Strive

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Emasculation of Horror

The Emasculation of Horror
In the past of horror films certain rules reigned supreme. New Horror films have sought to break that pattern. Horror films of the past tried to show men going up against evil forces and saving women. Women whose role it was to scream and faint. Over time new genres of horror have emerged where women rescue men or themselves. Of course there are horror films like House of a Thousand Corpse where Monty Python’s foot comes down and everyone dies.
Torture Porn is a genre which has broken from main street horror. It has sought to break free from traditional films and show things that would not have been in older films. One type of scene that clearly shows a break from the traditional values is the castration scene. Castration scenes tend to be in only low budget shock films like Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, I Spit on Your Grave, Night of the Demon and the original Last House on the Left. However only two of those films show women doing the castration and in both the castration is not actually seen.
Newer horror films like Teeth and Hostel 2 have tried to break that pattern by showing women taking things into their own hands and cutting things off. Of course in Teeth some of the many castrations happen by accident. It isn’t until later in the film when the main character embraces her feminine power and willfully castrates men. Hostel 2 shows us a powerful wealthy woman who is turned into a victim and later seizes back her power by castrating one of the men who made her into a victim. The interesting is that the man she castrated had already been emasculated by his wife. So in some ways the main character was just finishing the job that his wife had already began.
One thing these films fall short in, is the fact that these brutal acts seem to be justified. In most mainstream horror a psychopath does brutal things to women and even some men for no apparent reason. Even in newer films they try to soften the image of women by always giving them a reason for doing horrible things to other people.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Zombie Story 4

The zombie cop had moved onto eating her brain, thankfully he was a messy eater, and I was able to get a few gooey delicious scraps of brains. The cop wandered off to find another victim. I crawled past the corpse of the woman in pursuit of more ankles to bite.

At this point a crowd had began to develop. Someone was yelling about kill the brains and kill the ghouls. I had the feeling I wouldn’t last much longer. It had been a while since I had any brains. I lost my mobility and watched hungrily as the people rushed by me. They were for now treating me like any other corpse.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Zombie Story 3

I stopped and listened by now recognizing the drumbeats as heartbeats. I heard some in the distance. I bumped along the corridor and tried to follow the sound but the walls kept stopping me. I did this for a while until I hit a door. I was able to push it open with my body. I was outside and felt a distant sort of hope, but as the lethargy came over me, I moaned. The other zombie was still trapped in the building and it moan in unison with me. I moved along hoping to find another drummer.
The sun was high in the sky, which I didn’t like. My instinct said that nighttime was my friend. I heard the drums approaching me. I loved fast food.

“Stop where you are.” I turned toward the drummer and shambled towards him. He kept yelling at me. Had I been alive, I would have listened to the police officer, but I was dead. I kept moving, I felt bullets strike my body. The force of the bullets knocked me off balance; I fell and crawled towards the cop.

The cop stopped shooting for a moment until I reached him. I bit his leg and munched down. The bullets tore into my back but thankfully missed my head. He managed to rip his leg free, he hobbled away with me crawling after him.

I was not enjoying my afterlife. Although, I had no real emotions of any kind a part of me, possibly my legs, just wanted this to end. I crawled along and came upon the animated corpse of the cop. He was eating the hand of a young crying woman. I grabbed her leg and ate.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Zombie Story part 2

I munched on for a while but the good stuff was gone. I got up and banged around the room, trying to find a way out. The partially eaten body began to groan. I found an open door way and attempted to get through it. After a couple of tries I was successful I left the room and went in search of more meat. A very distant part of me recognized that there was another zombie, that I had created, but I didn’t care.
I heard the drumming again but it was louder. I knew that there must be more than one drummer. This made me happy, more drummers more food. I went to search for them. They were coming to me perhaps they were drawn by the screaming of my last victim. I started to feel the lethargy of being dead seeping back in and I let out a long depressed moan. I needed food or I would wind up trapped in my own useless corpse again.
“What the hell?”
“Are you o.k.?”
I heard the people say as I approached them. I ignored it; it wasn’t like I could answer them back. I grabbed a hold of one of them and took a big bite out of their arm. He screamed and his friend tried to get me off him. I munched away happily, as I ignored his attempts to get free. The friend put his hands on my head and pulled. I didn’t like that. Some instinctive part of me knew that it would be bad if my head were damaged.
There was not much I could do about the hands pulling my head but fortunately, one of the fingers was close to my mouth so I bite it off. That got him to let go. With him screaming, I was able to take a bite into his friend’s head. That took quite a bit of effort but it wasn’t long before I got a mouthful of sweet sweet brain meat.
The one whose finger I bit off run away screaming. I followed, hoping to eat more of him before the infection spread. As I shuffled onward, I was joined by the fellow whose brain I could still taste. If I had been thinking clearly, I might have pondered why my victims were more mobile than I was. As it was, I didn’t care. I was content for now to let him follow me.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Zombie Story

I've been writing a zombie story on Facebook and Twitter. I've been posting a bit each day. On Sundays I'll post everything I've written so far on here. We'll see how long it lasts.

I was doing my job as a crossing guard. The sound of the tire was like screaming and then there was screaming. I woke up on a cold surface. I needed someone to help me, but most of all I needed someone to eat.

I tried to get up but my body was stiff. When I managed to budge, I could hear things cracking. It felt like my whole body was one big limb that had fallen asleep. I fell off the cold metal table and as I lay there, I could hear the sounds of a distant drum.

The drumming became louder and then there were feet in front of my face. Being that close to human flesh brought life to my limbs and I was able to move. I grabbed a hold of the leg, there was screaming and the person tried to pull themselves free, but there were no match for my unnatural strength. I pulled the leg to my face and took a large bite.

The coppery taste of blood and meat filled my mouth. I felt almost alive again. For a moment, I didn’t care that I was eating another person. It felt like eating a really good hamburger, but as good as the leg tasted I knew the real nourishment was in the head. I kept a hold of the leg and stood up knocking the person down to the ground. I let go and grabbed for the head. The person screamed and screamed as I shoved my fingers into the skull. I ripped the head open and scooped out the brains. As I ate the tender juicy meat, the drumming stopped.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Airship Pirate

I love Steampunk. I don't really own anything steampunk but I've been contemplating getting a few small pieces. Right now, I'm reading Steamed by Katie MacAlister. I've, also been listening to Abney Park especially the song Airship Pirate. I was walking the other day in slightly in a bad mood and was listening to it, when I pictured myself as Bloody Kell the most fearsome Airship Pirate Captain. She wasn't a nice or dashing pirate, she was, instead, a terror. She slaughtered anyone who didn't surrender and danced in their blood. She eventually retired to the Americas after amassing a giant fortune and purchasing a pardon. Upon landing she and her manservant who she rendered mute disappeared having adopting new names. She purchased large plots of land in the wild west.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Bad Blog, Good Blog

I"m terrible at blogging because I don't stick to regular time periods, and I can't make up my mind about what I want to blog.

I might be bad at blogging but I appreciate those who are good at it. My top favorites right now are Cake Wrecks, Tomb Wrecks, and Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins. Cake Wrecks is a hilarious blog about poorly designed professional cakes. It can be found at http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. Tomb Wrecks is slightly morbid but it matches my sence of humor. It's about odd tombstones. It can be found at http://tombwrecks.blogspot.com/. Finally there is Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins. It's written by a woman who does odd crochet and cross stitch. I wish I could make some of what she has made but I'm still a beginner at crochet. Anyhow, those are some good blogs. I'm going to keep trying.