Unveiling Hidden Meanings in Iconic Horror Films
Horror films frighten, shock and disgust, yet they also stimulate and entertain us. Could it be that horror films provide us with a way to conceptualise, give shape to, and deal with our greatest fears — those that often mirror the harsh realities of our current political, economic, or cultural landscapes?
Together with filmmaker Kelvin Tong, who is no stranger to the genre having produced horror flicks such as The Maid, Men in White and The Faith of Anna Waters, we explore our fascination with horror, and more:
And if you’re looking to learn more about horror classics while having the living daylights scared out of you, read on to find out which of these iconic films are actually social allegories, and why!
1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Director Tobe Hooper’s 1974 slasher film begins with five friends who get stranded in a rural Texas town and stumble across a family of cannibalistic killers. While the premise is a little far-fetched, the movie does cleverly feature underlying themes of animal cruelty, even acting as an advocate for vegetarianism to an extent.
At the beginning of the film, the characters pass a slaughterhouse, which prompts one of them to mention how animals in the slaughterhouse are brutally bludgeoned to death with a hammer. It causes discomfort, so they change the subject quickly. But this scene highlights the unethical treatment of animals and reflects society’s disregard and lackadaisical attitude towards animal rights.
Pay attention too, to the film’s use of sound effects; there are frantic sounds of pigs squealing or chickens clucking in the background during the horrific (human) killing sequences, despite the lack of animals nearby. Moreover, Hooper himself has confirmed that the film revolves around “meat, the chain of life and the killing of sentient beings”. He even gave up eating meat during the making of the film! If you’re a fan of this horror cult-classic, you’ll be pleased to know that a direct sequel was made available on Netflix on 18 February 2022.
Get the DVD here.
2. The Fly (1986)
Director David Cronenberg’s sci-fi horror flick features the eccentric molecular physicist, Seth Brundle, who invents a teleportation pod. However, his experiment goes awry, and his DNA fuses with an errant fly’s, leading to his eventual transformation into a grotesque man/fly creature. Without a cure, Brundle’s once fit and healthy physique inevitably breaks down, as skin lesions and gnarly hairs erupt, driving him to insanity. Meanwhile, his love interest, Veronica Quaife, is caught in a moral dilemma: Should she support her boyfriend, or put him out of his misery?
As the film was released at the height of the AIDS crisis, many felt that the movie was throwing a spotlight on the issue. Cronenberg revealed that while the film supported this notion, he was going for a message even more universal — mortality in the form of ageing, disease and deterioration.
Get the DVD here.
3. Silent Hill (2006)
Director Christophe Gans’ Silent Hill, adapted from the survival horror video game franchise of the same name, follows Rose and her adopted daughter, Sharon, who has recurring nightmares about the town of Silent Hill. But the movie is as much a horror mystery as it is a matriarchal story.
In his adaptation, Gans chose to swap the video game’s male lead for Rose. He also featured a number of other strong female characters, such as police officer Cybil Bennett and high priestess of the Brethren Christabella Gillespie. In fact, the film is so female-centric that film executives had to pressure him to include Rose’s husband, Chris, in a subplot!
Characters aside, other symbolic visual artistry remind the audience of the horrors experienced by women: the crimson peeling of wall tissue (a visual metaphor for menstruation), children made of burning ash (an allegory for the pressures of motherhood), and the terrifying executioner Pyramid Head (a symbol of male sexual brutality).
Needless to say, the film passed the Bechdel Test, an informal measure of the representation of women in fiction.
Get the DVD here.
4. Don’t Breathe (2016)
Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez’s home-invasion film subverts all expectations of its genre, spinning the burglars into victims when they rob a blind, retired veteran’s house, only to be violently and callously assaulted instead. In fact, the film builds a case for empathy for the poverty-stricken and desperate criminals and demonstrates that sightlessness does not handicap the blind man in the slightest.
While unverified, Vox proposes that Don’t Breathe is an allegorical film about condemning xenophobic nationalism. The blind man’s house is a metaphor for capitalist, greed-driven America—helmed by militaristic white men, or in the film’s case, a white veteran—while the burglars symbolise unwanted foreign influences or refugees. Taken together, the film can be seen as a representation of the xenophobic attitude and brutality against immigrants in white America. This theory definitely sounds plausible, but Álvarez himself reveals a simpler take, stating in an interview that the blind man isn’t merely visually blind, but also morally “blind to the reality of the atrocities that he has committed”.
