"gratuitous gore"?

[gh]

Kevin Bacon's new series sparked this from local reviewer:

"...."The Following" does not belong on network television.

That's a tough sentence for me to write. I don't like censorship, I continue to believe the film and television ratings systems are mostly window dressing to make those respective industries look like the good corporate citizens they generally are not, I think that as a society we're more obsessively concerned about sexuality than violence in media, and I believe strongly that viewers should make informed choices on their own about what they want to watch and what their kids should watch..."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/tv/article/The-Fo ... z2IonaAMIs

Anybody else watch Monday's debut? My violence-tolerance meter is set pretty high, but this one is definitely skirting the bounds of acceptability, methinks.

I mean, when you get a villain who makes Hannibal Lecter look like a jaywalker....

[Marlow]

Anybody else watch Monday's debut? My violence-tolerance meter is set pretty high, but this one is definitely skirting the bounds of acceptability, methinks.

I did. I find a distinct 'Walking Dead' influence. If zombies are cool (and the way they are dispatched), this kind of gore must be cool too. Yes, I am put off by the gore, but I predict a 'cult following' for the show (how ironic!!), because of its embrace of the gore. I will watch it if the chase stays cerebral (ala Lecter), and not just about the (sliced and diced) body count.

[jeremyp]

Hannibal Lecter and his groupies! Over the top gore made more ludicrous by inane plot. Poor old Edgar Alan must be spinning in his grave, evermore!

[KDFINE]

When there is a series about a serial killer who goes after telemarketers I'll watch it. Seriously, after reading Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City" a few years back I decided that any T.V. series about a serial killer is borderline pornographic lacking is any social value. (And, I've always liked Kevin Bacon). Comparisons between serial killers and zombie treatments is ludicrous, as the latter is comic book fantasy and not related to the real world.

[Marlow]

Comparisons between serial killers and zombie treatments is ludicrous, as the latter is comic book fantasy and not related to the real world.

The comparison is apt because it's about the amount of gore each show features.

[lonewolf]

I cheer when a baddy gets his come-uppance but am not into "gratutious gore" for gores sake. I thought about it but did not watch the first episode because it conflicted with a Thunder game. Now I am curious

[Pego]

The only movie where I found gore highly entertaining was Pulp fiction. Oh yes, the original Howling was hilarious.

[El Toro]

The only movie where I found gore highly entertaining was Pulp fiction. Oh yes, the original Howling was hilarious.

Peter Jackson's earlier, low budget movies, Bad Taste (nuff said) and Braindead (creative use of a lawn mower!) are wonderfully over the top but not really "human" gore like the back seat incident in Pulp Fiction.

[jeremyp]

Comparisons between serial killers and zombie treatments is ludicrous, as the latter is comic book fantasy and not related to the real world.

You honestly think this show is related to the real world?

[KDFINE]

No. A lot of what's on T.V. relates to the real world. (I don't watch "reality" T.V. either). But, serial killers exist in the real world and create real pain and real suffering, while zombies do not.

[Marlow]

No. A lot of what's on T.V. relates to the real world. (I don't watch "reality" T.V. either). But, serial killers exist in the real world and create real pain and real suffering, while zombies do not.

Yes, but the premise of THIS show, that a serial killer has dozens of devoted followers who do his bidding, is not real. (and no, the Godwinian argument that Hitler exemplifies this concept is not valid here)

[KDFINE]

I'd meant to write that a lot of what's on T.V. does NOT relate to the real world. You seem to argue that acolytes of the serial killer portrayed by James Purofoy (sp?) are not real, and this is probably so although there seem to be examples of copycat killers, but their's isn't the same relationship. Is the violence of the Walking Dead over the top? Probably. And I might argue that it takes away from the scariness of the show. When it comes to horror less is more effective than more. As an example, I believe that "Shadow of a Vampire" with Willem Defoe is a lot scarier than the special effects dominated vampire films aimed at youth market. While there is too much gratuitous gore in the Walking Dead, I cannot agree that its comic book gore perpetrated by and upon zombies is on the same level of the mayhem perpetrated on T.V. by serial killers. We obviously disagree. By the way, the real life serial killer of "Devil in the White City" turned his monstrous acts into an economic enterprise!

[tandfman]

Here's another option for fans of gratuitous gore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/arts/ ... tacus.html

[jhc68]

To me, there was nothing to like about The Following.
First, it was transparently modeled after The Red Dragon, Harris' first Hannibal Lecter novel... an imprisoned, charasmatic genius serial killer madman who inspires acolytes on the outside and a damaged-goods FBI agent who pursues the murderers. It was all done better a couple decades ago.
Then, too, there was nothing to hook viewer interest beyond simple gore. The best gory TV shows (Dexter, Justified, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy) have an ensemble of characters that relate to narrative to the human condition right from the get-go. There are heroes and villains with strengths and weaknesses common to humanity. And the plot is character driven with the violence as a consequence of the personalities. And the characters are interesting and amusing within the logic of the show.
In The Following, however, a whole army of blood thirsty maniacs who are mindlessly subservient yet also brilliant, very disciplined schemers sacrifice their lives and identities to live as moles for years simply out of some unexplainable devotion to do the bidding of a guy on deathrow. It is all too much, too breathless and ultimately too silly (and yeah, I know that all TV shows are silly, but this one is ludicrous but presents itself as serious drama!)
My bet is that this will be another one of those shows that gets cancelled before any of the mysterious circumstances that drive the story line is ever resolved.

[Marlow]

In The Following, however, a whole army of blood thirsty maniacs who are mindlessly subservient yet also brilliant, very disciplined schemers sacrifice their lives and identities to live as moles for years simply out of some unexplainable devotion to do the bidding of a guy on deathrow.

I think you just talked me out of even watching the second episode . . . thanks!

[Tuariki]

Here's another option for fans of gratuitous gore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/arts/ ... tacus.html

In the interests of scientific research for this thread I have just finished watching over the past few days all of the first 3 seasons of Spartacus. And without any doubt IMO there has never been a series of greater gratuitous gore (and explicit graphic sex) on TV.

[jeremyp]

Here's another option for fans of gratuitous gore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/arts/ ... tacus.html

In the interests of scientific research for this thread I have just finished watching over the past few days all of the first 3 seasons of Spartacus. And without any doubt IMO there has never been a series of greater gratuitous gore (and explicit graphic sex) on TV.

I have to agree, we stopped watching after 20 minutes when the blood had splattered enough.

[gh]

In The Following, however, a whole army of blood thirsty maniacs who are mindlessly subservient yet also brilliant, very disciplined schemers sacrifice their lives and identities to live as moles for years simply out of some unexplainable devotion to do the bidding of a guy on deathrow.

I think you just talked me out of even watching the second episode . . . thanks!

i have to cop to a guilty pleasure here. Me and the Babster are absolutely hooked on this one. It channels 24 (seriously) in intensity and making you scream every time an episode ends about 6 hours too soon.

[Brian]

Wishing to see for myself exactly what all the fuss was about I set aside a Monday evening to check things out. I turned off the phone, got my provisions ready, and lowered into my easy chair, remote in hand.

What I saw was the most disgusting, horrifying and utterly tasteless example of the abuse of televised media I have ever had the misfortune to witness in my life.


No, not "The Following."

I was watching "The Carrie Diaries."
.