Although the title of Phil Claydon’s 2009 pop-culture laden comedy lends itself more toward a low-budget work of pornography, Lesbian Vampire Killers itself instead surprises audiences with a healthy dose of comedic relief and parody akin more to the classic Evil Dead series than simply an adult cheesecake featurette. True, the film’s plot relies primarily upon what some may deem the humor of men drooling over attractive female characters and their anatomy, in all honesty, to those open to the relatively simple comedic style and pop-culture based presentation, this reliance upon simplistic humor elevates the film to the status of a ”must-see” within the b-rated spoof film world. Unlike Sam Raimi’s spoof comedies, however, Lesbian Vampire Killers continues to evade popularity within the annals of modern cultural film history and instead falls just short of gaining any substantial recognition with critics whether professional or those within the ordinary film-buff extraordinaire categories. Rather than attempt to come across as a sad movie hybrid (akin to Scary Movie et. al.) which fails to humor audiences even on a base level, Phil Claydon’s work instead manages to mesh the worlds of spoofs and classic horror films within one relatively seamless package . The film, risky, rude, vaguely sacrilegious and openly morbidly comedic pulls itself up by its bootstraps and relies principally upon the fact that it stands as is and does not pretend to be anything other than a spoof comedy built for open-minded movie goers of all types.
The film itself takes place primarily within a small rural town of Norfolk beset by a generations old curse through which its daughters unwittingly become lesbian vampires upon reaching their eighteenth birt...
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...ed bit of crude humor, allows audiences to witness the actual entertaining nature of the movie and how much fun the actors had in its production. This playful joking easily compliments the distinctly farcical side of the film’s overall plot. While the dialogue in almost all horror films relies on dramatic pauses and carefully constructed inclusions of plot-related detail, Lesbian Vampire Killers again pretends to be nothing more than what it is.
Simply put, while not every movie-goer appreciates the film with its overt reliance upon slap-stick and crude humor, deeming it little more than a conglomeration of juvenile jokes and cheap laughs, those who seek hysterical satire performed and achieved with zeal and a touch of realism see the film for what it truly is; the perfect mesh of horror and satire in an unabashed shell of pop-culture and well-timed humor.
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...d traditions, but also blending two distant genres together. The blending of genres gives us ideas about common conventions in films that we do not usually pay attention to, and how they can be manipulated to change the way we think about individuals and groups. Edward Scissorhands dives deeper than just a “Beauty and the Beast” narrative, and influences audiences to explore topics of how the gentlest of souls can be misjudged by their appearance, a seemingly normal community can be the “bad guy” if it only has its personal intentions in mind and no one else’s, and that true love is not about what is on the outside, but rather, what is on the inside. Edward Scissorhands can be considered as one of the most appealing films of the 20th century as it keeps audiences guessing, surprises them at the most unexpected times and breaks conventional film boundaries.
Clover, Carol J. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton: Princeton Publishing, 1992.
The phrase ‘femme fatale’ originated during early twentieth-century in the English language but existed as an image during the nineteenth-century in French literature, it implied that women consciously seduced and ruined men by using their potent sexual charms for evil. The ‘femme’ was given more distinct qualities by Virginia M. Allen in her book The Femme Fatale. The ‘femme’ is described as a beautiful, erotic, seductive,
Laura Mulvey claims that the camera is almost always masculine and that all women in these films are objectified and punished if they don’t please the male characters by obeying gender roles. Carol Clover, however, believes that there is more to Mulvey’s claim. Clover argues that the boys of the film also die, insinuating that punishment does not just fall on the women. She also argues that the camerawork and the film itself are about gender fluidity; both boys and girls can identify with any character of the film, be it the killer, a boy, or the final girl. Sexual ambiguity, especially in regards to the first-person camera work, are the focus of the films. To some extent, I believe both women’s claims. However, I believe there is more truth in Clover’s argument due to the fact that retributions are inflicted upon all characters regardless of gender. Yet, it does seem that women in horror films have a special place in terms of their sexuality and roles for the film. The women have ambiguous gender rules as evident by the final girl. Her act of fighting is considered a masculine activity. These masculine activities performed by females seem to be more acceptable in these films than if a male was actively portraying something feminine, such as cowering in fear. This gives validity to the argument that being masculine or
In Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, she presents a number of very interesting facts regarding the ways that the sexual imagery of men and women respectively are used in the world of film. One such fact is that of the man as the looker and the female as the looked upon, she argues that the woman is always the object of reifying gaze, not the bearer if it. And “[t]he determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to be connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (487). Mulvey makes the claim that women are presented and primped into this role of “to-be-looked-at-ness”. They are put into films for this purpose and for very little other purposes. However, this argument cannot be incorporated with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; the existence of women in the film is extremely insignificant to an extent that could be considered absent. “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance,” male serves as the dominant figures with which the viewer can identify, women only appear in the film for a very short moment of time. For instance, the appearance of women is only shown when Howard rescues the ill child in the village and his return to the village for hospitality reception...
A female in film noir is typically portrayed in one of two ways; she’s either a dependable, trustworthy, devoted, and loving woman, or she’s a manipulative, predatory, double crossing, and unloving temptress. Noir labels the cold hearted and ruthless woman archetype as a Femme Fatale. A femme fatale is walking trouble, and she’s aware of it. This woman is gorgeous, refined, eloquent, and commands the attention of any room she’s in. When the femme fatale desires something, she pursues it. If there’s an obstacle in her way, she overcomes it. If she can’t handle it herself, all she needs to do it bat her eyelashes and the nearest man is all too willing to take care of it for her. In essence, the most dangerous thing about the femme fatale is her
Maasik, Sonia, and J. Fisher Solomon. "The Offensive Movie Cliche That Won't die." Signs of life in the U.S.A.: readings on popular culture for writers. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994. 407-411. Print.
...he classical comedy movie when making the film, Some Like It Hot. First, the plot line starts out from a violent St. Valentine’s Day murder by the gang. Usually, it is difficult and unusual to casually develop from a violent scene to a comical view. However, this film was well constructed in shifting from a violent murder scene to a comical disguise of two men. Moreover, I figured out that only the half of the script was written in the beginning of the movie shoot. Furthermore, the film itself is two hours long, which may become tedious for a comical film. Despite all of these aspects, the film was truly a commercial and long-term success. This clearly conveys that the infringing of the classic comical film’s path is the secret recipe of a lasting triumph. This may be the reason why AFI selected the film, Some Like It Hot, as one of the paramount comedy film by far.
Film scholar and gender theorist Linda Williams begins her article “Film Bodies: Genre, Gender and Excess,” with an anecdote about a dispute between herself and her son, regarding what is considered “gross,” (727) in films. It is this anecdote that invites her readers to understand the motivations and implications of films that fall under the category of “body” genre, namely, horror films, melodramas, (henceforth referred to as “weepies”) and pornography. Williams explains that, in regards to excess, the constant attempts at “determining where to draw the line,” (727) has inspired her and other theorists alike to question the inspirations, motivations, and implications of these “body genre” films. After her own research and consideration, Williams explains that she believes there is “value in thinking about the form, function, and system of seemingly gratuitous excesses in these three genres,” (728) and she will attempt to prove that these films are excessive on purpose, in order to inspire a collective physical effect on the audience that cannot be experienced when watching other genres.
...emale sexuality or the "castration" undertones. Female viewers, on the other hand, could be angered by the characterization of female sexuality as being something monstrous and almost inhuman. This is the kind of response, however, that can bring into a dialogue contemporary society's prevailing notions of sexuality.
In numerous interviews, creator Joss Whedon has explained that the inspiration for Buffy the Vampire Slayer struck while he was watching horror films and TV shows in which pretty women run away from or get killed by monsters in alleyways. Whedon claims he wanted to give this paradigmatic girl-victim a new role: that of the monster-killing hero. Whedon's explanation of his own artistic inspiration reveals at least two things about him as a film-viewer and maker: first, his description suggests his awareness of the pervasive, archetypal quality of the traditional, mainstream horror film. Second, his description rather coyly fails to account for the more marginal genre of the "slasher film," in which the pretty girl often does kill the monster in the alleyway.
‘Lad flicks’ or ‘lad movies’ is a type of film genre that emerged in the late 1990s. They are defined as a “‘hybrid of “buddy movies”, romantic comedies and “chick flicks”, which centre on the trials and tribulations of a young man as he grows up to become a ‘real man’. ‘Lad flicks’ respond in part to the much-debated ‘crisis in masculinity’” (Benjamin A. Brabon 116). This genre of film explored what it meant to be a ‘real man’ in the twentieth century and in order to do so, they would have to grow up and leave their juvenile ways behind to enter the heterosexual world. Gender relations in ‘lad flicks’ portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category hiding behind a humorous façade and also rely greatly on a knowing gaze and irony. The two ‘lad flicks’ that will be analyzed are The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow 2005) and Role Models (David Wain 2008).
Since the beginning of time, women have been seen as different from men. Their beauty and charms have been interpreted as both endearing and deadly to men. In the Bible, it was Eve’s mistake that led to humanity’s exile from the Garden of Eden. However, unlike in the Bible, in today’s world, women who drive men to ruin do not do so through simple mistakes and misunderstandings, they do so while fully aware of what effects their sexuality can cause. One thing remains constant through these portrayals of women, and that is that they are portrayed as flawed creations and therefore monstrous. It is a woman’s sex drive and sexuality that can lead to her monstrosity. The femme fatale is an enticing, exquisitely beautiful, erotic character who plays the ultimate trick of nature: she displays her beauty, captures the man and goes in for the kill. Films such as Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction and stories such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and Sir Gawain the Green Knight use the femme fatale as a means of making a woman into a monster; the femme fatale can never win in the battle of the sexes. But what is it that makes the femme fatale such a dangerously character for the hero as well as the readers or viewers?
The reading by Barbara Creed titled “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection”, is an in-depth examination on the role of women in horror films. Creed challenges the commanding patriarchal view, which frequently puts the woman in the position of the helpless victim. She argues that when the feminine is constructed as monstrous, it is frequently done in conjunction with its mothering role and function. Creed’s main thesis supports that the prototype of all cinematic definitions of monstrosity related to the feminine is linked to the woman’s reproductive body. Creed elects to use the term “monstrous feminine” instead of female monster, because for Creed it is the “femininity itself that is monstrous” (41). It has been unfairly
2008 saw an influx of vampire fiction in American popular culture. The Twilight book series was a sensation across the young adult market. In September of 2008, Alan Ball of American Beauty and Six Feet Under fame, adapted Charlene Harris’ best-selling book series The Sookie Stackhouse Novels into an hour long vampire drama for HBO. This series was the complete antithesis of the young adult vampire fiction that was sweeping the nation around the same time. Considering Ball’s previous works, it was no surprise that Trueblood was going to be risqué. Looking at the first season of the series, Trueblood is rife with sex and violence. Neither men nor women are exempt from the debaucherous behavior present in every episode of the show. Although men in the show are also presented as objects on many occasions, the representation of women in the text remains skewed. Trueblood cleverly fools the audience into thinking it has finally been given empowered female characters in charge of their own sexuality. In reality, the underlying ideology is still present. The females in the text are not in charge of their own sexuality, instead their sexuality and self worth are defined by those around them which is seen as normal within the series. I will argue that these false representations of empowered female characters are creating skewed ideas of female gender roles in the minds of viewers. Peforming a textual analysis on various episodes from season one of Trueblood, I will be applying the cultural feminist perspective to examine how female characters are objectified to attract a male audience, viewers are given a false representation of female empowerment to draw in the “educated” female audience, and how female sexuality is defined by masculine ...