Nudity and Sex in horror is something I have struggled with in my script writing I often wonder what I should do with it, when I should do it, how often do I do it (Too often would make my horror film a porn film) , what I mean by this is when writing a death scene or a sex/nudity scene I often wonder what is "pushing the envelope" too far. I want to make a movie to reach as many people / age groups as possible but horror is a hard sell to most people due to the blood, guts, gore and often the nudity involved with the genre.
I like the simple horror / suspense of John Carpenter's Halloween the less blood / nudity more suspense movie he made was brilliant on the other hand I enjoy Sean S. Cunninghams's Friday The 13th as well which had MORE blood and nudity.
I look at some of my favorite films and see that some characters like say Laurie Strode (Halloween) & Alice Hardy (Friday The 13th) don't need to do nudes scenes but characters like Linda and Annie (RZ's Halloween) do have nude scenes. Nancy Thompson (ANOES) Sidney Prescott (Scream) don't have nudes scenes. maybe it's because they are the "Pure" final girl..
NOTE : The bathtub scene in ANOES is a body double NOT Heather Landencamp.
On that I want to call into question how "pure" Alice Hardy is in Friday The 13th, she doesn't have sex during the film however she does smoke pot (Broken rule) so shouldn't she die? lol...
I spoke with Scout Compton on Dark Matter Radio a few years ago where we discussed the nudity in Rob Zombie's Halloween and we both agreed that Laurie Strode (Scout) didn't NEED to do a nude scene (In the retelling oh Halloween) because her acting was enough to sell her scenes. I'm NOT taking anything away from Danielle Harris (Annie Brackett) or Kristina Kelbe (Lynda) for doing nude scenes in Rob Zombie's Halloween because their nude scenes were important to the movie in different ways. (I enjoyed them both) I also learned while talking with host Dave Navarro and Scout that there is a long standing rumor that Jamie Lee Curtis was born a hermaphrodite but that's something for a different blog all together lol .
I read alot from horror fans that horror can't be done with a PG13 (No nudity/sex less blood) rating it has to be an R (Blood, guts, gore nudity and sex) rating for it to be good... Is this true? Are there exceptions to this rule?
I'm a firm believer when writing a nude / sex scene that sex scene and/or nudity should fit into the storytelling of the film and not just be there for the sake of showing two characters having sex or just showing a naked body with that said we all like watching characters get killed for doing it when they should be more worried about the killer lurking around but they are too busy trying to screw to worry about a killer, This is one of the MANY horror Tropes I both LOVE and HATE in Horror movies but tropes and jump scares are another subject for another blog.
When I was writing Sins of Man I wrote the first draft with NO Sex and NO Nudity but in the final draft there is ONE Nude scene and an off screen sex scene. I wanted to use John Carpenter's Halloween as a template for Sins of Man and want it to be more about suspense, storytelling and also like Wes Craven's Scream where everyone is trying to figure out who the killer is.
I like the simple horror / suspense of John Carpenter's Halloween the less blood / nudity more suspense movie he made was brilliant on the other hand I enjoy Sean S. Cunninghams's Friday The 13th as well which had MORE blood and nudity.
I look at some of my favorite films and see that some characters like say Laurie Strode (Halloween) & Alice Hardy (Friday The 13th) don't need to do nudes scenes but characters like Linda and Annie (RZ's Halloween) do have nude scenes. Nancy Thompson (ANOES) Sidney Prescott (Scream) don't have nudes scenes. maybe it's because they are the "Pure" final girl..
NOTE : The bathtub scene in ANOES is a body double NOT Heather Landencamp.
On that I want to call into question how "pure" Alice Hardy is in Friday The 13th, she doesn't have sex during the film however she does smoke pot (Broken rule) so shouldn't she die? lol...
I spoke with Scout Compton on Dark Matter Radio a few years ago where we discussed the nudity in Rob Zombie's Halloween and we both agreed that Laurie Strode (Scout) didn't NEED to do a nude scene (In the retelling oh Halloween) because her acting was enough to sell her scenes. I'm NOT taking anything away from Danielle Harris (Annie Brackett) or Kristina Kelbe (Lynda) for doing nude scenes in Rob Zombie's Halloween because their nude scenes were important to the movie in different ways. (I enjoyed them both) I also learned while talking with host Dave Navarro and Scout that there is a long standing rumor that Jamie Lee Curtis was born a hermaphrodite but that's something for a different blog all together lol .
I read alot from horror fans that horror can't be done with a PG13 (No nudity/sex less blood) rating it has to be an R (Blood, guts, gore nudity and sex) rating for it to be good... Is this true? Are there exceptions to this rule?
I'm a firm believer when writing a nude / sex scene that sex scene and/or nudity should fit into the storytelling of the film and not just be there for the sake of showing two characters having sex or just showing a naked body with that said we all like watching characters get killed for doing it when they should be more worried about the killer lurking around but they are too busy trying to screw to worry about a killer, This is one of the MANY horror Tropes I both LOVE and HATE in Horror movies but tropes and jump scares are another subject for another blog.
When I was writing Sins of Man I wrote the first draft with NO Sex and NO Nudity but in the final draft there is ONE Nude scene and an off screen sex scene. I wanted to use John Carpenter's Halloween as a template for Sins of Man and want it to be more about suspense, storytelling and also like Wes Craven's Scream where everyone is trying to figure out who the killer is.