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Europe saw a new trend develop in the 1960s and 70s, that of the erotic horror film. This new type of cinema pushed the boundaries of normalcy, creating a blend of terror, horror, eroticism, pornography, camp, and the bizarre. Although too much for U.S. and England audiences, those in Europe flocked to see these flicks. This new and somewhat strange genre allowed people to transgress the normal social definitions and boundaries if only for a short time. This new cinematic genre was forged out what France termed the "fantastique", or the way out, erotic, and fabulous. Because these films allowed the safe and unscrutinized transgression beyond "normalcy" and into the "bizarre", many homosexual and homoerotic elements were played out. Tohill states, �these bizarre flicks�.are a curious hybrid, milking the dynamism of popular literature and comic books, combining it with the perverse romanticism of real Art� (Tohill, 1994: 5). With the 1960s and less restrictions on one freedom of sexuality, these films dared to pushed the limits of normalcy, moving first towards nudity and sexual suggestion, then to evermore pornographic standards as the 1960s progressed to 1970. However, by the mid 1970s, the sex horror craze began to diminish as it was gaining more and more criticism from mainstream media causing many of these European filmmakers to produce their films underground. Despite this however, this period still has its impact. As Tohill argues, �these erotic experiments are still a benchmark of the permissible-their potent reveries easily surpassing the realism of pornography� (Tohill, 1994: 7). In my analysis I have chosen to focus on France partly because the French films are indicative of what the other European countries produced and partly because, France had the most impact in shaping this genre of film never before seen.
The early 1970s saw an explotion of softcore sexpoitation films in France reaching a level of sophistication that lasted for a short time. Two French producers/directors, Jess Franco and Jean Rollin, were influential in creating a new genre of French film that had never been seen before, film that mixed elements of the horror and of the erotic. With their beginnings in the porn industry, and due to a combination fo the liberal laws and sexual openness in French cinema, the French film industry soon accepted this new genre of pornographic horror and flocked to see films by such directors as Franco and Rollin. Even small town cinemas climbed onto the bandwagon, exclusively showing these sexual terror flicks, where they had once showed only mainstream film. This culmination led to the elicitaion of the first and last Festival of Pornographic Films in Paris in 1975, causing the spotlight of criticism to focus of the politics of this genre. "The political had become the personal. And the personal meant sex" (Tohill, 1995:54). Unfortunately not long after, the attention and positive spotlight faded and the genre that captured the fantasies and desires of many soon gave way to the scrutinized label of "moral decline" causing many of the influential directors and producers of the time to go underground in making these hard-core porno/horror films. |
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