Gore returns with a vengeance“gore-nography” or “torture porn” in

the 2000s.

By Millie and Roisin.

• Torture definition:• Torture is often used to punish, to obtain

information or a confession, to take revenge on a person or persons or create terror and fear within a population.Some of the most common methods of physical torture include beating, electric shocks, stretching, submersion, suffocation, burns, rape and sexual assault.

David Edelstein

• Chief film critic for New York David Edelstein is credited with coining the term “torture porn” as a genre to describe the movie Hostel (2005). In a review for Hostel, David Edelstein writes how he cannot understand the latest crave for horror in America. He links Hostel to other films such as Saw and Wolf Creek. His suggestion for why people are interested in watching these ‘torture movies’ Edelstein says “In the same way that some women cut themselves (they say) to feel something, maybe some moviegoers need to identify with people being cut to feel something, too. Maybe”.

David Edelstein

• David Edelstein’s other suggestion of the term torture porn, saying in 2006 saying “We engage in these kinds of movies on a purely visceral level, all considerations of story and character aside. Jude like porn except the focus of the action is torture, rather than sex”.

Real life torture case in 2000

From late 2003 to early 2004, during the Iraq War, Military Police personnel of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency committed human rights violations against prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison. They physically and sexually abused tortured, raped and killed prisoners. Civilians armed with camera phones were also making headlines as ‘Happy Slapping’ became the latest adolescent craze. With ‘torture’ crimes all over the news it was inevitable that the topic would soon fall into entertainment and could be a reason as to why the 2000’s was a huge hit for gore-nography and torture porn in the 2000s.

• During the 2000’s many films were released that contain large amounts of torture, porn and gore elements. Some of these films include Hostel, the Saw movies and Captivity. Although torture porn is not a brand new genre in films (Child’s Play first movie was released in 1988) the way the acts in the films are being displayed is more real to the audience watching them, therefor has a much stronger effect.