Torture/Gore movies - why would you ENJOY them?

[SickandBloated]

So I've been seeing someone for a few weeks now and it's become apparant that he likes torture movies such as SAW, Hostel etc

We're supposed to be going to the cinema at some point and he wants to go and see Final Destination. I don't. I don't see anything entertaining about watching people die sick and gruesome deaths. In the clip I've seen, someone gets covered in burning hot tar and someone else gets killed during lazer eye surgery. Gross.

His other suggestion was that we watch some SAW DVDs at his house. Again, no thanks.

He thinks I'm unusual but why the hell would you actually WANT to watch stuff like this??

People enjoy watching films about the darker side of human nature or enjoy been scared when the stuff of their nightmares is made into a film or story, it's been going on since people started telling stories around the fire after hunting mammoths!

He's not unusual, neither are you, you're both just different. Maybe he sees nothing entertaining about Romances and wonders why anyone would want to spend their spare time pouring over them.

I agree with Bestb411pm

Different strokes for different folks.

Final Destination films are black comedy more than gore tbh... I love them, but films like Saw are just horrible. That is my view though.. everyone has different tastes.

There was a flim on the other night called Eden Lake - I had to switch off - I agree with OP - I just can't watch them.

[shudders]

not for me, i am a wimp

Im with squeakytoy, Ive seen all the Final Destination films and have enjoyed them, but I wouldnt put them in the same league as Saw and what I saw of Hostel disturbed me, and Im not easliy disturbed!

I can't watch anything with torture or people in distress. Gore I can handle, but that usually goes hand in hand with torture or distress.

The Shining is the only horror film I can watch.

I love them , they haven't turned me into a serial killer (yet) I don't know why I enjoy them - I just do, the gorier the better. DH won't watch them with me, he hates them and yet he used to do bomb disposal for a living, with the very real danger of being blown to bits.

It's the same with anything extreme, skydiving/swimming with sharks/mountain climbing - some people love it, some people don't.

I think anyone who enjoys watching torture - e.g Hostel- has something missing - desensitized or lacking empathy - I'm not sure what. I didn't mind final destination or saw 1 but hostel and saw, 2,3,4 not for me. I watched wolf creek - I still have flashbacks. Hideous.

My aunt LOVES all horror - gorier the better. I don;t get it.

I can watch films with people being tortured/killed in horrific ways but I couldn't watch a film where animals are in danger or mistreated - it's weird.

I watched The Collector last week - great film for gore fans ( except the part where a cat gets chopped in half) .

I can watch 'paranormal' type films etc because I know they are not true and can never happen.

Films like the Texas Chainsaw massacre are actually based on real events which just shocks the hell out of me.

Psychos do actually exist out there in the world and I really cannot watch what they are capable of in my own home.

I loved the SAW films and I have no idea why they appeal to me, I am a scaredy cat and also a prolific dreamer. I used to have dreams about Pennywise from IT, recently dreamed a whole SAW scenario which did not end well. I agree, anything with vulnerable old people or animals upsets me a lot.

Gore doesn't bother me. The Saw films are torture porn. That would bother me a lot. Just because you're seeing him doesn't mean that you have to watch those kind of films with him.

I hate those types of films and never watch them.

Watched Ironclad last night, a medieval action thing. It was gruesome people getting chopped up with swords, showed all their bones and innards in a really realistic way.

Eurgh!

But I would think it's a bad sign in someone to find torture funny/interesting watching.

Is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre really based on real events? I thought it was just marketed as a "true event" when actually it's fictional.

I agree with suncottage. I like paranormal films because it can't happen, and there is often a bit of a plot with sold old mystery/religion or whatever.

Murder and torture does happen, and I'd rather not dwell on it.

i enjoy horrors and dont mind gore. i enjoy the fright and racing heart and looking through my fingers (etc). its just entertainment in my eyes. i'm old enough to know its fiction and dont have nightmares. its not for you fair enough but those that do enjoy it are not mentally unstable as suggested here! its all entertainment.

Abcinthia

You may be right - I was under the impression that the 'leatherface' character was based on a true person.

I like gory and violent films. Always have. Don't know why. My DH on the other hand loves Disney and Pixar films. The total opposite.

Suncottage I looked it up online and we are both right. Leatherface is based on a real serial killer (who has inspired characters in several films including Silence of the Lambs and Psycho) but the events of the film are entirely fictional.

I'm quite squeamish in real life and can't bear to see people injured, especially loved ones, but when it comes to movies I love a bit of Argento, Fulci and Romero. It's fictional characters in fictional settings and lots of make-up, prosthetics and CGI. I see them as two totally different things.

Sometimes a horror film needs a big gore scene to set a mood or provide catharsis (Captain Rhodes in DAY OF THE DEAD really had it coming...) and if it's done artistically or creatively then that's great too. Sometimes it just boils down to some really impressive special effects work.

I think the SAW films are boring as hell, though.

Ed Gein, right?

I like a good bit of horror but it has to have some substance as well. The Saw sequels are just gore for gore's sake, any 'plot' seems to be secondary to the violence and blood. And with sequels the movie makers feel the need to outdo the previous films so it just becomes more outrageous.

I do have a soft spot for the Final Destination films. Especially the first one, which was written and directed by X-Files writers Glen Morgan and James Wong.

I saw the first SAW film and was surprised that it actually wasn't bad. I understand the latter ones have just got silly so I have no desire to watch them. I wouldn't watch Hostel / Human Centipede or anything like that, but a lot of people do and I don't think there is anything wrong with them - just different tastes.

The final destination films are not really gore though as others have said (although agian I have only seen the first one).

Different tastes for different people. Not to my taste generally but others like them. I don't think you need to worry too much about your new DP.