a subgenre of horror fiction characterized by the frequent and graphic description of grisly violence, bloody deaths, and extreme sexual situations; (in later use also) a similar genre of movies, video games, etc.
[apparently coined by the horror writer David J. Schow during the Twelfth World Fantasy Convention held in Providence, Rhode Island in 1986]
Student reaction was as varied as our story types. Some reveled in rock horror and splatter-punk, finding the quiet literary horror tale boring.
As a style, Splatterpunk is often gross, usually extreme, and always visceral.
The second attribute found in a typical splatterpunk story is the use of grotesque and extremely imaginative images, images that are both fascinating and repulsive at the same time.
The second splatterpunk progenitor was the novel Vampire Junction, written by science fiction writer Somtow Sucharitkul under the pseudonym S. P. Somtow.
What she does do is devote chapters to…satanism…, Robert Bloch, splatterpunk, and Stephen King.
Frightening with the same flair as Block/Hitchcock’s Psycho, and without the disgusting splatterpunk horror twists so common.
What it most definitely is not is of the splatterpunk school of blood'n'guts'n’sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll which in the late 80s clawed its way to the centre of attention in the horror genre.
The grand old days of all-encompassing sf have now given way to an even greater degree of specialization than could have been dreamed of when the New Worlds crew were deemed to be new wave : now we have cyberpunk, splatterpunk, hard sf, space opera, space fantasy…and so on.
Even with more than a reasonable quota of graphic violence and kinky sex, it can’t be dismissed as simply a chunk of splatterpunk arrived late on the scene.
antedating 1987
D.W. Taylor in Horrorstruck
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1987 cite from an article by D.W. Taylor in "Horrorstruck".
Added to the OED in March 2002. Earliest cite in the OED: 1988.
Last modified 2021-09-21 13:41:13
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