Torture Porn is a genre label applied to a form of extremely violent and horrific cinema. Some of the most famous examples include the Hostel franchise (2005-2011) and the Saw series (2004-2010). When critics and commentators use the term ‘torture porn’ they are not explicitly speaking about pornography and torture combined, in fact pornography and sex is absent in the majority of these films though there are some exceptions. What is trying to be conveyed by the use of this genre label is that the torture and violent sequences contained within the film are gratuitous and exist to titillate shock and scare the audience. They are violence’s version of pornography.
The offhanded genre label of torture porn does not give credence to what the films can and do achieve. The train of thought from this label is that the films exist for the shock value alone, to show the audience a spectacle of violence and unrelenting visual assault. While this is true to an extent, these films are designed to and succeed in doing more. These films are designed to cause the audience to feel and experience something even if it is something as extreme and unlikely to occur as the scenes in Saw or Hostel.
This is an excerpt from a longer essay published in Vivid Scribe’s Pop Thinking volume 2, available as a FREE ebook download here.
