Horror After Terror - Horror Films in Guatemala

The enjoyment of a horror movie is contextual and means very different things to various viewers. In her book Reckoning: The Ends of War in Guatemala, Diane Nelson devotes a chapter to the meaning of horror films to Guatemalans. She explores many of the same themes as researchers such as Glenn Walters, but applies them to people who gain a very different sense of enjoyment then many Westerners.
One of the main themes she talks about is how Guatemalans have a unique sense of connection with many characters because of the fluid identities that they have, in many cases, been forced to adopt. The dichotomy of victim/perpetrator does not function very well in relation to the Guatemalan civil war. Many people were forced to kill in order to save their own lives or were driven to kill because of losses they had suffered. An example that Nelson offers is that of a girl who joins the guerilla movement because she is upset with losing her mother (Nelson, 2009: 109). She is both victim and perpetrator, both killer and one who has lost someone due to the killings. This same sort of fluidity is often found in horror movies when the victim turns and kills the monster or whoever is chasing him/her.
In the United States, many teenagers turn to horror films for mere entertainment or to help shape identity. In Guatemala, people turn to horror films because, in the words of one young man, “This is what happened in our country. We have to watch this so we don’t forget” (Nelson, 2009: 89). After the terrible events that occurred during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, perhaps horror films even provide a sense of normalcy. Maybe it is too much to ask men and women who lived out their teenage years hiding in the mountains to sit back and watch a comedy.

Works Cited
Nelson, Diane M. Reckoning the Ends of War in Guatemala. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2009. Print.