‘Where Satan is, in the world of horror, female genitals are likely to be nearby…’
Everyone is so media literate nowadays that anyone can throw around terms like ‘Final Girl’ and people will know what that means. The tropes of the horror genre have never been more well-defined than they are now. It was American film professor Carol Clover who first coined the term in her book Men, Women and Chainsaws and she has a bunch of other interesting things to say on the topic of horror films too…
Subtitled ‘Gender in the Modern Horror Film’, Men, Women and Chainsaws is a collection of essays that explores the role of feminity and masculinity within the horror genre. The ‘Final Girl’ theory is introduced in the opening chapter and while it seems an obvious observation to make now, that is only because Clover got there first back in 1992. As a horror fanatic myself, it is incredibly heartening to read a book in which The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and I Spit on Your Grave are given the academic treatment rather than being dismissed as trash cinema. The horror genre has now been accepted as possibly the most creative genre of all and podcasts such as Halloweenies and The Evolution of Horror only exist because people like Clover lent the genre some credibility and convinced the world that there was something there worth analysing.
That being said, this is an academic book, to the point where even as a film studies teacher there were portions that I struggled with. An in-depth knowledge of horror films isn’t required to enjoy Men, Women and Chainsaws but it most certainly helps. One interesting question raised here is whether or not Clover actually likes the films that she writes about. I’d like to have heard more about her personal opinion on the quality of the films but then I suppose there are thousands of reviews out there if that is what one is looking for.
Men, Women and Chainsaws is a landmark book in the canon of horror criticism and even at 40 years old, it’s still relevant today. No mean feat.