Gore in movies (Personal experience)

For the longest time I couldnt stomach violent movies. I saw the first Terrifier movie with a friend the year the sequel came out (so around January 2022) and I couldnt watch the screen without almost passing out. So, as you can see, I was not a fan of gory films.

Fastforward January 2025; I met my bf, a massive gore enthusiast. By this time I was in the heavier side of music (goregrind,grindcore, death metal), so I was more used to seeing gore and at that point few things could really shock me. I saw Terrifier 2 with my bf, expecting to puke in the bathroom and being made fun of (he LOVES the Terrifier saga), but I was really surprised by my own reaction. I was really calm through it all, even the most shocking scenes everyone was talking about, and actually saw a bit of humour in the movie. Then I saw Terrifier 3 on my own, I laugthed at some scenes and was drawn to the gory scenes. Also, Final Destination became my favorite saga.

Now, I cant really tell why this change happened: maybe it was the continue exposure to violence through album covers, or my interest on true crime (never saw the pictures of the cases) or my interest on disturbing movies and topics (seeing icebergs about distrubing movies, songs, books) or, even, put the blame on my bf (who has a love for anything disturbing). 

Nowdays I search for disturbing films (for anyone interested I recommend effedupfilms.com) and watch some of them as well as not really being disturbed by the gory scenes, not 'cause I enjoy harming people or whatever, but because I enjoy the art behind them: the practical effects, the creativity (Saw traps, the deaths in Final Destination and Terrifier), the makeup, everything that is behind it. Actually, I dont think people that have an interest in the grotesque are bad people or psycopaths without empathy or something like that (Im actually quite sensible and cry a lot). In its majority, its just another form of art, that maybe not many people can see the beauty in it.

I enjoy art with dark topics, call it album art, photographs, drawing or movies, im just drawn into the darker parts of life and find some beauty in it or just, appreciate it as an alternative form of self expression.

In conclusion, gore in films can be seen in different ligths; it can be so over the top that is funny (Final Destination), it can be used for shock, for style purposes or to make a point. Not every movie with gore is just a mindless violence, but if it is there is nothing bad with it, not everything has to have a deepper meaning, it can just be fun. I am, in fact, sensible to some specific type of violence or topics, to the point where I avoid watching movies with this topics at all (for example, Im NEVER seeing "I'll Spit On Your Grave" due to the SA portrayed explicitly on the film), but is due to how they are shown in the movie, so I guess this depends on the person.