'Snuff' is Enough (Is Enough?): Corporeal Liminality in Contemporary Horror (original) (raw)

Abstract

In my previous work on what I have termed ‘bodily horror’ (2010), I have argued for a turn to the corporeal in recent horror cinema, and I am currently researching the problematic theoretical process of embodiment behind the act of viewing realistic scenes of mutilation. If other papers have considered the relevance of ‘torture porn’ to contemporary horror and the turn to the body, this paper aims to put this filmic discourse in dialogue with that of the snuff film. Affect is primordial for an understanding of the cinematic body (Shaviro 1993), and ‘snuff’ films are the logical conclusion of a taste for realistic dismemberment. With this in mind, I examine the rise of the snuff film over the past ten years (both films about ‘snuff’ and allegedly real ‘snuff’) and aim to contextualize the possible commercial drives behind the ideas they pose. Ultimately, this paper does not wish to engage with the potential facticity of the ‘snuff’ film or its status as an ‘urban legend’ (Stine 1999, Mikkelson 2006), but rather to initiate a critical enquiry that will allow for an understanding of this complex phenomenon in light of the contemporary turn to the corporeal. Drawing on Linda Williams and her work on the cinematic body in motion, I conclude by arguing that if ‘scopophilia’ is one answer to this filmic trend, it needs to be redefined according to our fascination for movement: if cinema starts as a need to explore body mobility, then torture porn and snuff are invested in a contemporary interest in the inner workings of the body and its internal moves (as attested by other successful cultural products like Gunther Von Hagens ‘plastinations’ or CSI’s post-mortems).

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