into the eyes of monsters and ultimately saw their own reflections. There is no redemption here. The final frame of The Last House on the Left (1972) 1 A man, bruised and bloodied, pilots a boat carrying his battered family across the placid surface of a lake as he stares at something only he can see. A memory of torture and death visited upon the body of his enemy, a brute who raped his daughter, is contained within his haunted gaze. The memory of his brutality, the final, shocking cruelty he exhibited leaves no doubt that this is a man who will never be whole again; what life remains has been shattered by the events of the previous night. The penultimate scene of The Last House on the Left (2010) The final scene of The Last House on the Left (2010) A woman looks ahead, her gaze fixed and determined as she speeds away in a small motor boat. Her mouth is set with the smallest of smiles as she takes not even