Smokin' Joe Says Violent 'Captivity' Ads Piss Him Off

by Erik Davis Jun 14th 2007 // 3:02PM

Filed under: Horror, Fandom, Politics

I'm not sure if Joe Carnahan is the right person to take a strong stance against gratuitous violence in movies, but his arguments are valid and he presents them in a way that just makes you laugh. Over on his blog, Carnahan wrote a little rant on the "torture porn" phenomenon, although he made sure to begin said rant by pointing out the reasoning behind two pretty vicious scenes included in his last flick Smokin' Aces. Once that's out of the way, the dude goes off on the use of females in these types of films, saying it's something he finds "personally f*cking revolting." And I certainly agree with Joe, especially when he begins talking about Saw.

As I've said before, I watched and enjoyed the first Saw film (which I consider more of a psychological thriller than a straight-up horror flick). But the films that followed (which include both Hostel flicks) seemed to drift from that element, only to concentrate on (as Carnahan says): "this overblown, carnage level, blood sodden grand guignol aimed at the most base, depraved parts of the human psyche." Carnahan continues his rant: "I see these ads for Captivity and the wallowing in and fetishism of torture and I want to put my fist through something solid. And I don't think there's some political overtones or some Iraq/Abu Gharib allegories at work here. F*ck that, it's about titillation and ticket sales."

So what's the answer here? Carnahan admits that he's not looking for censorship, calling it "the refuge of chickensh*ts and cowards," but he does ask whether we "could and should do a whole helluva lot better." To be fair, After Dark Films' Courtney Solomon recently told me that a lot of effort was put into Captivity so that all the violence had a point, and therefore helped us learn more about both the victim and her captor. Since I have not seen it, I can't tell to you whether that's true, but I do think this trend of torturing and mutilating females on screen is not only pointless, but it lacks creativity. Horror films, to me, are scariest when they force us to use our imaginations. Personally, one of the creepiest moments in the last few years came attached to the film Hard Candy -- more specifically, the scene in which she threatens to cut off his you know what. And although nothing happened, my wife was so disturbed she had to leave the room. Why? Because her imagination took her to a very uncomfortable place. These days, I wish there was more of that. You?

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Tags: after dark films, captivity, cinematical, courtney solomon, film, hostel, joe carnahan, JoeCarnahan, movies, smokin aces

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