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atthebell · 2 days ago

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Natal Macabro Slasher/Horror References

Spoilers, obviously, for a lot of classic as well as newer slashers and horror films generally. Content warnings for blood, gore, and graphic violence. I'm gonna order this generally by how influential I think each film is, although sometimes it's just whatever order I wanted to list them in. Additional disclaimers at the bottom along with some footnotes and fun facts.

Friday the 13th (1980) references:

The camp setting, though I'll discuss later other instances of this that are likely also inspiration.

Aguiar's mask is Jason Voorhees-inspired (though the signature Jason mask first appeared in Friday the 13th Part III, not the first film).

The axe is also a Friday the 13th reference-- though axe killings are very common in slashers, the specific scene of Brenda being killed by an axe to the head in Friday the 13th seems like inspiration for Aguiar's favored method of splitting people's heads open with an axe.

Alice likely having been Aguiar's adoptive mother* & also a killer (Pam Voorhees was the original Friday the 13th killer, then Jason took up the role in subsequent films)

Diamond Lake is a reference to Crystal Lake, the location of the original and most subsequent Friday the 13th films.

Halloween (1978) references:

The true pioneer of the slasher, Halloween kicked off the genre and is widely recognized as the first slasher as well as a pivotal horror film.

Solidified some key elements of the final girl trope, namely that the final female survivor has a confrontation with the killer herself

Scream (1996) references:

Ghostface uses a hunting knife, as does Jae in Natal Macabro.

Ghostface plays a game with Casey Becker in the original movie-- if she can guess horror movies correctly from clues he gives her over the phone, the killer won't hurt her boyfriend. Jae creates a game for their victims to have to find keys and avoid her in the house. Not completely the same but similar enough that I'm including it.

Ghostface's costume includes a hood, as does Jae's.

The imposter trope/unsureness about who the killer is and if the protagonist/final girl knows them is very much a thing in Scream, but I discuss it a bit more below as well

Cellbit loves this fucking franchise he is obsessed with Ghostface

Black Christmas (1974) references:

The film's poster is in the house, first of all

Christmas horror, obviously, set in a sorority house where some members have left for the holidays and others are staying, making them targets for the killer.

For a big portion of the movie, several of the characters' bodies are in the attic while other characters, unaware of the danger, wander the house.

Considered to be one of the first true slashers

The imposter element that I'll discuss somewhat below is definitely present in Black Christmas.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) references:

Made the masked killer trope popular, though it wasn't the first.

Leatherface, the main killer in the film, wears a mask made of human flesh-- just like Alice Lucina's Caçadora de Gente mask.

Includes the young people stopping at a random house trope.

You Might Be the Killer (2018) references

Similar masks, particularly with the lack of a mouth hole

The mask in You Might Be the Killer makes the wearer lose control of themself and kill others, sometimes going into a fugue state and being compelled to continue putting the mask on.

The Prisoners (2013) references:

This reference is the major reason I believe in the idea that Alice was Aguiar's adoptive mother in some way, as in The Prisoners, Helen Jones kidnaps a young boy named Alex and raises him to be a killer like her. The portrait of Alice in the house seems to be a clear nod to Helen (big glasses, white turtleneck, crazy eyes), and I've seen way too many Brazilians on Twitter talking about this movie as a reference point to think it's coincidence.

Saw (2004) references:

Let's play a game shit

Waking up locked in a location & needing to escape (through harming yourself)

Yet another masked freak

Dead by Daylight references:

Dead by Daylight isn't a slasher film, but it's a game entirely based around slashers, and it's a game Cellbit has played a lot of so I think it's fair to discuss.

Hooks and generators -- DBD didn't invent people getting put on hooks, see below, but it is the signature of the game

Underground/shadow travel by the killers

Killers participating in rituals to sacrifice survivors (this is also kind of just Ordem shit but yk)

Not really references, but Sobrevivendo ao Horror as an addition has a lot of stuff that lends itself well to a Dead by Daylight setting-- chase sequences and the mechanics involved, for instance. Very neat!!! It's a good system and a good supplement for slashers, which makes it interesting to compare to DBD as a video game adaptation of slashers.

DBD's whole Entity thing is also very Lovecraftian and very Ordem-like so that's fun as well

General slasher/horror tropes:

Useless cops/cops are in on the killings (Aguiar)

Hot blonde girl/hot cheerleader (Mel)

Genre-aware person who wants to leave the situation before others are scared (Shany)

Horror nerd -- Best example is Randy in Scream, and in Natal Macabro is represented by Nath. This trope can be represented very similarly to the genre-aware character trope, but they aren't inherently the same role.

Imposter (sorry)-- generally a group member who either hides that they are the killer or has some other ulterior motive, or serves as a red herring. Think Peter in Black Christmas, or Billy and Stu in Scream. Jorel fills this role but so does Aguiar, appearing to the first group to be an ally before revealing that he's in on the killings.

Previous murders/a location seemingly marked for repeat killings (think Friday the 13th, Scream, etc. & the previous camper killings in 2013 in Natal Macabro)

Axes and hunting knives as weapons, bear traps -- For the latter, I would look towards My Heart is a Chainsaw and the rest of The Indian Lake Trilogy-- all of which include bear traps, and the series is a great horror read & glossary for slashers. I believe there's also bear traps in DBD.

Camp location, particularly with an accompanying lake -- Present in Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, and a ton of other slashers, present in NM with o Acampamento Lua da Benquerença.

Teenagers sneaking into an abandoned/supposedly abandoned house -- This trope seems to have originated with A Bay of Blood/Ecologia del delitto (1971), which was a huge influence on slashers, but is present throughout many horror films.

Secluded cabin location (typically involving young people) -- Occurs in Evil Dead (1981), The Cabin in the Woods (2011), etc.

Broken down vehicle/roadtrip -- Present in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well as many others

Complex parental relationships (particularly mommy issues) -- Present in Friday the 13th, relevant here if Alice and Aguiar are parent and child as I think they are

Hooks as weapons/killers putting people on hooks -- present in Black Christmas, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and of course extremely central to Dead by Daylight, but Candyman (1992) is what really stands out to me as the slasher most connected to the hook as a weapon.

Other Christmas slashers/horror films: Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972), Home for the Holidays (1972), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Final girl-- a common trope in horror movies and particularly slashers. The most commonly acknowledged initiation of the trope comes from the 1973 giallo* film Torso, but it's most widely known from Black Christmas and, especially, Halloween, with Laurie Strode, Sidney Prescott, Alice Hardy, and Ellen Ripley being some of the most famous final girls in horror. Final girl is sometimes applied to men in horror films as well, most often Ash from Evil Dead, but is meant to be applied to women as the slasher franchise's relationship with female characters and misogynistic violence is a complex one. Final characters generally have become especially popular to talk about in recent years.

My many disclaimers/footnotes:

[1] I have no confirmation on any of these references (aside from the Black Christmas poster, lol), although some of them are extremely obvious if you're a fan of horror/have seen these movies. I'm also only listing the initial film in a franchise unless there's a clear reference to a later film-- you can get the picture from the first Scream, for example; you don't need me to go on about each sequential film including certain tropes/elements too. I am not an expert or even all that well-versed on slashers, either, I just enjoy doing research and like learning about film and horror history. If I missed any references, feel free to let me know and I'll add them to the post, or you can reblog with references you noticed too. Some of these I'll also admit are just me talking about important films to the genre that I think inform any conversation about Natal Macabro and any other kind of slasher. I also haven't seen every film I mentioned here, some I've only read the summary of, others I've seen only parts of.

[2] I know this is just one of my theories about NM but it seems pretty likely to me for this and other reasons included later (The Prisoners connection, for instance) so I'm putting it on the list.

[3] Italian giallo films were the precursor to slashers-- they were generally considered exploitation films full of gratuitous sex and violence, and paved the way for the kinds of plots, gore, and tropes that would become popular in slashers.

Fun facts:

Breno is not alone in being a Black final character! If you count George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, the first movie to feature zombies (though they weren't called that in the movie), Ben is one of the first final guys, although he's still killed by the end of the film, just not by "ghouls." There have been many other Black final characters in horror (Alexa Woods in Alien vs. Predator, Selena in 28 Days Later, Jeryline in Demon Knight, Tess in Barbarian, and more), though definitely not as many as there should be. The lack of Black leads, and specifically Black female leads, means slashers suffer in the same way many pieces of media do, along with the fact that so many of the characters that aren't the protagonist must die according to the formula. I've heard the latest Scream also has a Black female survivor by the end, so I'm excited about more diverse casting and writing becoming more prevalent within horror as a genre.

Some other character tropes present with the NM cast of characters: Jorel as the wimpy injured guy who turns out to suck, Leandro as the brooding suspicious guy who's actually fine, Lila as the weird spiritual person, Ricardo and Breno both as the jocks, Lucio as the more recent horror trope of influencers/filmmakers who get stuck in a horror situation.

Masked killers are EXTREMELY common in slashers, as they provide a way to hide the identity of the killer until the "reveal," a typical part of the film/story when the identity, backstory, and motivations of the killer are revealed, usually by the final girl/remaining survivors finding said information. They're also just great for marketing.

Noncomprehensive horror homework Letterboxd list

More recommendations:

Book recs:

The Indian Lake Trilogy (My Heart is a Chainsaw, Don't Fear the Reaper, The Angel of Indian Lake) - Stephen Graham Jones [IMO this series is THE way to learn about slashers if you're unfamiliar-- Jade Daniels is a veritable encyclopedia of slashers, and the narratives of the books themselves are wonderful and crazy and gory and just awesome.]

The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones

Out There Screaming - ed. Jordan Peele

For game recs: Dead by Daylight, Little Nightmares, Alien Isolation (don't actually play it it's terrible but go watch someone's playthrough if you're into self-flagellation and the Alien franchise), Resident Evil, Outlast, Killer Frequency, and plenty more survival-horror. Do NOT play Until Dawn, but read the Wikipedia page or something to understand how not to pay homage to slashers, because that's what that game is.

For stuff that I think relates to more typical Ordem content (aka more paranormal horror), I'd recommend Shirley Jackson, Lovecraft, and some Stephen King, although for the latter two there's a lot of disclaimers to provide and curated recommendations that you should track down.

#bell.txt #natal macabro #blood tw #gore tw #got kind of tired of working this towards the end so some of it is not as detailed as the rest #okay. i think i'm finally done

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