In case you are not a 16 to 22 year old male and have missed it, there is a whole new genre of movies coming out of Hollywood in the last few years. The genre is affectionately referred to by it's young fans as "torture porn".
Think about that for a minute. Torture porn. Is that a positive sign for the culture of a civilization? That it has invented and embraced "torture porn" as a form of matinee entertainment to go with your overpriced bucket of popcorn.
It's not actual porn, mind you. Available only in adult stores or theaters. No, it's only called porn for it's allure to it's young afficianados. It's quite available at the local multiplex for anyone over 17 who slaps down money at the box-office. Gee, do I go see "Die Hard" or torture porn?
Torture porn hit it's stride with several now-franchise movies including "Saw" - which has a deviant imprisoning strangers and having them harm each other to save themselves - and "Hostel" in which hapless teens touring Europe are kidnapped and strapped down for killers who pay for their own murder vacation. Such fun. Want gummy worms at the concession stand for that? "Saw" is on it's third incarnation, and "Hostel II" came out this summer.
Now we are treated to billboards along the highway touting the July 13th release of "Captivity", where blonde sex symbol Elisha Cuthbert is kidnapped and tortured by some psycho for your date night fun in the dark. From the ratings section of "Rotten Tomatoes" review site, this rating: "MPAA RATING - R, for strong violence, torture, pervasive terror, grisly images, language and some sexual material." Fortunately, only 7% of the reviewers - some self admitted fans of the genre, gave "Captivity" a positive review. But don't get optimistic - some gave it a bad review because it wasn't creative enough for them or didn't have enough terror and gore. It bored them. One reviewer panned it because the character development was so bad that he eventually "didn't care if she lived or died". Really?
Look, I don't care what movies you go see or don't go see if you're an adult. But can't you see that we are way down the slippery slope of a degrading culture if torture porn is getting greenlighted by the money moguls in Hollywood?
It's an especially jarring phenomenon, considering the onslaught of real life stories in the news of violence happening to young women. Just watch the news regularly and pay attention to the stories. A young woman, recently graduated from high school and full of promise, walks out of a Target store and into the hands of her killers - body to be found days later. A young girl in England, missing for a year, found imprisioned under a stairwell.
Doesn't it bother those of you buying tickets for this crap that the same week that "Captivity" opens the dead body of a 12 year old girl snatched out of her family's yard at a fireworks celebration on the 4th of July is found in Seattle? It bothers me. There's enough real life kidnapping, and torture, and murder being visited on women. You have to go see it for entertainment in a theater? Just asking.
What a depraved people we've become.
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