MY FAT SHERIFF

[Lautremont]

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My Fat Sheriff: A Study Of Overweight Law Enforcement's Effectiveness And Culpability In The Slasher Film

Article by Dan Budnik and Bleeding Skull

The slasher film, in general, is ruled by formulaic elements. There is the Final Girl, the mysterious prologue, some sort of remote or isolated location, sexual byplay, and ineffective law enforcement. The last of these ingredients has yet to be scrutinized in some detail.

How capable is law enforcement in slasher films? How responsible are the aforementioned "Fuzz" for the ferocious events that usually occur under their jurisdiction? And, why are they all so large?

There are many slashers with some kind of law enforcement in them. However, an alarming common denominator soon surfaces within these films' depiction of the man deemed "Sheriff." More often than not, this agent of the law is characterized by what is euphemistically referred to as "big boned" or, to tweak the term slightly, "fat boned." He is The Fat Sheriff. Truly, a man who invites further study.

Presently, the characters and actions of six of the most corpulent Fat Sheriffs will be examined as they relate to the previously mentioned points. This list includes: The Sheriff from Don't Go In the Woods, Sheriff Avery from House of Death aka Death Screams, Meagher County Sheriff from Honeymoon Horror, Sheriff Liggett from Silent Madness, Sheriff "Chief" Cash from Evil Laugh, and finally, Sheriff J. Chism from Offerings. For the benefit of those who may not remember the basics, brief plots of each film will be disclosed. Reasoning, however, will not.

(snip)

Read the rest, with pictures: http://www.bleedingskull.com/features/myfatsheriff.html

[Robb]

1. We rural folks just know it's so.

My county sheriff: overweight. Same with my town marshal.

Interesting note: one of my personal theories about less-than-fit law enforcement officers was recently confirmed. Turns out my marshal is one of those lighting-matches-with-bullets kind of absurdly good shots. :D

Robb's note: Do NOT run from overweight law enforcement.

[Mr. Blonde]

2. They don't have to be fat to be incompetent

Look at this guy.



Thank God Neptune has Veronica around to take care of business.



Is this a shameless plug for one of my favorite shows? Yes.