Within the history of the horror genre, there is one scene that might be called the most iconic scene in horror movie history. This scene is delivered in Brian De Palma's 1976 film "Carrie" and depicts a young prom queen covered in blood--a scene which has become "emblematic of the film" (Kilker, 54). Since this film's release in 1976--a film which De Palma received criticism for because he changed the focus and implications of Stephen King's original version ("Carrie. Book and Film.", 1)--several films have recreated similar scenes to the one in "Carrie" in which the titular character and protagonist is covered in blood. In this section of analysis, I will more closely examine the use and meanings behind the blood in this iconic scene, as well the use of blood in similar scenes from different films. The other films which I have chosen to analyze alongside "Carrie" are Neil Marshall's 2005 film "The Descent" and Stephen Norrington's 1998 film "Blade".

Although many examples of blood as a visual tool within the horror genre have a gendered component, the use of blood in these films may even more so have gendered implications. Within the film "Carrie", the gendered implications of blood are made apparent in the beginning of the film. The first appearance of blood in this film occurs when the titular character, Carrie White, has menstrual bleeding for the first time in the girls' locker room of her high school. Carrie's own confusion about the source of the bleeding and the antagonism that she receives from her classmates about the bleeding--they scream at her to "plug it up"--are the first indicators of the sexual repression present within this film that Shelley Stamp Lindsey expounds upon in her work "Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Monstrous Puberty". In his work "Twice a Victim: Carrie Meets the BFI", Bruce Babington also asserts that the film "Carrie" also adds to the discourse surrounding misogyny in film. The sexual repression which Lindsey discusses is furthered in a scene in which Carrie's mother shames her for having her period and likens her to the biblical figure Eve and concept of Original sin. Although Carrie is forced to confront her own sexuality and the subsequent repression of this sexuality, her first menstrual bleeding also awakens her latent telekinetic abilities.

After enduring a number of abuses from her classmates and mother that are geared towards repressing her sexuality and abilities, things begin to seem optimistic for Carrie after she is invited to the prom by one of the more handsome and kind high school men. This optimism quickly turns to horror, vengeance, and fury, however, after her antagonizers drop a bucket filled with pig's blood onto her as she stands center-stage after being named prom queen. After being drenched in blood, blood that is reminiscent of Carrie's initial menstrual bleeding, Carrie becomes what Carol J. Clover termed in her work "Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film" the "female victim-hero" (Clover, 4). Carrie assumes this role as the victim-hero after unleashing her telekinetic powers and killing her classmates. As the victim-hero Carrie fights back against those who would repress her and expresses her feminine power, yet becomes a monster herself through the uncontrolled rage and destruction she wreaks upon her classmates. As Robert Kilker expresses in his work "All Roads Lead to the Abject: The Monstrous Feminine and Gender Boundaries in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"", the moment in which Carrie realizes and unleashes the full potential of her power is also the moment in which the audience ceases to identify with Carrie (Kilker, 55).

Similarly to Carrie, the female protagonist within "The Descent" is continually confronted with threats to her identity as a mother, a wife, and as a woman. In the beginning of the film, the female protagonist, "Sarah", must deal with the untimely death of her son and husband. These deaths force Sarah to confront her identity as a mother as well as her identity as a wife as she later learns that her husband was having an affair with her best friend. Once Sarah and her friends begin exploring a cave and are attacked by a group of bloodthirsty mutated male cave explorers, however, the focus of the film shifts towards the gendered power dynamics between the two groups. This directing of violence towards women in film has been the focus of several studies such as "Sex and Violence in Slasher Films: Re-examining the Assumptions". Studies such as this one have been focused on the link between sex and violence that can be seen in the horror genre. In "The Descent", it's not until Sarah falls into a giant pit of blood and is covered in blood that she really begins to subvert and resist the masculine power which had dominated her and her friends. This scene is also the moment in which Sarah fulfills the role of "The Final Girl"--a role defined by a woman fully realizing her feminine power and confronting the masculine power that surrounds--that Kelly Connelly expounds upon in her work "Defeating the Male Monster in Halloween and Halloween H20."

Unlike the female protagonists in "Carrie" and "The Descent", the opening scene of "Blade" depicts a male character who is completely covered in blood at a vampire rave. Prior to being covered in blood at the rave, this male character makes several references to his masculine power as defined by his sexual prowess. The female vampire that accompanies this man to the rave indulges his conceited notions of masculine power up until arriving at the rave. Upon entering the rave, the female vampire almost immediately leaves the man and engages in a very sexualized act of dancing with another female vampire. After the man is rejected by the female vampire and has his masculine authority and power undermined by this rejection, his masculine power and authority vanish after blood begins to spray from the sprinkler system at the rave. Unlike Carrie and Sarah, the blood that covers this man does not act as a visual tool to empower the man. Instead, he is completely unempowered and loses all authority and control in the situation.

The gendered aspects to the discourse surrounding blood in film is undeniable. While the female characters are empowered to express their feminine power when covered in blood that is reminiscent of menstrual bleeding, the man who is covered in blood loses all of his masculine power. In this way, however, all of these characters exemplify the way in which blood as a visual tool in horror films is capable of creating a rebirth for the characters in these films.