Is Torture Porn Making a Comeback?
Gore-soaked horror's signature franchise returns with Paul Giamatti
There’s a scene in the new horror film “In a Violent Nature” that hardly qualifies as scary. It’s more like torture.
The film’s villain has his victim trapped and death appears imminent.
Not so fast.
The baddie tortures the young man over an extended period, dragging his final moments out in excruciating detail.
It’s the very definition of “torture porn,” a short-lived horror genre that peaked with the 2005 film “Hostel.” And it might be making a comeback.
“In a Violent Nature” gave IFC Films its second-best opening to date, eclipsed only by March’s indie hit “Late Night with the Devil.” “Nature” earned $2.1 million on 1,426 screens, crashing the Top 10 box office list.
Not too shabby for an ultra-gory romp. And it’s not alone.
The “Terrifier” franchise remains the bloodiest saga in recent memory. Art the Clown routinely tortures his victims, his greasepaint smile sick with glee as he dissects the innocent.
The crowdfunded “Terrifier 2” outgrossed all expectations in 2022, earning $10.9 million domestically from a microscopic budget.
“Terrifier 3” hits theaters this fall.
The first teaser for ‘TERRIFIER 3’ has been released.
In theaters on October 25, 2024. pic.twitter.com/J6M1PeT9FT
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 13, 2023
Now, the granddaddy of torture porn films is being reborn for the small screen. Eli Roth, the director behind the “Hostel” franchise, is bringing the story to television.
The upcoming series doesn’t have a streaming partner yet, but it’s billed as a “modern adaptation” of the story. And it boasts an Oscar-nominated actor to anchor the madness.
Paul Giamatti, fresh off “The Holdovers,” will star in the series.
The two “Hostel” films showed travelers who run into businessmen who pay good money to torture fellow human beings. The first “Hostel” earned an astonishing $81 million worldwide. The 2007 sequel generated far less – $35 million globally.
The 2011 threequel lacked Roth’s involvement and went straight to DVD.
Why now? Here are several possible reasons.
Horror is having a cultural moment. The genre’s low budgets often translate to big ROI, witness the “Terrifier” films and smashes like “M3GAN” and “Smile.”
We’re hungry for escapism given the real-world horrors in our daily headlines. The genre offers a safe way to experience the very worst emotions and come out without a scratch.
Movie fans crave the return of practical effects over CGI. Slasher films often skip digital trickery for old-school makeup tricks.
Plus, Hollywood is desperate to revive existing brands or franchises, even those as short lived as the “Hostel” saga.
Big horror fan, but never got into torture porn. More of a creature feature guy. Some 70’s exploitation/torture films are with a watch just for shock value like: Cannibal Holocaust, Blood Sucking Freaks, Last House on the Left, and Faces of Death. But give me The Thing, The Blob 1988, Return of the Living dead all day long. As for the escapism, I think you’re on to something there. In my youth, a good mosh pit session at a metal concert would have me feeling Zen as a Shao Lin monk for a while, lol!
Let’s not forget “Wrath of Becky”in the list of new horror.