A precursor to gore cinema, the Grand Guignol theater exposes, through its form and themes, an ambiguous relationship to the body as a strange mechanic that must be restrained and controlled while demanding unbridled explosions. In the Paris of “La Belle Epoque”, the Grand Guignol was situated at the confluence of bourgeois and popular cultures, scientific innovations and social transformations.

He drew from it a fascination mixed with fear towards the contradictory and complementary dynamics of control and unleashing, as well as a deep anguish both towards the authorities, whose shackles crush the individuals with an implacable and inhuman rigor and towards the potential monster which hides in everyone and threatens to emerge if not tamed. It is in this soil of fear that the techniques of the “Scottish shower”, the timing of plays and the bloody special effects that have made the identity of this theater were developed.

This lecture will explore this dimension that cinema has largely inherited and focus on explaining how the Grand Guignol evolved from a subversive naturalistic theater to a festival of horrific and erotic thrills, and how its social and cultural context Guignol perspires through its plays and irrigated modern horror after its demise.