Eric Slater (House on Sorority Row): alternate character interpretation
01-07-2011, 12:10 AM
Does anyone think that much more so than other popular slashers, The House on Sorority Row could very easily be taken as a dark revenge movie?
Think about it; we never knew what was wrong with Eric for sure. We basically know that he was screwed up from birth and kept sheltered by his mom up until the events of the film. Eric could well have been just physically deformed and kept safe from derision by Mrs. Slater.
One day Eric was chilling in the attic when what does he see some group of sorority girls do but kill his mother in cold blood. This isn't even a Jason thing where the mother was trying to kill them either; Mrs. Slater was killed for the sake of a prank because she got on the girls' nerves (a prank that looked a lot like they just took a gun and shot her, especially from somewhere as far away as the attic was).
Of course, being deformed and probably mute it was unlikely anyone would believe Eric if he told them "his side of the story" over the story of a group of girls destined for higher-learning. In fact for all Eric knew the girls would try to kill him if he showed himself. Add this to the fact that after disposing of the body, the girls pretty much his any remorse they may have had expertly, and you have a poor sheltered guy who deduces that the only answer is to seek revenge.
From that point on, Eric attempted this revenge; not the most well-planned revenge, but far from the most straightforward slasher-tactics. Eric used his mother's corpse as part of his vengeance (maybe he planned to have it delivered to the police later?
), as well as a selection of toys from his childhood, which were effective in luring a few girls out as well as throwing in a straightforward sense of irony most "brute killers" lack into the proceedings. On top of this, Eric only killed 1 person who didn't play a part in his mother's death (2 if you count the doctor, who seemed like he intended to kill Eric to protect the protagonist): the Weird-Al looking guy who died first. To justify this, maybe Eric was still a little outraged that people were using his dead mother's home to party, or he needed to kill the guy so as not to leave witnesses early on.
Any thoughts?
Think about it; we never knew what was wrong with Eric for sure. We basically know that he was screwed up from birth and kept sheltered by his mom up until the events of the film. Eric could well have been just physically deformed and kept safe from derision by Mrs. Slater.
One day Eric was chilling in the attic when what does he see some group of sorority girls do but kill his mother in cold blood. This isn't even a Jason thing where the mother was trying to kill them either; Mrs. Slater was killed for the sake of a prank because she got on the girls' nerves (a prank that looked a lot like they just took a gun and shot her, especially from somewhere as far away as the attic was).
Of course, being deformed and probably mute it was unlikely anyone would believe Eric if he told them "his side of the story" over the story of a group of girls destined for higher-learning. In fact for all Eric knew the girls would try to kill him if he showed himself. Add this to the fact that after disposing of the body, the girls pretty much his any remorse they may have had expertly, and you have a poor sheltered guy who deduces that the only answer is to seek revenge.
From that point on, Eric attempted this revenge; not the most well-planned revenge, but far from the most straightforward slasher-tactics. Eric used his mother's corpse as part of his vengeance (maybe he planned to have it delivered to the police later?
), as well as a selection of toys from his childhood, which were effective in luring a few girls out as well as throwing in a straightforward sense of irony most "brute killers" lack into the proceedings. On top of this, Eric only killed 1 person who didn't play a part in his mother's death (2 if you count the doctor, who seemed like he intended to kill Eric to protect the protagonist): the Weird-Al looking guy who died first. To justify this, maybe Eric was still a little outraged that people were using his dead mother's home to party, or he needed to kill the guy so as not to leave witnesses early on.Any thoughts?
âThe Fright Night remake is a film which taps into the audienceâs deepest rooted fears, such as those of vampires throwing motorcycles at them. I dread the thought of a vampire throwing a refrigerator or a deskjet printer or... Iâd better stop before I give myself nightmaresâ
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