Carol J Clover is an American Professor of film studies. She released a book 'Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Film' and is famous for her ‘final girl theory’ which changed public’s opinion on gender in horror films.
Aspects of her work:
Aspects of her work:
- Killers in horror tend to have either issue with their childhood or are sexually disturbed, which causes them to be abusive themselves (for example Freddie Kruger - a child molester, sexually disturbed himself at a young age). This has an empathetic effect on the audience, as it makes them gain a bit more understanding on the character and therefore relate to it more - what is scary and often inhumane because of their killing urges
- Female killers tend to have gender confusion (Mother in Friday the 13th)
- Contrasting opinion to Craven - the scariest place for horror is a typically old, decaying and haunted place, as it has obvious connotations and tension to horror genre
- Cars, phones, alarms and door bells which don't work make the scenes more stressful and characters more vulnerable, making the audience empathise with it
Halloween (2007) is a good example of Carol J. Clover’s theory about childhood disturbances. The killer experienced troubles himself, which then caused him to kill and commit murders