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This is hands down the best analysis of Martyrs! Guilt, regret, and shame were the only words I could think of as I slowly started to process this movie. I watched it at a time when I was pretty depressed and full of guilt, and it really helped me realize that and face it head-on. This movie has always been so much more than just gore, and it drives me crazy when people talk about it like that’s all it is. It’s such a brilliant movie about depression and guilt, things so many people struggle with. I feel like the cruelty in it is necessary because, by the end, you feel drained and almost beaten down by it, and that’s what makes you reflect-on yourself, your life, and the world, the way the director wanted. It’s not just shock for the sake of it-it’s meaningful. It made me look at things I didn’t want to face, and I think that’s what makes it so powerful.

So interesting bringing up the VVItch, saying that these things that people try to condition us out of being "because it's evil" is the thing we end up anyway. :)

Good stories which explore the nature of reality make you question everything - what is dream, how do you define reality, where's the border between them. Philip K. Dick is a master of this type of storytelling. The quest for truth is what is important. Thus the story becomes a mystery, a psychological thriller or a philosophical study, sometimes all at the same time. And by the way, when we explicitly accentuate that our characters are strong women, we are not actually doing them a favour. It's enough to just place them in an engaging story, present them with important choices, make them relatable.

I dont know why, but this movie has become my feel-good movie. I always come back to it if I dont know what to watch

Why I thought Thom Yorke was gonna be part of some category? LOLOLOL THAT POSTER IS AMAZING

I know this is more kids media, but I think Ever After High, which is a doll line from Mattel, is the closest children's media ever made in relation to the dark nature of fairy tales. It doesnt directly tackle those dark aspects in an obvious way (because naturally if they did they would traumatize their target audience lol) but the webisodes and books acknowledge this and uses it to fuel the main conflict of the series. Its not disney at all which sanitized the gruesome nature of these stories, but the whole doll line integrates those aspects in a way that could be considered as a "gateway" for children, softly introducing them for the surprise (I would say lol) once they actually start reading the fairy tales for what they really are. Even the aesthetics of the whole line are reminiscent of fairy tale movies like tale of tales or the mirror mirror movie, very whimsical and magical and character driven as well. so heartbreaking it got cancelled so early on (where disney had a part to play too 😅) wish they could bring it back somehow.

Killing Grounds was so stressful!

The Labyrinth was actually a movie about how Sarah dealt with her inner struggle The ego/mind (goblin king) she was battling. The friends she made were inner parts of herself she discovered on the way. This is why "you have no power over me" made so much sense in the end. She finally beat her Ego. She could not accept her life's situation. Incredible movie.

The foreign mystique thing also makes me think of old vampire literature and OG gothic horror in general. Many of the villains in English or American stories are Eastern European or Mediterranean, because for instance, peasant superstitions of Romania would seem extra bizarre and unsettling to a Brit who had never heard of such a thing, despite the fact that they were no more creepy than their own.

You're thinking way too hard about this.

Everything is better with hot girls...except conversation.

Even when the script is flipped and women are the perpetrators of violence in the films, they are almost always either: 1) still hot, in a villainous way (american psycho ii, american mary) 2) still targeting hot /or/ popular girls (martyrs, ma) honestly the single mainstream horror with a female antagonist that comes to mind that doesn't do either of the two is misery, but i'm happy for people to correct me and add more examples where the female villain doesn't fit into either 'hot girl' or 'hot girl hater' trope (i did consider including 'the visit' in this list but since the grandpa is also an antagonist and they're a duo, it didn't feel right)

I enjoyed this so much it didn't feel like 19 minutes. It's so nice to hear someone talk about this film with admiration and really deep dive into the messages of the film. I feel like a lot of viewers can't get past it's bugginess to see the beauty and the depth to it all. Great video essay.

J'adore <3

As someone raised by an eastern european mother in a latin american country, both fairytales (specially the darker ones) and folklore had a very important part in shaping the way I saw the world and interacted with it. I find it very sad that cinema and the american hegemony over it ignore these very rich and significant inspiration sources for easy to digest and sanitized stories.

Scary vaginas might be a good name for a band. Maybe some form of boy band.

20:19 god, im so sorry but this comment is so WILD, is so much easier to blame others and project your insecurities on them than working on yourself... 26:43 I believe (just a theory) that women who perpetrate the "hot girl suffering" trope in horror/thriller movies don't actually intend to please a male audience with violence against women. In fact, in many of those times, it's a reflection of what actually happens to women followed by a bloody revenge we wish we could have done. The "hot girl" being half naked in those movies feel like an unnecessary sexualization, but is also a mean to expose people who watch this and get like "look at the way she was dressed!" instead of "look at what they did to her!". I (at least) haven't seen a movie directed by a woman leave violence happens with no punishment.

Shame Nosferatu 2024 didn't come out before you made this video because I love all of the costumes in it!

New viewer& subscriber. Don't know why it took the algorithm so long to find you bc yr topics are right up my usual viewing alley! Your topics are fantastic, yr takes are great, I get that this is an echo chainsaw for me but I'm ok with that. It's nice to hear new takes on a topic I'm invested in presented in a stylish fresh way. I especially love how much intersectionality there is here. I also looooooove your personal fashion & style. I'll be 56 next week & have loved horror movies since I was a kid & I find it so important to keep my mind fresh by staying open to young ppls essays on the topics I'm into. It's what keeps me from becoming stagnant & closing my heart down to issues young ppl are facing today the way a lot of gen x & boomers do. As the last Twin Peaks said : FIX YOUR HEART OR DIE. & So many ppl my age & older don't care to even try to do that. Misogyny is VERY VERY BAD. thank you for this video. So important. ✨👻💜👻✨

Am I looking at The Last Dinner Party album right there? ❤

As a guy, I actually don’t like the idea of someone being killed nude or in gruesome ways, unless it has a reason. Say like for example Scream, Casey definitely was killed due to Stu having been dumped by her and he and Billy’s obsession with harming people. Maybe in a way, if Casey was in the shower like in the Stab films inside the 2nd movie and was being chased around in a towel and then as she’s finally being killed, her towel falls off (which is reasonable to happen) and she’s naked…I could see later in the film Sydney asking Stu and Billy why they killed her, it could show them telling her that she’s was this and that (misogynistic slurs I’m not going to write in this comment) and that she deserved it for what she “did” to Stu. I think I could at least understand the film was implying that she die at the hands of them, because their twisted minds thought she was this and that, but it was their deflated egos that was the real reason why. I don’t want that to happen by the way, it’s just an example of how I could see sexual violence being used as a story telling device and how it could explain more the the character’s Psyche in how and why they kill. And I also know many horror films are inspired by true crimes and let’s be honest, sexual femicides are very common in true crime. Another thing as well, the dolly show in Chainsaw Massacre to me isn’t as sexual as I think people say it is. Obviously her ass is part of the focal point, but so is the house. Her shorts are actually pretty long and cover her up very well and the most skin we see is her back. I think it’s sexual, but I also think it’s tastefully, because she’s not exposed and the fact it’s also focusing on the house, so we feel like we’re behind her (though it could have been at shoulder later or whatnot. And I have respect they didn’t just crop it down to be waist down, because I rather a face (even if it’s turned the other way) to be in the scene, because I feel it give the character agency of their body not being exploited without them in it. But I think that film is over criticized, especially since it’s not as violent as many say it is. I actually have an idea for like a TikTok/TH-camrs horror story where these two characters (they are y the only ones) are killed at the same time, one an female OF model and the other a male streamer who from time to time sells feet pics and his socks and is taking advantage of girls online by recording sexual content without them knowing and him showing/selling it. And the OF model does die with the “girls” out, while she’s trying to make content for her account. I think it would fall into this trope, but at the same time, the reasoning is twisted in the killer’s mind.

The Facehugger in the thumbnail is wild 😭😭😭

TLDP record nice

i really enjoyed this, thanks. subbed.

This is fantastic, as always. Your takes are always so nuanced, and I loved to see Men, Women and Chainsaws referenced. Killer 💋💛

What movie is in 7:14

What movie does the last frame belong to? I need to watch it!

baby = pet project The obstacles to getting your project =making a king out of the competition or obstacles & overcome them. To get the "job" baby/project - mistake to ask wrong question, , rules change behind your back, don't know what door to take, path to take and hearing negativity from others, losing money'taken to the cleaners, get stuck /deep hole obuqet, doing something that ruins reputation/stench, heads cut off-listen to too many different people idea getting nowhere, eat a peach/doing drugs getting lost, getting sober, focusing again and finally just trusting yourself, affirmation,visualize and telling obstacle/competition . you have no power over me Get the Project/job/ bringing it home

Been meaning to watch this film for the longest time. Big fan of Tilda Swinton. I should be able to handle the horrors within. She played the White Witch for goodness sake, it's the same thing. R-right?

Don’t have much to say other than that I adore this video. I always noticed the way female characters were treated onscreen but never had the words to articulate it before!

The Terrifier series feels like the premise of this video essay stretched out to feature length, and the fact it’s become so popular in this particular socio-political moment in our history seems weirdly telling. 🫠

Kind of lost me at the part where you drew a distinction with female Directors. Plenty of women are extremely dedicated to their misogyny too. But maybe I misunderstood the point? I don’t know. This is thought provoking and well put together regardless.

We barely notice the fridge. :)

An interesting point to note about violence against trans women. In legal documents, trans women are often recorded as “men.” They are misgendered and dead-named (hint) after their deaths especially. So when you look at rates of sexual violence against men, it’s worth considering that likely a noteworthy proportion of those are actually trans women victims.

I feel it's mildly important to note, incels where NOT originally gendered at all, it was unisex in the very very beginning. Nothing about the original idea was specific to men or women. It was as the movent grew and things spiraled that it became a more male dominated circle of folks. Tho there *are* 'fem-cels' and such. But, this can sorta be guessed by the name. Incel has absolutely no gendering by default in the word/portmanteau. And while absolutely the modern movement is rooted in misogyny, so completely throwing everything under the blanket of Incels all being men and it a masculine thing feels.... Odd? It's not the whole truth and a rather gross oversimplification

So here's another thought i had about certain horror movies, where female characters get brutalized. What if in these films the women/girls being brutalized is the element of the film's horror because of the nature of the victims? This is why films like Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, or even the Last house on the Left (the remake) disturb me so much. The girls in both movies were genuinely nice people, Meg and Mari are almost Disney Princess-like in their characters, unlike Chris or Tina from Carrie. You see them do nice things, Mari hanging out with the socially awkward boy, and Meg connecting with the male lead in a genuinely wholesome way. So when fate comes down on both of them without mercy it is horrifying to stomach, it is like a PTSD effect, a disaster while objectively horrifying is made even more so when a best friend or a family member or someone you connected with, is involved in it.

No wonder Disney turned out Hitchcock's offers to work with him.

Super fascinating interpretation of the film! I saw this in the theaters in the 80s and even had the soundtrack on vinyl. (I wore that record out!) Regarding people's reactions to it at the time, everyone loved it. Most people just saw it as classic fantasy tale. Many years later, as an adult watching it again, it does hit differently for sure. I am not saying your interpretation of the movie is not correct, in fact I think you may be right on a lot of points. But I feel like this is a sad movie, as in tragic. The fact that Sarah is thrust from a room full of stuffed animals into the adult world, is very jarring. Especially at the end, where she is putting her childhood things away as if to say, "Well, childhood is over. That's that. Time to embrace being an adult!" There's a finality to it. And it has a lot to do with her baby brother, as if he was HER responsibility, which I felt was overwhelming from her character's point of view. I guess when I first saw the film I thought it was more about the idea of "you will grow up NOW", which believe it or not, was a common theme for parents to kick their kids out of the house at 18 back in the 80s. So the idea wasn't uncommon, nor was it out of place in that era. Life was harsher back then for sure. Looking back on it, it does feel very cruel to force anyone into adulthood if they are not ready. The next item that really stood out was when Hoggle gave Sarah the peach. That was pretty messed up. Hoggle was supposed to be her friend and he BETRAYED her. The scene almost brings tears to my eyes, because it's not so much Jareth being the villain here, but one of her closest friends. And finally another scene that stood out was the M.C. Escher staircase scene, where Bowie sings. When he finishes the song with "I can't live within you..." he looks devastated. Bowie really emoted during that scene and it really conveyed that his character was not just trying to "get" Sarah, but that deep down he knew there could never be anything between them. If it weren't for this singular scene, I would definitely just label the character as a creep and move on. But he showed that he was human, and contrary to many theorists, I don't think he would ever force himself on the Sarah character. She had to agree willingly to whatever he was proposing. (Which obviously she didn't.) In summary, yeah, it does seem like a creepy movie by today's standards. But I think most GenXers would just call it a fantasy classic from the 80s. I do find it curious that many comments under Labyrinth clips are women fantasizing about the Goblin King...

Gulit? There's an entire 'demonic girl" character that isnt even real, just a manifestation of the characters Guilt over running away and leaving another girl to be tired for the rest of her life..of course its about fookin guilt..and sadism and being fookin insane.

i love your analysis instant sub!!

i’ve shown this movie to many people and they just don’t pay attention and then get confused and say it’s boring. it makes me sad!!

thank you so much for this. i’ve been looking for a deep dive into this bc it’s my favorite movie!!! the witch is too!! i understand now why i feel so attached to those characters

Draculas death is not so well known because the movie is lost since a long time

This remake sequal is not great I didn't understand how the docter finding his lost polish sister .had anything to do with the witches cult wasted film time it draws away fr real movie about a dance school controled by whichs to a wems journy to power through serviving the war didnt get that part and also it lacks atmospere scares a and horror of the original and why couldnt a man play the only man role in the movie i love protaginist women movies not man hateing politacal trash like thisovie become shame cuz set peaces acting was great just rubbish overall

I am a male writer and I write short horror fiction, and have employed using women as the main character. Often, I use first person, genderless, and even nameless, main characters (which is very interesting because so many readers then ask me about the stories and impose a female characterization onto the MC - maybe the mere act of victimhood is seen as feminizing?). I am not writing violent horror, per se, more psychological or paranormal. But, the times I've used women, it's been because I'm taking a more sensitive take on the story, and a man in the same role would, I feel, be a bit jarring to a reader, and then they'd be imposing some form of queerness onto the character, which I don't want muddying the story. These women in the stories are more contemplative, more in touch with how they're feeling about what is going on. A small example - a story starts with a character walking in the woods on a fall day, and I describe how she is running her hands along her scarf, feeling the tassels interlace with her fingers. This mechanic is simply to ground the reader into a position of really being connected with the MC in a sensory way before the story kicks off. But if that were a man, I know many readers, men especially, would call their sexuality into question, and I'm not trying to tell a queer story. Later, she encounters a group of spirits, and slowly looks over them. I feel like readers will more readily accept apprehensive inaction from a woman, whereas they may be screaming "come on, attack them" or something if it were a man. With women as characters, I can write a lot more freely, giving readers the emotional, sensory, and psychological adventure I'm trying to in a space where the character won't be harshly judged for it. I've only written two stories by my recollection where actual, expressed violence befalls a main character, and in both cases they are men, and enacted by genderless otherworldly forces. In one story I do include SA enacted by a man onto his wife, but only mentioned in passing - I wrote that when I was younger and hate that it is now in my body of work, but here we are. Hope you find some bit of interesting info in my reply to your question! Thanks so much for this video, and all of your content. I really love what you have to say about media and society, and how you express it. P.s. I just got Men, Women, and Chainsaws for Christmas and am so excited to dive in, so I lit up when you cited Carol Clover early on in the vid. :)

I used to write a lot of short horror stories when I was 19 through 22 years old. When I was 23 I met a girl who became a very close friend and to whom I showed some of these stories. She told me I was a good writer, but that I was writing about experiences I cound't fathom, for I was not a woman. Today I look back at this moment and I'm ever grateful to it. Before that point in my life I had never been in a relationship and also had feelings of rejection, just like the ones described by incels. When I wrote women in my stories, I used references (mostly the mainstream men directed horror movies and horror books) in which female characters being tortured (both mentally and phisically) seemed like a "okay" trope on a fictional work. I'm really grateful that my friend brought that up and didn't let me think that I was right, or worse: thinking that it was "genius." Today I identify as a gender fluid person, learning more and more about the different experiences people go through, and most important of all, experiences that women go through. I can only hope that my efforts in learning more about feminist theory and queer theory will help me be more empathetic of women and more vigilant of their representation in horror cinema. As for my writing: I mostly write poetry now, and my wife loves it: it's mostly about her being my goddess, and that femininity is divine. Excellent video, as always. Love your work, thank you. ❤

I'm not sure how much this contributes to the conversation, but I do wonder if (some) male writers and directors have similar intentions to the creators of The Help. Showing the extreme violence of what the more "deviant" women go through allows for the audience to understand the level of suffering female characters might be subjected to. In some ways, it might be worth considering how the notion of a final girl is a way for male directors to engage in their own form of heroism. While misguided, much like the intentions from The Help, perhaps for some directors, this allows them to play out their own kind of savior fantasy.

I love your analysis and how much research you put into your videos. I think for some women and girls (myself included as a teen who was eternally bullied and unpopular), there's a strong notion of jealousy around "hot" women, so we enjoy watching their murder because it makes us feel better about feeling like we don't meet that standard of hotness/popularity ourselves. As if we're "justified" in not being hot or popular since that's often punished, while the "less attractive/popular" final girl still suffers (mirroring our own feelings of suffering directly at the hands of hot girls, or in directly through media and societal pressures to conform to certain beauty standards) she is ultimately vindicated by being allowed to live whilst the hot and popular girl dies brutally.

Really love the both Suspirias. I laughed when one asked who she is and she answered something the one you wanted to come (I watched it not in English). For me it was a perfect joke on nazi "occultists" who got the revenge for their deeds and ignorance. I don't know why people didn't like it back then. It was really well done with performance, dances, design, history commentary so to say, symbolism all these minor details. Yeah, it' different but not bad. Now when you said in suspiria de profundis mothers were something like muses, I see how sound that they redid the dance Three Muses or Graces into that creepy crimson spectacle. This film just talks to the original and to the 1977 film.

When I first saw the trailer for lisa Frankenstein I thought lisa was the older sister from Stranger Things