I'll preface this short rant by saying that I enjoyed the movie Creature and you can read my review here.
Now I have that out of the way I can move on to a little education of a bitter man. The man in question is Fred Andrews, and he is the director of the movie Creature, who ended up in the fortunate position of having his first feature film play in 1500 (or so) theaters across the States. Unfortunately for him the movie, as is now common knowledge, tanked and disappeared from the big screen.
In a recent interview with Fangoria, which happened to feature the movie on its magazine cover and gave it a positive review, Mr Andrews saw fit to generalize bloggers as "bottom-feeders". Well Sonny Jim maybe you should think about what you say before you openly fart through your vocal chords. So, Fangoria and the LA Times gave the movie a good review? Whoop-dee-doo, just about every other well known genre site review I read slated the movie. These reviews weren't on blogs, they were on sites that companies use quotes for on their DVD cases. It wasn't the bloggers that killed your movie, it was you and your publicity department.
Putting an R rated horror movie that features a man in a rubber suit, with no recognizable names (sorry Sid Haig but outside genre fans you are not well known) and virtually no advertising is not going to get you any sort of return. Many genre fans that I know hadn't even heard of the bloody movie, so how do you expect non-genre fans to give a shit? Have you seen how the majority of horror films perform at the theater?
Let's throw some figures at you shall I? The Creature Facebook page has, at time of writing this, 8402 fans. If every one of those fans went to the theater to see it, and I am sure they didn't, you'd get roughly 5 or 6 people per screen. Oh, hang on, isn't that the amount of people that did go to the theater to see it? Compare that to the 95000 fans The Orphan Killer has, and they aren't arrogant enough to attempt a theatrical release. Or we could go down the road of mentioning the 24 million fans the Twlight (movie) series has. Or I could mention the 44000 views the ten videos on the Creature Youtube page has. That's combined viewing figures by the way. Hell, my Youtube page has more views. So again I mention 1500 screens. Why?
Horror fans are a loyal bunch, they will follow you to the ends of the Earth and support your career, damn it they will keep you in a career. They will buy your movies, your posters, stump up cash for autographs and wear your t-shirts. Shit on them and they will crucify you. Horror fans aren't like the rest of the movie-going public, they actually care about their movies. Call them geeks, nerds or fanboys, but I can assure you that I have invested more time and money into the genre than you ever will.
Many directors, writers and actors embrace social networking sites and blogs, they appreciate the fact that it is a way of getting in touch with their audience. They know that if they want people to buy into their product then they are going to have to put in some legwork, and I am not just talking about the Independent movie makers such as yourself Mr Andrews. The most successful horror film this year without a doubt has been Insidious. The makes of this haven't rested on their laurels though, they are always posting to their fans and communicating with them. Maybe you should take a leaf out of their book and show a little humility so that if you do ever get to make another film people might go and see it.
You carry on being a bitter little man and I will continue to be a "bottom feeder". The difference between you and I is that I have a respect for the genre, and those attached to it, and I work hard to maintain my reputation. I try to promote the genre I love and like nothing more than getting the word out about movies, foreign and domestic, that might otherwise slip under the radar. You mention about "reputable" critics and publications, did they hand over their cash to see your movie? No, it was the bloggers, the lowest of the low, well 6 or 7 of them, that paid their money to see your movie. After reading your whining I am glad I didn't pay to see it either. And no I didn't illegally download it, I got sent a screener from your PR company. The sad thing is I would happily have paid to see it on the big screen, I would have bought the DVD too but I don't think that will happen now.
Instead of crying about forces working against you, you should have put a little more effort into the promotion of the movie and being proactive not reactive, as is obviously your modus operandi. I do hope you learn from this experience and man-up in future, don't blame the fans for your shortcomings because you won't have any if you continue to do so.
So ends today's Filthy sermon.
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