How I learned to get on board with gore in the movies

Like a lot of horror movie fans I used to always draw the line at 'gore.' "Oh, I like horror movies, just not the super gory ones," is a popular refrain with a lot of people and it definitely was with me. But I'm not entirely sure where that came from. Even though I love the genre I didn't consume much as a child.

I think, in retrospect, I really meant scenes of torture, which if not handled with any artistic or narrative merit, can simply feel exploitative and gross.

And a couple of movies I've watched and appreciated recently -- Maniac (1980) and The Prowler (1981) are both undeniably gross and exploitative, and yet they both have enough style and unforgettable images, that I can imagine would disgust the overwhelming majority of viewers.

But for me, their gloriously over-the-top set pieces of kills that will provoke an audible reaction no matter who you are. I would stop short of saying these movies are 'beautiful' but they are strange, truly creepy and wonderfully provocative films.

Sure, narratively there isn't much there. And the films linger a little too long on naked female bodies being mutilated. But the DIY, pre-CGI special effects by the legendary Tom Savini (he also was behind the groundbreaking nastiness in Dawn of the Dead) are undeniably visceral and shocking.

It's not a surprise that Savini is such a hero to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, who are junkies for these films' grindhouse/low rent drive-in aesthetic.

For me the bridge to these films was built on my admiration for Italian director Dario Argento's films. His masterworks -- films like Deep Red, Suspiria and s -- all make gorgeous gore palatable without in anyway diminishing the horror genre elements which are the bones on which these usually incoherent (from a plot perspective) movies are built.

The deaths here are still fairly quick and the movies themselves are so surreal and impressionistic even that I tend not to be too disturbed by them. I don't come to these movies to see gruesomeness, but when it happens it can be entertaining, and while admitting that may be a little embarrassing, I have hunch that I am not the only one who feels that way.

Horror has been and maybe always will ghettoized because I think a lot of us feel ashamed to enjoy something that revolves around death -- and not just the inevitably of it -- but the specific, unpleasant details.

Some people are wired in such a way where they just can't get a thrill out of this, let alone any joy. I don't know why I am wired differently, and I hope it doesn't say anything bad about me as a human being -- but I do get a strange kick out of this unique kind of madness.