Alternate History of Horror. Part XIII: Bad Karma

[David Flin]

Comment on this latest article by @RyanF here. Comments bring good karma.

 

[Charles EP M.]

It never stops being weird to think of Tobe Hooper filming scenes like Leatherface's DIY man cave or the dinner scene and going "we've got the PG rating nailed, lads".

 

[RyanF]

It never stops being weird to think of Tobe Hooper filming scenes like Leatherface's DIY man cave or the dinner scene and going "we've got the PG rating nailed, lads".

I think with hindsight it's easy to see that, but also consider that at the time no one had done anything like that on film (in the US anyway) to that point. TCM was less than a decade after the Hays Code was finally abolished, so can imagine it was still in flux what would or would not have been acceptable at the time. Remember too that in comparison to The Exorcist, which received an R rating, TCM was positively restrained.

Had there been a PG-13 equivalent at the time, not introduced until 1984 with Red Dawn, I daresay they might have just been able to secure that rating. The MPAA also wanted to give Hooper's Poltergeist an R rating in 1982 but he and producer Spielberg successfully appealed and got a PG.

 

[Talwar]

Have only seen one Purge movie - Anarchy - but I liked it. Mostly.

There is more that could be done with the idea of "The law doesn't apply for twelve hours". Anarchy had the right idea - small, personal issues and moral dilemmas. Does somebody reliant on expensive medication try to knock over a local pharmacy? Does somebody with heavy debts try to bust up a bank machine? Does an abusive individual go after their estranged ex - or vice-versa?

 

[RyanF]

Have only seen one Purge movie - Anarchy - but I liked it. Mostly.

There is more that could be done with the idea of "The law doesn't apply for twelve hours". Anarchy had the right idea - small, personal issues and moral dilemmas. Does somebody reliant on expensive medication try to knock over a local pharmacy? Does somebody with heavy debts try to bust up a bank machine? Does an abusive individual go after their estranged ex - or vice-versa?

I think Anarchy really got the the concept right, deciding to go more down the The Warriors or Escape from New York route rather than the home invasion horror of the first. In that regard, always think of The Purge series as horror is sort of a legacy from just that first film with subsequent falling more in-line with science fiction action than horror.