The term “Torture Porn” gets used a lot these days. Admittedly I use it quite frequently too. But it’s become one of those terms that different people seem to think means different things. As a result, there doesn’t seem to be one standard definition of what Torture Porn is… what makes something torture porn… what excludes something from being torture porn… ect. ect.
So, If I’m going to be using the term whenever I talk about films like Hostel 2 or Saw 3, it’s only fair that I should qualify and define what I mean. What do I mean when I say something is “torture porn”. First, let me start by saying what (in my definition) torture porn is NOT:
Torture Porn is NOT:
1) Horror in general. Some traditional media writers love to latch onto the newest phrases “the kiddies” are using these days and are just using the term as being synonymous with horror in general. It’s not.
2) Sex In Horror. I know that sounds silly, but there are actually people out there (trust me, I’ve talked to them) that think when they hear the term “Torture Porn”, it refers to gratuitous sex and nudity in horror films.
3) Bloody, gross, shocking kills. I think this is the biggest one. A lot of people will conjure the term “torture porn” to refer to films that have disgusting, over the top or shocking kills. While I agree that this is PART of what makes a torture porn… on its own it’s not. If it was, every 80’s slasher horror movie could be categorized at “Torture Porn”, and that just wouldn’t be applicable.
What Torture Porn Is:
Remember, this is just my definition, but I think it works. Think of sex and porn. You can have sex in movies… but they’re not PORN. In real porn, the sex is the whole point. There is no story, there is no plot, there is no development… the whole movie just exists to get us to the sex. That’s it.
With Horror movies, you get some great and fun ones that have gruesome over the top kills… but many of them aim to give you laughs along the way… create mythologies… develop some characters…. build an atmosphere of fear… in other words they aim to do more than JUST show a gruesome kill shot.
Therefore, when I evoke the term “Torture Porn” I’m referring to a horror film, that basically has nothing else going for it… nor does it appear they were going for anything else other than just gruesome bloody kills. Like porno… it only has one real function and fails at everything else… or doesn’t even attempt anything else.
So you get a film like Hostel 2. Nothing in terms of story… nothing in terms of fear… nothing in terms of suspense or tension. It’s just: “Oh look, they’ve just got a girl there… and yup… they’re cutting her open”. It’s empty, and because it’s empty it’s unsatisfying. At least films like the Freddy or 13th franchises aim to give a fun experience as well as trying to scare you and yes… gross you out
Here’s how I summed it up in a letter to Eli Roth:
“We don’t just want to see a guy get tied down and take a chisel through his thigh. We want emotionally investable characters that we can follow that gets caught up in something dangerous, unknown, mysterious and scary. We want to see him battle those elements through twists and turns making discoveries along the way that leaves our hearts in our throats……….. and THEN we want to see him get a chisel through the thigh.”
Anyway, I don’t know if my definition will become the standard… but at least now you’ll know what I’m referring to when I use the term “Torture Porn” around here.
