The allure of gore

By Michael R. Malone [email protected] 10-30-2025

At the height of the Great Depression in 1931 as the country buckled-millions lost their jobs, banks collapsed, homelessness exploded, food grew scarce and more-fear swept through the country like dust storms over the bone-dry, crusted American plains.

The desperation seeped onto the silver screen to spawn a new genre of film-gothic horror-that mimicked the country's panic.

"Horror films have existed since the dawn of silent films. 'Frankenstein' starring Boris Karloff as the monster and 'Dracula' featuring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula-the two biggies released that year-provided sheer escapism in a way that comedy couldn't. Audiences were transfixed," explained Rene Rodriguez, a lecturer in the University of Miami School of Communication and manager of programs for the Bill Cosford Cinema.

The two films boomed at the box office, salvaging the nascent industry and sparking new avenues of cinematic creativity.

"The makeup of Frankenstein remains to this day one of the best jobs Hollywood has ever produced, and both movies spawned a lot of sequels-'Bride of Frankenstein' is considered by many, including me, to be superior to 'Frankenstein,'" said Rodriguez, who highlighted that these early classics and others such as "The Mummy," "The Wolfman," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and "The Invisible Man" were all based on novels, which gave filmmakers a narrative roadmap to follow.

The production of horror films took a hiatus during World War II, Rodriguez noted, but the genre returned with a vengeance in the 1950s. And in the new era, the fear focus shifted from monsters and demons to fears associated with societal ills and plagues.

"In the 1950s you had a lot of nuclear fear and the Red Scare (fear of communism) and so we saw movies about giant ants contaminated by radiation and extra-terrestrials together with movies about paranoia-commentary on what was going on in the states," he said.

Rodriguez, a film critic for The Miami Herald for more than 25 years, is a self-admitted "fanatic" of horror films. His love-hate relationship began as an impressionable child prone to nightmares.

His own horrific epiphany occurred when as a young teen he and a friend snuck in to see the "Dawn of the Dead" at the neighborhood theater. In the midst of the film's zombie epidemic, a woman screams for her husband to be saved-only to realize he's become a zombie who turns on her and takes a huge bite out of her shoulder.

Zombie characters pose around the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for George A. Romero, who directed "Dawn of the Dead." Photo: The Associated Press

"It looked so real-and then he takes another bite out of her forearm," Rodriguez remembered. "My friend and I got up and ran out."

But he willed himself to go back and face his fear.

"It was really disturbing at first, but eventually 'Dawn of the Dead' becomes a satire, a comedy, and you begin to get used to the gore. The gore is outrageous and keeps on going and you get inured to it," Rodriguez said. "And then I was like: 'This is the best film I've ever seen.'

"The film has become a classic, not just because of the horror elements which are tremendous and still work today-it hasn't dated a bit-but when I got older, I realized it was a really astute commentary on consumerism in America and what we value when society falls apart and no one is spared."

Rodriguez pointed to more contemporary films such as "Get Out" and "Sinners" whose commentary is integral to the film.

Yet many of the subgenres of horror films-slashers and supernatural horror-convey no commentary other than fear itself.

"You could argue that 'The Exorcist'-one of the best horror movies ever-is a reflection on faith," Rodriguez said. "But what makes it so primal is that whether you're devout or not it sucks you in with this scenario of a little girl being possessed by a devil-it's so realistic and groundbreaking."

"'Jaws' is another one. It's a different kind of horror movie, a phenomenal movie that still holds up today with no real commentary other than the way men relate to each other. Overall, it's just a thrill machine," Rodriguez said.

He noted that in the "slasher" genre, which started with John Carpenter's "Halloween" in 1977, there is almost no violence and very little gore.

"It's all suggested and implied, like a Hitchcock film. There's barely any blood-your imagination is what sees it. But then came all the knockoffs like "Friday the 13^th" and with them it's all about the gore and the kills," said Rodriguez, who referenced the "countless horror films" in the 1980s that gorified nearly every holiday-April Fools, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving.

These were all just geared to make money and not very interesting from a cinematic perspective, he noted.

"Timeless horror movies are movies that don't age because fashions change or the political climate changes," Rodriguez said. "They remain evergreen because they serve their primary purpose as horror and everything else is secondary.

'''Get Out' wouldn't have become the film that it did-it won an Oscar-if it hadn't been a really effective and creepy movie. The message behind the movie is hard to miss, it's right there in your face and contributes to the horror. But what made the movie so profitable wasn't the message-it's a spell-binding movie."

Ultimately horror films are geared to a younger audience, the 18 to 35-year-old demographic, Rodriguez emphasized.

"Teenagers definitely drive the box office. It's just a night out to have fun in the movie theater, laugh at the movie, it's a social event," he said.

Rodriguez suggested that parental concerns that younger viewers would be influenced and negatively impacted by watching horror films are no longer as valid.

"I don't think these fears exist anymore because of the era we're living in. Kids are less impressionable than I certainly was. A movie today is relatively safe compared to what you can find on your cell phone," he said.