Horror films: torture porn or misunderstood allegories?

I’ve always believed that the makers of horror films that bathe themselves in gore, and the ones that see them, are, like porn, getting off on the violence. David Edelstein of New York Magazine called these recent spate of gore films, including director Eli Roth of Hostel fame, “torture porn.”

Chicago based Capone of Ain’t It Cool News recently talked to Roth about Hostel, Part II and the genre itself.

Of course, Roth basically thinks the critics “discredit” horror films when they are accused of swimming in gore, and that they miss the “any intelligence that goes into making the film.” He says the violence of these films blinds people, so they miss the allegory of what the writer and the director wanted to say.

Personally, I still think these movies are nothing but masturbation fantasies for straight males, and nothing Roth says can change my opinion. On the other hand, I understand, in some dark aspect of my mind, that these films serve a purpose. The problem is, I don’t know what that is.

Still, I find Roth's justification interesting.

AICN