by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

Horror movies love to deal with, and dissect specific gender politics. Especially when it comes to the emotional and mental differences between the sexes. The idea that the male sex is “rational” while the female sex is “intuitive” is a very old argument dating back to some of our earliest philosophers. In an academic article written by Robin Turner in 1997 entitled "Male logic" and "women's intuition" they say that “Aristotle defined Man as a "rational animal", and by that he really meant men, not human beings. Unlike Plato, he saw women as less able to reason, hence less ‘human’ and more ‘animal’.” The thinking that women were more intuitive, or closer to nature, partially stemmed from women’s biology with menstruation, hormones, childbirth, etc. 

Somehow, these sexist ideas have stood the test of time and the connection between women and intuition has even been adopted by many feminists as a way to reject male logic. Turner makes the argument that there is little to actually prove these ideas of difference in male and female logic, but that most of our ideas about it stems from the ways we talk. Women might talk more about emotions than men, but it does not mean that men are not feeling those emotions, but simply repressing them. These ideas seem to stem more from how we socialize men and women than anything to do with biology.

Men in particular are frequently explored and deconstructed for their rational beliefs. They are often killers, gaslighting husbands, abusive partners, and other tropes, who frequently diminish the fears around the horrors they face in favor of the  “logical explanation”. This often means they become victims to the impending danger they face. From Rosemary’s Baby to What Lies Beneath to the Paranormal Activity franchise, “male” rationality, ego, and greed are all ripe to be explored. They lie, manipulate, and do what they can to avoid the horrors at their door, even when it puts themselves and those they claim to love in harm's way.

As we become a more gender fluid society who shy away from the toxic societal views of gender and sexuality, we hope that some of these issues go away, but in the meantime the horror genre will be there to put a shining light on these ills. An area of horror that is particularly interesting to explore are the men who hold onto their logic and beliefs so hard that they put themselves, and sometimes those they love, in danger. Whether due to grief or repressed beliefs or emotions these men often ignore the signs of what is coming their way, even when they are warned in various ways. This theme sticks out particularly in three films; Don’t Look Now, The 4th Man, and Pet Sematary.

Don’t Look Now is a UK film from 1973 directed by Nicolas Roeg. At the beginning of the movie, Laura (Julie Christie) and John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) lose their daughter in a tragic accident. The grieving couple make their way to Venice for a project that John is working on. Laura meets two elderly sisters, one of whom says she is psychic and has seen Laura’s deceased daughter, Christie (Sharon Williams), in her visions. Laura believes the sisters and attends a séance in which Christie tells her that John is in grave danger and must leave Venice. John refuses to believe this warning, even though it becomes clear he is having visions of his own.

The 4th Man is an early film from Dutch director Paul Verhoeven. His protagonist, Gerard (Jeroen Krabbé) is a writer who, while on a book tour, meets an attractive and rich widow Christine (Renée Soutendijk). He decides to stay with her in order to benefit from her wealth, and to spend time with her other lover Herman (Thom Hoffman). But the longer he stays, he begins to receive signs that something terrible is coming his way and that Christine might have had more deceased husbands than he was led to believe.

And finally, Pet Sematary is the 1989 Stephen King adaptation from director Mary Lambert. A family moves to a peaceful New England town with a dark secret. Soon after moving there, their son Gage (Miko Hughes) is hit by a car. Stricken with grief the father,  Louis (Dale Midkiff) decides to bury Gage in an indigenous burial ground where the dead can come back. But unfortunately those that come back, are not the same people they were in life. 

In all three of these movies, the male protagonists are warned about their impending danger. In Don’t Look Now, John is warned by his wife Laura after the séance but he also has visions of his own, he frequently sees a small child with a red hood (the same outfit Christie had on when she died) and sees visions of his wife, who at this point has gone back to England. In The 4th Man, Gerard begins having visions while on his way to the book signing, and continues to have them throughout the movie. Many of these seem like strange coincidences, but other times they are vivid daydreams that show him places he has not been to yet. For Louis Creed, he is warned by the ghost of Victor Pascow (Brad Greenquist), a patient he tried desperately to save. Pascow, in an attempt to thank him for his efforts, warns him not to go to the pet sematary. At first he only appears in dreams, but as Louis becomes more unhinged, Pascow comes into his waking life as well. For Louis and John it seems that these visions are from ghosts on the other side who are trying to steer them away from danger. Gerard’s signs feel more divine, often including religious imagery. But John and Gerard do seem to have some sort of innate sixth sense.

Another interesting factor that ties John and Louis together, is that they are both rife with grief. John is the epitome of the “rational man” and he refuses to believe in anything seemingly supernatural. He wants to push his grief down and focus on the things he can quantify and deal with. However, grief makes Louis irrational to the point that he has to dig up his son and bury him in the cursed burial grounds because he needs him to come back. Louis should have known better, considering that when he brought back their cat Church, it was clear that Church was extremely violent. His neighbor Jud (Fred Gwynne) also warned him about the time someone was buried there years ago and how it ended in tragedy. Louis blatantly ignores these very direct warnings because he cannot conceive actually dealing with the death of his son. Part of this stems from the tragic past of his wife, Rachel (Denise Crosby), which makes it impossible to discuss death with her family, even though Louis is a doctor who deals with death daily. John and Laura are opposing ends of the “logic v. intuition” spectrum, Laura is quick to believe and this belief even helps her deal with the grief, while John attempts to push down anything resembling a hard emotion. And then Louis and Rachel, are more of the “rational v. emotional” spectrum. Though these roles become muddled as they grieve, Rachel and their daughter Ellie (Blaze Berdahl) also receive warnings from Pascow and are quicker to believe them. Rachel almost becomes more rational as she listens to the warnings where Louis becomes crazed as he ignores them. 

Gerard is not grief stricken, although he is dealing with a different kind of repression. Gerard is a stereotypical drunken, sarcastic author. He is not particularly religious, even though he is consistently warned about his fate with religious imagery and symbolism, particularly a woman in blue who frequently resembles Mary, the mother of Jesus. It becomes evident early on that Gerard is attracted to other men. He sees Herman at the train station and quickly pursues him, he even has fantasies about him as Jesus on the crucifix. It is hard to say if Gerard is bisexual or a closested gay man, because he does not necessarily go after Christine, and he only stays around when he realizes she can give him access to Herman. When he and Christine first have sex he covers her breasts and tells her she “resembles a very beautiful boy.” His infatuation with Herman makes him stay even when he has terrifying dreams in which Christine castrates him. His lust and lack of awareness around the consistent signs he is receiving puts him right in the “spider's web.” It is only in the last few scenes of the movie that he is convinced Christine is a murderer and tries to explain it to Herman, but in the end it is far too late for the two men. 

It is these fallacies of traditional male behavior that ultimately lead to their doom. Their unwillingness to pay attention to the signs from the world around them and hold on tightly to their code or rationale puts the last nail in the coffin. John realizes in his dying moments that the premonitions he was receiving were of his own funeral, as he dies at the hands of the serial killer terrorizing Venice. Gerard goes mad in the hospital after witnessing Herman’s brutal death, Herman ultimately becoming the “4th man,” Christine’s 4th victim. And Louis keeps burying himself deeper into his own tragedy as he consistently attempts to bring his dead family members back, until one of them finally kills him. If you were socialized as a woman, there are very small, subtle signs you often pay attention to in order to remain safe. Crossing the street when you see a strange figure, avoiding being alone at night, ignoring unwanted attention from strangers. Perhaps this is what looks like “women’s intuition” when it comes to danger, but mainly we are taught to be aware. Unlike these cis white men who believe they own the world and have nothing to fear. This trust in themselves while ignoring dangers around them is a troubling and dangerous aspect of toxic masculinity.

In Pet Sematary, Jud says that “The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it.” It is beliefs like this that make these characters tragic. They believe “man” is less emotional, less capable of opening themselves up to love or other emotions. Perhaps it is this belief that makes Louis bring his family back, because he does not think he has the capacity to love others. Or maybe it is more ironic. If men were less capable of emotion, why would they go to these dangerous and terrifying lengths to save those they love? But it is a perfect example of how these movies are entrenched in binary gender politics, but it is also a commentary on the binary. Perhaps if the characters in these movies learned to find a middle ground with these traits deemed “masculine” or “feminine” they would be more likely to navigate the world in a way that would save them. As the woman warning Gerard in The 4th Man says, “when you are warned, you must listen.” If that uncertainty or fear was able to pierce their hearts a little more maybe they would heed the signs. Even if they did not fully believe them, John would leave Venice, Gerard would go back on the train, Louis would forget about the pet sematary and hold onto the family he has left. Yet alas, these men are incapable of seeing past their own rational world.