to be sickened by the level of violence and gore in horror films these days?

[dontmeanto]

...and the sheer volume of them??

DP and I went to hire a film Saturday night as a treat and couldn't believe just how many of these films were on the New Arrivals shelves.

Various plots on abduction, torture, force, maiming, etc.

I guess I just don't get why people are entertained by these films? I find them disturbing at best and absolutely disgusting at worst.

I just don't want those types of things in my head, and I worry there's a generation out there that will in some way become desensitised to this level of violence by making these films "cool" to watch with friends.

I remember being shocked by Scream when I was a teen, but these now are a billion times worse!

AIBU?

Birds, yes we must know what crimes were committed, but we don't need to see civilians being shot in Vietnam before our eyes, or horrors portrayed in gory detail.

'there was one where a woman was knitting, and dropped her ball of wool and it unravelled all over the floor. She spent ages trying to re-roll it and she had to get the sweater finished by next morning.'

Was this a taxpayer supported film which had received a public grant from the great and the good?

The outcry against the Syrian massacre's from all walks of life, show that we are not becoming desensitised when it comes to RL. The work done by schools in terms of Charity collections is making everyone aware that there is human suffering that needs to be stopped. When I was growing up (in the area I now live in) no-one cared what happened to who, only local politics. Everyone now has an opinion on world wide Human issues and are getting involved in some way.

'The films/games/music are not the problem, the fact that they can be linked to violent acts is indicitive of a symptom, they are not the cause.

Sort out society and levels of violence will decrease. And by sorting out I mean endevouring to give everyone a sense of LIFE, fulfillment, opportunity to work hard for good rewards, people in power leading by example, less corporate greed, less credit, more acknowledgement of the human being.'

aldi, I think some of these films can trigger some violent behaviour, just like someone being immersed in hateful messages or criminal circles can be influenced to commit crimes. I think these films are not just passive, but can affect the minds of some of the viewers who watch them.

I think that if football fans spend time watching films on football violence, it may cause some of them to act out what they have seen.

There is evil in the world and there are evil people too, and I am against anything that fuels evil and influences people to carry out evil acts.

I will have to agree to disagree. People are starting to see the full evil behind human trafficking and how the girls end up in Lap dancing, prostitution etc, thanks to well written documentaries. I was taking to a male acquaintance and he was saying, admittedly, that going by the advert he watched a drama for titillation, but was sickened by it. I think that is good, it has changed his opinion. Some acts cannot ever and should not ever be justified, without knowing the full details, we are in danger of doing that.

I will have to agree to disagree. People are starting to see the full evil behind human trafficking and how the girls end up in Lap dancing, prostitution etc, thanks to well written documentaries. I was taking to a male acquaintance and he was saying, admittedly, that going by the advert he watched a drama for titillation, but was sickened by it. I think that is good, it has changed his opinion. Some acts cannot ever and should not ever be justified, without knowing the full details, we are in danger of doing that.

'there was one where a woman was knitting, and dropped her ball of wool and it unravelled all over the floor. She spent ages trying to re-roll it and she had to get the sweater finished by next morning.'

Was this film panned by the Daily Mail and praised by the Guardian?

Exactly, needaholiday.

People are bloodthirsty. It's easy to offer something that panders to our baser instincts.

I don't mind supernatural or comedy horror in the slightest, but I do feel that anybody involved in A Serbian Film should probably be locked up.

I think there is a big difference between fantasy horror about zombies and vampires for example and torture porn stuff.

Why anyone would want to watch scenes of people being tortured physically and psychologically is beyond me.

Especially when we all know that there are people out there, serial killers and the like who truly do get off on this sort of thing and actually act out their depraved fantasies.

Let alone the horror and vile acts that occur in war zones

I don't know how anyone can sit down with a bucket of popcorn on a Saturday night and decide to watch someone being tortured and murdered as entertainment, even if it is only acting.

Because it is entirely possible that someone somewhere has had something akin to this horror enacted on them and I think it is more than a bit off as a society to treat watching it as an enjoyable experience.

The only time I can tolerate it is if it depicting real life events and the scenes of torture are integral to the experience. I still find it incredibly hard going and can only watch through my fingers a lot of the time though.

Exactly, Orange, this is about "pandering to baser instincts".

As a society, we want to promote good instead of evil and social instead of anti-social messages.

its easy though,some-most-people enjoy being scared/disgusted/upset by something that they know isnt real.its not to everyones taste but it doesnt mean your a wierdo for watching that stuff.we just need to be careful kids dont see it.

Wmittens Horror films without violence or gore can be fantastically scary! Real horror is all in the mind, you don't need a bucket of blood on screen necessarily. That knitting film could be great with a few spooky faces at the window with unravelling scarves and click clacking continuing when nobody is actually knitting.

They where not obsessed with chuky films ...seriously!

I'll pass on the Stepford society, which would have to practice Eugenics and ban immigration. I like the idea that my DD's know what goes on in the world, so they can protect themselves. If we don't know the extent of the dangers, we don't take it seriously enough. Since we have been more informed and educated against child abuse, for example, we are becoming better at protecting our children. I watch torture type "pornish" films, I know that they are fictitious, so it is entertainment. I have sobbed at some of the RL stuff I have seen. We could never ban all violent media, otherwise history would be a taboo subject, better to be entertained by fiction than reality. Why we are entertained by this, I will leave the thousands of psychologists to argue it out and whether it is just part of being human. My enjoyment of horror is one of the things that stops me from describing myself as Buddhist, so I have thought deeply about this, as well as having to be academically qualifies on the various arguments for and against.

I like watching zombie films because it gives me a thrill.

The feelings of suspense - the knowledge that someone will make a bad decision and come a cropper-the excitement - the knowledge that I would do it all better and survive come the zombocalypse because I've watched so many films I'm an expert .

It's a good outlet.
We are made to need a bit of adrenaline - it's part of our human make up.
We used to climb and run and swim in rivers.We are still the same creatures we always were.
It's quite natural imo to watch something that raises our pulse rate a little.

I'll try to ignore the conspiracy theories, which I find silly in the extreme. If anyone could offer me the name of even one of these "men in suits," I'd be surprised. I certainly don't think the answer is to introduce more censorship. That way madness lies.

However, I am concerned about some of the ways that art influences life. In Jane Mayers' excellent book "The Dark Side," she describes how both the rationale for torture and the torture techniques used in Guantanamo and elsewhere were directly influenced by the TV series "24." If we choose to become desensitised to violence, to accept that what we see on our screens is acceptable in our lives, then we are heading down a very dangerous path indeed.

VerySmallSqueak I agree. I have enjoyed watching such films as '28 days later' which depicted gory images of eye gouging et al.

However I am able to compartmentalise this somewhere in my brain as fantasy. Despite what some MNs seem to believe it is highly unlikely that a zombiapocalypse will ever occur, in our lifetime anyway

But as Kitchen described, it is perhaps more possible that the human race is becoming desensitised to images of extreme violence and torture. Once we start enjoying it and seeing it as entertainment, particularly when it is depicted in more realistic circumstances albeit that of a serial killer who we are also statistically very unlikely to ever encounter.

But the reality is that some poor individuals have encountered these sick and cruel individuals, ie the girls who suffered at the hands of Fred and Rose West. Or the children that are tortured in the name of "religion".

It seems to me to demean their memory to then act as if 'realistic' style torture porn is in any way a form of entertainment for the masses.

But I accept that some people do enjoy this genre of film making. I don't understand it at all though.

'In Jane Mayers' excellent book "The Dark Side," she describes how both the rationale for torture and the torture techniques used in Guantanamo and elsewhere were directly influenced by the TV series "24."'

Is that one of these silly conspiracy theories?

Why don't you read people other than just Jane Myers. Conspiracy theorists who probably know ten times what she knows about how it works, who pays for it and why it is used to acclimatise people to what is happening and what will happen.

Do you really think that the screenwriter for "24" knows more about the techniques than those who do it?

Have you read Mayer's book, claig? She certainly is not a conspiracy theorist.

Which books would you recommend, other than 1984?

Oh jesus.

^^

I think that's the best course of action OP...

"In 2004, Mayer wrote an article on George Soros and other progressive billionaires who sought "to use their fortunes to engineer the defeat of President George W. Bush in the 2004 election." The article described Soros's "extreme measures" and how his "outsized financial role in the election" has "stirred alarm."[26]"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Mayer

I have just looked her up on wikipedia. Jane Mayer is a top journalist for the New Yorker. So she is no conspiracy theorist. The title of her book is te Dark Side: The Inside story of how the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.

Lots of conspiracy theorists say similar things and don't believe that it happened by chance, which probably differs from what she says, I don't know because I haven't read it.

"Her achievement," wrote reviewer Andrew J. Bacevich in The Washington Post, "lies less in bringing new revelations to light than in weaving into a comprehensive narrative a story revealed elsewhere in bits and pieces."[18] The volume, wrote Bacevich, a Boston University professor, "is a very fine book."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Mayer

'Which books would you recommend, other than 1984?'

There is no book better than 1984, it is all in there. But I would recommend other books by Orwell. i would recommend Gore Vidal and I would recommend you to read some conspiracy theorists too if you really want to understand what goes on.

I think I have a pretty good understanding of what goes on, thanks.

Mayer's book "The Dark Side" is excellent. I'd highly recommend it to everybody on this thread.

I think "1984" is a pretty good novel. I quite enjoy some dystopian fiction now and again.