Horror films with a political message?

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Dawn of the Dead has often been cited as being about Romero's take on capitalism and consumerism (they barricade in a mall, consume crap while the hoards amass outside etc).
Are there any other horror movies you think have an overt / covert political message? (of a Left or Right-wing nature)

[synthesis]

Kairo/Pulse, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Akira's son) is a pretty interesting meditation on the nature of technology-driven isolation.

I'd say, whatever you think of Polanski's personal life, that Rosemary's Baby does shine a light on some feminist issues. I remember my mom telling me stories about how long it took for her to find a doctor that didn't find it ridiculous that she wanted to be medically involved in her own pregnancy because "that was how doctors were in those days." I felt like Rosemary's Baby gave me a more concrete understanding of what that was actually like; a lot of the tension results from this relationship with the main character's doctor.

I thought the [rec] series on the other hand was full of right-wing eschatological themes, but I could be misinterpreting them, and they're still excellent either way.

The Shining, pretty famously, is said by some to be an allegory for the genocide of American Indians.

Shutter Island spoiler:

It's a pretty interesting take on PTSD, if you think about it.

Silence of the Lambs, if you go back and watch it, has a lot of subtext about the protagonist being a female agent in the male-dominated FBI. (For example, check out the opening scene when she gets into the elevator.) Some of the Alien movies deal with a similar theme to a certain extent.

The Box, by the same guy who did Donnie Darko, probably has some political themes if you can figure out what the fuck is going on in it.

Some of Guillermo del Toro's movies are set in the Spanish Civil War; there's another horror movie set in the Spanish Civil War I just got but I can't think of the name right now.

More later. Obviously any movie can be analyzed politically but those are a few that I didn't think were reaching in my conclusions about their overall political message and where the political aspect wasn't just a minor plot point.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Kairo/Pulse, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Akira's son)
Actually, Kiyoshi and Akira aren't related at all.

[synthesis]

Actually, Kiyoshi and Akira aren't related at all.

Fuck me, you're right. God damn it.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Some of Guillermo del Toro's movies are set in the Spanish Civil War; there's another horror movie set in the Spanish Civil War I just got but I can't think of the name right now.
It's called The Devil's Backbone and del Toro's Cronos is pretty good as well. It's basically about a device created by an aristocrat to give eternal life if the individual using it drinks blood and the main antagonist is essentially a capitalist looking for an extra lease on life.

A lot of the vampire-themed films basically have aristocratic/bourgeois vampires predating on working/middle class groups. The movie Daybreakers virtually makes the whole consumption of blood into a capitalist means of production. Unfortunately a lot of them also come with this reactionary idea that religion is a suitable defense against that sort of consumption.

[adipocere]

American Psycho presents the culture of wall street and hyper consumerism as being inherently antisocial and violent.

[Creative Destruction]

Dawn of the Dead has often been cited as being about Romero's take on capitalism and consumerism (they barricade in a mall, consume crap while the hoards amass outside etc).
Are there any other horror movies you think have an overt / covert political message? (of a Left or Right-wing nature)

well, Night of the Living Dead was a criticism of the Vietnam War, iirc.

[Blake's Baby]

Almost any zombie movie is about fear of the proletariat.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Almost any zombie movie is about fear of the proletariat.
Hmm... not really, in my opinion. Some of the early zombie films, the type set on caribbean islands involving voodoo magic and shit, are more examples of being frightened of the bourgeoisie and their ability to demand labour from the working class if they don't (or are unable) to fight back and through extension the struggle to remain free from that prism of control. For the Dawn of the Dead school of zombie films, I would again say that its less about fear of the revolutionary potential of the proletariat and more about fear of becoming trapped within the bourgeois hegemony and unable to function as anything except extensions of the desire to consume. Although I guess death of the author (or director) allows people to interpret film however they desire.

[bcbm]

almost all of the slasher films of the 80s are reflections of the rising conservative values of the time period, with promiscuous drug users being struck down. 'slumber party massacre' is a feminist parody of the genre.


Almost any zombie movie is about fear of the proletariat.

none that i can think of. maybe modern ones, though i am skeptical, but the 'classics' of the genre are more often broader critiques of society and deal with war, racism, consumer culture and so on.

[synthesis]

Pretty sure Romero's movies were intended to criticize consumerism (Dawn of the Dead) and in a broader sense cultural homogeneity.


It's called The Devil's Backbone and del Toro's Cronos is pretty good as well. It's basically about a device created by an aristocrat to give eternal life if the individual using it drinks blood and the main antagonist is essentially a capitalist looking for an extra lease on life.

Yeah, sorry, I should have specified that the movie I couldn't think of isn't a del Toro movie. Still can't remember what it's called.

edit: It's called "The Last Circus," but it's not a horror movie. I guess I just found out about it in the middle of looking for other horror movies.

[Firebrand]

Spoiler// Shawn of the Dead ends with the zombies being employed as unskilled workers in supermarkets etc. Hows that for a comment on the nature of work.

[Devrim]

I am surprised no one has mentioned 'They Live'. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/
It seems like John Carpenter read a little too much situationism before making that film.

Devrim

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

They Live is a good one, although I'd tend to classify it as science fiction rather than horror.

[Pirx]

In Spielberg’s “Poltergeist” you can find some renderings against unrestricted profit seeking (lack of respect for Indian burial grounds) and TV consumerism. “Candy Man” uses African slavery, lynching and slums as background, while “Dead of Night” depicts the Vietnam War as something that turns normal young men into zombies. Romero’s “Crazies” or “Return of the Living Dead” are quite antimilitaristic too.
I don’t know the English label for this kind of movies, in German it would be ecological thriller or environmental thriller – nature strikes back in retaliation for pollution: “Prophecy” for example.
For several years Japanese horror was great in picking social isolation and atomization as in “Marebito” or “The Grudge”.
To name a conservative counterpart: The Remake of “Wicker Man” with Nicolas Cage is nothing more than an unmasked antifeminist manifesto.

[Unumundisto]

Yes, I was going to mention _They Live_, as the best example.

At least I think that _They Live_ is the title of the one that I'm referring to.

It's about someone who finds a pair of sunglasses, and, when he puts it on, the pretty faces in billboard ads, and the tv news commentators and politicians--are all seen for what they are: Alien monsters.

He tries to tell a fellow construction worker about what he saw. He tries to get him to look through the glasses. They other guy doesn't want to believe him, and, only after a long fistfight, does the guy finally look through the glasses, and see that the advertising models, tv commentators and politicians are alien monsters.

I think its an excellent allegory. And it's obviously intended as such.

Another good one was already mentioned as well: _Rosemary's Baby_.

I didn't know that, when I saw it, when it came out in the late '60s. But later, when I found out about what's going on, I was reminded of Rosemary's Baby, when, to her shock, she finds about an evil that is lower, deeper than she'd ever imagined, and more widespread, firmly established, and long-established than she'd imagined.

When you find out about the rock-bottom sociopathic evil that runs this world, and has been for a long time, you surely notice the similarity to what Rosemary found out in the movie.

Of course it's no secret why our leaders are sociopathic monsters. That's who rises to the top.

Unumundisto

[Pirx]

P.S. Some weeks ago I had a discussion about Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher", which was picturized at least by Roger Corman. In my opinion the subtext is dealing with the decline of aristocracy in favor of modern bourgeoisie.

[human strike]

It's on my to-watch list, but apparently 'Wolfen' comments on neo-liberalism and urban decay.


Almost any zombie movie is about fear of the proletariat.

Except when they're about alienated labour or racism. 'Night of the Living Dead', whilst a commentary on the Vietnam War, can also be clearly seen to be a commentary on racism in the United States.


I am surprised no one has mentioned 'They Live'. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/
It seems like John Carpenter read a little too much situationism before making that film.

Devrim

John Carpenter directed but didn't write 'They Live'. Just sayin'.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Eden Lake has pretty strong political undertones. Not progressive ones, though.

[synthesis]

Except when they're about alienated labour or racism. 'Night of the Living Dead', whilst a commentary on the Vietnam War, can also be clearly seen to be a commentary on racism in the United States.

Actually, in the script the protagonist was white. The casting of that character as it happened was basically in hindsight a lucky mistake that Romero doesn't seem unhappy about taking credit for.

Quoth one of the movie's two producers:


The script had been written with the character Ben as a rather simple truck driver. His dialogue was that of a lower class / uneducated person. Duane Jones was a very well educated man [and he] simply refused to do the role as it was written. As I recall, I believe that Duane himself upgraded his own dialogue to reflect how he felt the character should present himself.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Almost any zombie movie is about fear of the proletariat.

Most of the classic zombie movies seem to be relatively nice in terms of ideological content. Night of the Living Dead is anti-racist, Dawn of the Dead is anti-consumerist, Return of the Living Dead and especially Day of the Dead express a distrust of the military establishment, Dead Alive is anti-rat monkey, the list could go on.

[TheBigREDOne]

Red State, quite obviously, critisizes religious fundamentalism.