Sunday, October 10, 2010

On why this year's horror movies aren't doing well and why it's really no big deal.

 So I'm sitting here and it's Sunday before Columbus Day and I don't have work tomorrow. I'm sitting here watching the Herschell Gordon Lewis classic "Blood Feast" and I'm realizing that I haven't made a peep on this here blog in months. I was going to do another silly little review of a terrible movie but I feel like I should sort of comment on the recent glut of horror movies at the theaters this month. On October 1, four new theater horror movies were released. Since then, one of these has been already pulled, none of them have made shit for money, and two more have been released just this Friday. So of course I looked at all the internet horror magazines and they all are wondering why their readers and horror fans in general aren't coming out to the theaters. They say it like it is absolutely imperative that every person who calls themselves a horror fan must go out and see every one of these movies or the world will end. Most people if they are going to see a movie are watching that Facebook movie crap (I will not comment on how asinine I think a movie about Facebook is but just know I think it's dumb). I don't think it's hard to get why no one's coming out to see them. One is a remake of a movie from Sweden no one heard of, another has Renee Zellwegger and might be good but probably isn't, the other two no one knows about because there has been no advertising outside of horror circles. Of the two that came out on Friday, one is a guaranteed suck fest in 3D and the other is a remake of a graphic exploitation movie most people haven't heard of. Is this really that hard to figure out? Movies are fucking expensive. People are not going to see a movie for $12 that looks like shit. Period. I will see just about anything, but not for $12. Especially if that $12 is for a Wes Craven movie. In 3D no less. Hopefully that trend will die soon. It didn't work in the 50's either. Or the 80's. Leave it alone.

   As for what this means for horror movies...how bout we take it down a notch. It isn't that serious. I like that there are some actual choices this year, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just drop $100 at the movie theater. I don't intend to see Saw 89 (I haven't seen one of those since part 2 and I hated it so much I vowed never again), nor will I see Paranormal Activity 2. The first time was a good idea, once was enough. I'm glad there are choices, but they all look iffy at best. Hatchet 2 was the only surefire, and that got pulled from the three theaters it was playing. All signs point to money being the issue, but there is speculation that releasing it unrated might have been the real reason. Whatever, I'll catch it on DVD. Which brings me to my next point. The fact that people aren't shelling out their hard earned, and in most cases hard to come by dollars on the crap at the theater doesn't mean the death of the horror movie. Not in the slightest. I for one would much rather pick up a movie on DVD anyway. I watch it whenever I want in the comfort of my own home, on my couch, without gum under the seat or shithead loud people. That's where the real money in horror is anyway. I check the DVD listings every month to see if anything new and obscure (sometimes both) is getting released. If I have a choice between buying the Slumber Party Massacre re-issued trilogy on DVD or seeing a 3D crapfest a' la Wes Craven, I don't even have to say it. Will I see one of the theater movies? Maybe. Maybe not. Who gives a shit? Horror movies will be made regardless. No matter who watches them.

1 comment:

Ulrich said...

Let me in was actually a really decent movie. I don't know if it even counts as horror though...