I’m sure there are many graduate student thesis’ written about slasher films that documents the attraction and inherent need in our culture for such an outlet.

“Looking at some of the popular films that showcase gore, it becomes clear to me that the gore on the screen isn't even see as violence or terror but rather is a symbolic representation of destruction and rebirth.  It isn't even about realism anymore.  It hasn't been about the realism of a particular effect in a long time.  Any movie released today with a decent FX budget can pretty much kill a person any way they could possibly think of and make it look good.  It's no surprise, we all know going in that the crazy gore we see on screen will be pretty close to the real thing.
    Therefore the gore itself isn't the issue anymore.  It's about seeing and witnessing a transformation occurring right in front of your eyes at the most basic and primal level.  In these new torture films, gore represents the absolute destruction of what was, not only in the physical sense, but also in a spiritual way.  It's like destroying absolutely everything in order to deal with it and subsequently move on.  This pertains to the thought that the ideals, norms, and feelings of the previous generation have successfully muddled up everything in our lives to the point where nothing can be saved.  It has to be removed with force, leaving in its wake the chosen few.  Changed forever and ready to take on a future they couldn't have possibly imagined before any of these events occurred”  

(text is active link to actual article by  poppascotch, Wednesday Sep,10)

    The audience for this seems too large to be a sub culture. Maybe the attraction is the same attraction that leads us to rubberneck on the highway when there might be the promise of a particularly bad roadside accident.
    I would like to continue to explore this for a little while. I keep thinking about the red car painting I wanted to do, the rubbernecking painting where the red car was flipped upside down on the side of the Los Angeles freeway as you zoomed by, police lights and the jaws of life, catching a glimpse like stills in a movie, frame by frame. Another huge painting idea. Sigh. It’s all about the spectacle. Fascination.

I felt this painting, maybe being the last in the series before the enlightenment, needed a lot of blood. More and more blood was called fore. So I just kept adding it. Here’s another view of the face, upright. I find it easier to look at this way. He looks dead, but the resurrection is coming, in the form of a disembodied head, triptych painting. He’s finally going to have green grass and blue sky. A very religious theme.