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Are Horror Films Catholic?
The document discusses whether horror films can be considered Catholic by examining the genre's themes and connection to human nature, morality, and the struggle between good and evil. It highlights insights from film scholars like Peter Malone and Wes Craven, emphasizing that horror films can address issues often ignored by mainstream cinema. The document concludes that if horror films explore the human condition and reveal gospel values, they may indeed be considered Catholic.
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Are Horror Films Catholic?
- 1. ARE HORROR FILMS CATHOLIC? RosePacatte, FSP, D. Min Pauline Center for Media Studies Culver City, CA 90230 SlideShare.net/rosepacatte SisterRoseMovies.net
- 2. OR IS ITOK TO “SCARE THE HELL OUT OF PEOPLE”?
- 4. PETER MALONE, MSH BIBLICAL,FILM SCHOLAR • “Horror comes from threat and menace beyond the natural. The sources of horror are not readily explained rationally (whereas terror films can be.) We share the terror but are aghast at the horror. Audiences relish the tantalizing attraction of, at least for the running time of the film, having a Darth Vader experience of going over to the dark side.” • Peter Malone, MSH
- 5. MALONE, CONT. • “Anyonewho refuses to acknowledge the dark side becomes its victim – and there is a great danger of rigid individuals and groups, who, as was once said, have (and demand that others have) a Pollyanna approach to life: a sunny denial of evil in the world, and a potential to be scandalized and shocked at finding it in themselves.” • - Peter Malone, MSH
- 6. HORROR • A genre,sub genre, category or type of film • Psychological and physical terror • Drama, humor • Realism • Fantasy • Your worst nightmare
- 7. DEFINE YOUR TERMS •What is a horror film? • Catholic? • catholic
- 8. HORROR GENRE • Niche’audience? • Expectations • Appeal to a pre-existing audience • Deals with issues mainstream films may not deal with • Mythic struggle between good and evil vis-à-vis real struggle • Why do people go to horror films? • “Because they are already scared.” – Wes Craven
- 9. SUBGENRES • Grindhouse: gore,explicitly, gratuitously violent (Machete Kills, 2013) • Science fiction (Prometheus, 2012) • Gothic (House on Haunted Hill, 1959) • Humor (Shaun of the Dead; 2004) (undead) • Art (Nosferatu; 1922) • Terror (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise; 1974) • “Extreme terror and unnaturally natural”
- 10.
- 11. • What scaresus most is what we see • Images • Sound effects • Music • Editing • The girl • Clowns
- 12. OTHER DIMENSIONS • Paranormal •Supernatural • Psychological • Satanic • Use common horror conventions that evoke fear
- 13. CATHOLIC (LITTLE “C”) • Human •The human person • Family • Community • Ethics/morality • Social justice • Bias: racial, sexual, social class, etc.
- 14. CATHOLIC: BIG “C” •God • Image of God • God’s providence • Creation • Prayer • Values & Virtues • Divine + Human • Incarnation • Transcendence
- 15.
- 16. • “Moving beyondthe realms of ordinary experiences, beyond the natural means that we are involved with are horrifying stories that transcend the natural. Catholics and all Christians, can begin feeling comfortable about the religious dimensions of horror when we start to speak about transcendence.” • Peter Malone
- 17. “THE PASSION OFTHE CHRIST” 2004
- 18. CONVENTIONS OF HORROR •Individual or individuals in a state of chaos • Suffering (physical, moral -temptation, spiritual –guilt • The cosmos in disarray • Loss of control; regaining control • Isolation (physical or psychological) • Fear • Psychological, physical or spiritual (religious) vulnerability • Struggle with dark supernatural forces for life/salvation, redemption for self or others • Redemption, self-sacrifice, restoration that transcends horror
- 19. FORMULAIC MOTIFS, TROPES •Music • Grotesque, unnatural human features • Weather that changes from mild to severe or unnatural • Sounds, creaking doors, clanking furnaces, • Smells (characters refer to smells or physically react to decay) • Sudden movement without obvious causality • Dead animals – killed • Animals preying on humans • Darkness • Lurking threat through sound and image • Visual allusions to the satanic • Unexpected apparitions • Anagrams and symbols that hide and reveal
- 20. SCOTT DERRICKSON “THE EXORCISMOF EMILY ROSE” (2005) • "Anyone who finds horror cinema fundamentally immoral either doesn't watch it, or doesn't understand it. It's perfectly fine to say that you don't like the genre; that you don't like to be scared by movies - but if you are wise, you will respect it.
- 21. DERRICKSON, CONT. • Inmy experience, the instinct to judge the horror genre often comes from people who don't strive to confront their own fears. Many who choose only positive art and entertainment will judge horror as immoral, because to them, it feels wrong to confront the severe darkness that is in ourselves and in the world. Horror is too challenging for them. It is the genre of non-denial."
- 22. CRAIG DETWEILLER, FILMTHEOLOGY SCHOLAR • “It is easy to see why bloodletting and torture are repugnant to many moviegoers. The worst horror films revel in bloodlust and engage in a fetishism of evil. Yet, there is plenty of violence and horror in the Bible. The apocalyptic images in scripture remind us that sometimes it takes strong, prophetic visions to wake us from our slumber. Horror at its best offer a cautionary tale designed to shock us into self- recognition.”
- 23. ARE HORROR FILMSCATHOLIC? • “When I first wrote A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984), I was trying to account for something in human nature, in the human race, that had been here since day one and went all the way back to Cain and Abel, one half of humanity rising up to club the other running right up to events in the world today….
- 24. CRAVEN, CONT •We haveto be aware that within the pure hero is the potential to be a real villain and within any villain there is the capacity for elements of humor, tenderness, vulnerability and love.” (Wes Craven, 2006)
- 25. • Craven didnot get his desired ending in Nightmare: • “In my version, the film ended with Nancy turning her back on Freddy and telling him he was nothing. It showed that evil can be confronted and diminished. That ending was very carefully thought through and had to do with a worldview of my own.” • Instead, the ending was changed to introduce a sequel, something we are quite used to now.
- 26. WHY DO PEOPLEWATCH HORROR FILMS? They watch horror because they are already afraid. In a film there is a beginning, a middle and an end so people can, through the experiences of the characters, mitigate their own fears and see that they can have control of the chaos in their lives.
- 27. ARE HORROR FILMSCATHOLIC? • If they are about the human condition • If they shed light on the human condition • If they reveal human and Gospel values • IMHO, yes.
- 28. FILMOGRAPHY • Get Out •It • The Nun • The Passion of the Christ
- 29. REFERENCES • “Are HorrorFilms Catholic?” by Rose Pacatte, 2015 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/sisterrosemovies/2015/10/are-horror-films-ccatholic SisterRoseMovies.net