Is Scream 4 Actually the 'First Mainstream Female Horror Film'?
Writes Melissa Lafsky in a great piece for The Awl: "[T]he chicks get to shout and punch and spout out lists of classic horror films and treat boys like dryer lint and generally act AWESOME. And they don't get killed for doing so (well, ok, some of them get killed -- but Jesus, it's a horror movie)." It's like the anti-Sucker Punch! [Awl]
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What about The Hours?
They way I hear it, movies are the anti-Sucker Punch.
Now I realize why I didn't like scream 4. It is a chick film!
Say what now?
There are 5 women brutally killed before the "true" title sequence even begins. Then another 2 women killed and 1 attacked before the first male is even attacked (a good 3/4ths of the way through the movie).
Compare that to the original Scream whose first death was that of a burly guy in a Letterman's jacket. Or
Or Screams 1-3 where the death count m/f was roughly equal with slightly more males killed than female.
Scream - 5 males killed vs 2 females
Scream 2 - 6 males killed vs 4 females
Scream 3 - 6 males killed vs 4 females
Scream 4 - 10 females killed vs 5 males
By Melissa Lafsky's logic I could call the remake of "I Spit on Your Grave" feminist because the heroine "kicks ass" sure she has to be dragged through the mud first, brutally raped and dehumanized...but man watch her totally kick ass like the feminist she MUST be because she is kicking ass.
Stupid.
I agree with you to some extent, Andrew, although I don't know if we can count the first four (fake) murders. Then the kill count would be a more equal 6 to 5.