We've all got a list--mental if not committed to paper or intertube--of the elements of horror entertainment that freak us out the most. Whether your displeasure derives from eyeball trauma, rape, disembowelment, or any of the other entries in the catalog of terrifying images, you've likely encountered something utterly appalling at some point during your film-watching career.
One of my own Horror Bad Touches is necrophilia. I know what you're thinking--that's not terribly logical, as it's something that would happen to me *after* death, and you've got a really good point. Perhaps I ought to clarify--I am really squicked out by necrophiliacs as they're portrayed in the horror genre. There's something about the profound loneliness and misanthropy of the cinematic necrophile that's tragic and dangerous at the same time. The cinematic necrophile is the kind of person who is completely alienated from his fellow man, and is therefore capable of committing terrible acts of violence without a flicker of remorse.
And--not for nothin'--but you guys have seen "Nekromantik," right? German director Jörg Buttgereit's 1987 micro-budget "boy-girl-corpse love triangle" tour de force? I didn't want to talk to any human beings for a full 24 hours after watching that movie, out of fear that one of them had a spark in his eye because he was thinking about ripening up my cadaver for a vigorous buggering. Needless to say, I developed an only-semi-rational fear of Mr. Buttgereit after watching this movie, and I developed a rather florid image of him as being a crippled old troll of a person with asymmetrical, hooded eyes and a string of yellow drool coming from the corner of his mouth.
Oh no no, interpals--it's TOTALLY WORSE than that. Because Jörg Buttgereit is an icy Teuton of the sort that makes me weak in the knees. I was so completely dismayed by his gorgeousity that (in spite of the promise of Many Crisp American Dollars scrabbled together by SO-CALLED FRIENDS) I found myself unable to do a meet-and-greet with him at a convention a few years back. That's right--my mostly-irrational ick-factor extends even to artists who *discuss* necrophilia.
In an effort to engage in self-led exposure therapy, I've sought out non-fiction information on this ghoulish taboo behavior. One of my favorite non-fiction presentations on necrophilia is this three-page entry into "The Big Book of Death" (published in 1995 by Paradox Press), in which artist Craig Hamilton adapts the romance comic book style to profoundly macabre subject matter. Enjoy, friends!
19 comments:
Oddly enough, I just watched Deadgirl over the weekend. Despite the horrific premise, the worst thing about the film is an offhand remark by one of the zombierapists that "This is as good as we'll ever get." And for the dirtbag loser protagonists of the film, it's probably true. And almost unbearable pathetic.
But in any event, I do not recommend this film for the Tenebrous Queue!
I'm with you on this, Kate...but I tend to be drawn in to things that disgust me, like cannibalism and yes, even necrophilia. Not because I enjoy watching (some cases reading) the acts, but because the dark side of man fascinates me...I have issues, I know. Nekromantik disturded the hell out of me and I've seen it twice--both times I felt like my eyes had been raped. You think I would have stopped after the first viewing, but like I said--I have issues.
What really disturbs you is that necrophiliacs are the ultimate dirty hippies. It's the Final Recycling! Which is why I want to leave my body to necrophilia.
Bury me as I lived: SHALLOWLY.
P8
My just-can't-handle-it-horror-trope is horror movie mental institutions... Flicks with mental hospitals creep me the eff out... However, like the good Rev, I keep coming back for more...
Perhaps I'm in need of a stay at a creepy mental institution...
Going to have to go with rape on this one. It's really one of the few things I walk out of the room for during a movie. If I don't, I get a sick feeling inside. I enjoy movies too much to be turned off by them.
I love the idea that you're sheepishly admitting the fact that you're disturbed by necrophilia. Let me assure you, in most social cricles, this will not mark you as a prude.
They want to put you in the ground, but I have other plans for you my dear.
Back when I was still in school, I did this presentation in front of a Entertainment Business class that involved a shock reel from a bunch of horror movies and I was immediately pinned by my classmates as that guy. Naturally, everyone wants to know what the worst thing I'd ever seen was after seeing the gut vomit scene from City of the Living Dead. This one girl bugged me about it for a long time before I relented and explained that the most horrific thing I'd seen to that point was Nacho Cerda's 'Aftermath'. Naturally, she insisted that she see it.
I explained to her in no uncertain terms that it came to me by way of a video trade with an internet pal who frequently threw extra tapes in if he though I'd get a kick out of it and Aftermath was tacked on to a bootleg containing Nekromantik. I didn't go looking for this stuff, it always just sort of found me. I assured her that I wasn't a psychopath, I was not turned on by fucking corpses and that I had no intention of murdering her.
She took the tape home and brought it back the next day.
And never spoke to me again.
Come on admit it - we've all done it!
This all reminds me of an absolutely disgusting joke I heard when I was a kid. I won't repeat the whole thing, but the punch line is "the dead one is full again."
I'm so ashamed of myself for sharing that.
'Vigorous buggering'?, brilliant line!
I didn't think I would have an issue with horror movies regarding the unborn or babies until I watched Inside. There is something inherently wrong with ripping out an innocent baby from the confines of its mothers womb. Goddamn if this isn't the most brutal film I've ever seen.
"Pantophobia?"
"The fear of everything!"
..."THAT"S IT!!!"
Jack, DEADGIRL is one of those movies that looks so aggressively unpleasant that I've just kept booting it to the back of my "Do Not Want" pile. There's enough stuff in real life that makes me want to go all MS 45 that I don't want to watch a movie that reminds me that rape and necrophilia are bad (m'kay). I'm glad to hear you thumbs-down that little nibble of cinema so I can feel justified in skipping it ;)
Rev P--I've been considering revisiting NEKROMANTIK since it's been about 12 years since I watched it but... I remember how I felt the first time. There aren't enough cute kitty videos on the whole internet to cleanse my palate afterwards.
Flightless, I suspect you're on to something. Necrophiles are like sex fregans...! FWIW, I want to be plastinated, preferably in a pose that strikes a frisson of terror into those who behold my magnificently preserved corpse.
OCKerouac, I wasted a number of perfectly awesome opportunities to wander about abandoned mental institutions as a kid because of my firm belief in the permanent record and its impact on my adult life. NJ has a few, and it was quite a rite of passage in many towns to take a night-time trip to one. It sucks being a well-behaved kid.
John--that's entirely understandable! I couldn't stomach rape scenes for a long time, and there are films I'm kinda-avoiding (pls to see IRREVERSIBLE) for their heavy rapeyness content.
Hey--HEY, Joan! I'm trying to be all open-minded here. You KNOW that dead girls can't say no, don't you? It's implied consent. I'm not here to judge.
Wait--no. I LIKE to judge.
*shudder*, Christopher.
Cinema Suicide, that's kind of the best anecdote ever. I've come to see such interactions as a sort of litmus test--love me, love my vast collection of BDSM Eurotrash films. I think I made Baron XIII watch "Spermula" on one of our first dates. I figured if it didn't drive him screaming into the night, he was a keeper.
Igloo Keeper--I like to see my blog as sort of a group therapy session.
Thanks, Doc M! At least I can skip Free Bagel Friday now ;) My waistline is relieved.
Oh my god, Planet of Terror! I find horror films about childbirth/babies/pregnancy to be unspeakably disturbing. Good call on that. I have such a hesitancy to see INSIDE or GRACE. Although, as a childfree person, I should probably look at those films with a shrug, kinda how I do with JAWS. My motto with *that* movie is "Just don't go in the ocean, dummies."
Prof Grewbeard, the more time I spend on the internet, the more I begin to develop just such a condition ;)
Don't even get me started on Irreversible.
So, how to you feel about the Alice Cooper song "I Love the Dead"? Does it squick you out? Is there a difference between necrophilia perpetrated on the dead and necrophilia perpetrated on the LIVING dead?
Vee vill discuss your feelings on zis matter and get to zee bottom of your neuroses!
It's the same story with my wife. She met me at the height of my video trading days and sat through just about every abomination I put on and though she never became a fan, she did wind up marrying me, so that's something. We tended to juxtapose a lot of sappy snuggle time on the couch with Joe D'Amato, you know? It's a weird mashup.
I have to email you a study that featured on the 'And Then the Screaming Starts' blog, it may help you gain some empathy for those who are Rigor-Curious, or freak you out further!
www.musingcontinuum.com
Jack, I love that song, but in an "OMG THIS FREAKS ME OUT!" sort of way. I'm miffed that they don't have that one in the songbook at my fave karaoke joint. *moue*
That's awesome, Cinema Suicide :) It warms my black little heart to know there are other bizarro, misanthropic couples out there, sharing their mutual love of weird and often-icky movies. Awwwww...!
Thanks, Ms. H! I have it in-hand and will read it... when it's not so close to lunchtime ;D
Necro!!
Reminds me of my neighbor, Sherry "Say No to Necro" Runtner:
Existing law makes it a felony for any person to willfully
mutilate, disinter, remove from the place of interment, or commit an act of sexual penetration on, or has sexual contact with, any remains known to be human, without authority of law punishable by 16 months, 2, or 3 years in prison.
Tne necrophiliac could presumably argue he (she) wasn't quite sure it was human, if sexy remains were sort of aged.......
Actually there was sort of a necro-craze in some sleazier parts of El Lay for a while...usually ambulance drivers...we shan't trouble you with details
So THIS is why you never want to visit me in Wisconsin! It's because of our fine tradition of necrophilic serial-killers, yes? Although I do think they finally made necrophila illegal.
RECENTLY.
I'll leave you to muse upon that for a while.
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