Horror movies mismarketed

[idoneus1957]

I thought of this when I saw the movie "The little girl who lives down the lane" at a college film society, a few years after it came out.

The movie was marketed to the wrong people. What I mean is, the ad campaign tried to make it seem like a horror movie, when it wasn't a horror movie. So the people who went to see it didn't like it, because they were expecting something else, and they gave it bad word of mouth, and it flopped. And the people who would have enjoyed it didn't go to see it, because they thought it was a horror movie.

Then there are the movies that fall between the genre cracks. I see the movie and think "It's too arty for the horror film crowd, and too much like a horror movie for the art film crowd." That's what I thought of Cemetery Man.

I didn't even know Rupert Everett was a famous actor. For a long time I thought of him as "The guy who starred in Cemetery Man."

Like, the first movie I ever saw Jason Robards in was A Thousand Clowns, so I just thought of him as a funny guy. I had no idea he was a distinguished stage actor who had made his mark in heavy stuff like The Iceman Cometh.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by idoneus1957

I thought of this when I saw the movie "The little girl who lives down the lane" at a college film society, a few years after it came out.

The movie was marketed to the wrong people. What I mean is, the ad campaign tried to make it seem like a horror movie, when it wasn't a horror movie. So the people who went to see it didn't like it, because they were expecting something else, and they gave it bad word of mouth, and it flopped. And the people who would have enjoyed it didn't go to see it, because they thought it was a horror movie.

Then there are the movies that fall between the genre cracks. I see the movie and think "It's too arty for the horror film crowd, and too much like a horror movie for the art film crowd." That's what I thought of Cemetery Man.

I didn't even know Rupert Everett was a famous actor. For a long time I thought of him as "The guy who starred in Cemetery Man."

Like, the first movie I ever saw Jason Robards in was A Thousand Clowns, so I just thought of him as a funny guy. I had no idea he was a distinguished stage actor who had made his mark in heavy stuff like The Iceman Cometh.

Too true. You're in for trouble when you arouse the wrong expectations.

Classic is Halloween III. After One and Two are Michael Myers in direct chronological order, if you want to make Season of the Witch, you better knock off "Halloween". The TV ads for H3 referenced H1 and H2, and wasn't explicit in making known it had nothing to do with Michael Myers. It was partially a bait and switch. Naturally people were pissed. I mean they could have made an ad that said something like, "Michael Myers is dead, but has spawned a horror anthology... but I'd still go with no "Halloween" in the name at all; just say "from the producers of Halloween".

Obviously I didn't see the marketing campaign that the college film society did for Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) (Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen). I don't even recall the TV ad in 1976. But I just watched one on youtube that I think was from '76 and I think is pretty straight forward as to what the films about... young girl is hiding a secret and it's a dangerous situation. There's a long history of this type of slow burn horror, especially in the 70's. I think of it as a horror drama film.

[LuvablePsycho]

That reminds me of The Others. I thought it was a great movie but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be an actual horror movie but it was more along the lines of a Historical Period Drama about ghosts.

I think a lot of people didn't actually like it because it wasn't what they were expecting so the movie has pretty much fallen into obscurity which is sad because Nicole Kidman gave a terrific performance in this movie.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by LuvablePsycho

That reminds me of The Others. I thought it was a great movie but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be an actual horror movie but it was more along the lines of a Historical Period Drama about ghosts.

I think a lot of people didn't actually like it because it wasn't what they were expecting so the movie has pretty much fallen into obscurity which is sad because Nicole Kidman gave a terrific performance in this movie.

That's interesting, that you thought it was more a historical period drama about ghosts. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I remember it as having plenty of scary scenes being pretty eerie throughout. Myabe it took awhile to get going? but I didn't mind. That's what I thought it was going to be. Luckily, I didn't know to much about it, so I thoroughly enjoyed the ending. Basically, I'd guess it's considered a psychological horror thriller mystery . It was shot well and yeah, Kidman did a great job.

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

That's interesting, that you thought it was more a historical period drama about ghosts. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I remember it as having plenty of scary scenes being pretty eerie throughout. Myabe it took awhile to get going? but I didn't mind. That's what I thought it was going to be. Luckily, I didn't know to much about it, so I thoroughly enjoyed the ending. Basically, I'd guess it's considered a psychological horror thriller mystery . It was shot well and yeah, Kidman did a great job.

Well it was also like a historical drama. I mean it was set in a European country in the 1940's right after World War 2 and the main female character was dealing with the hardship of raising two children with severe disabilities and a husband who had possibly died fighting in the war. It just happaned to have ghosts involved but to me they really weren't as scary as other ghost movies because in the end after you find out the big plot twist I realized it wasn't such a bad situation after all. Of course I don't want to spoil the ending lol.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by LuvablePsycho

Well it was also like a historical drama. I mean it was set in a European country in the 1940's right after World War 2 and the main female character was dealing with the hardship of raising two children with severe disabilities and a husband who had possibly died fighting in the war. It just happaned to have ghosts involved but to me they really weren't as scary as other ghost movies because in the end after you find out the big plot twist I realized it wasn't such a bad situation after all. Of course I don't want to spoil the ending lol.

I get what you're saying; and it was a strong period piece with the car, clothing, items in the house. Just my opinion, I don't think this would be a film without the ghosts, and the twist wouldn't exist without the ghost thing. And I remember little things like the ghostly sounds, and the heads under the sheets scene... maybe I was jumpy that night, but I thought it was scary, it got under my skin. I was thoroughly immersed into the film with the details of her hardship life, which I think was the point (immersion) which made this a good horror film. It's a strong drama, definitely in the vein of The Sixth Sense, though of course the later had the gory.

[LuvablePsycho]

Yeah I guess I'm just used to seeing gore in today's horror movies so I tend to think, like most people, that a horror movie can't be horror without lots of violence lol. Ironic because I actually like a lot of the older black and white horror movies that had little to know violence.

[Smeg Head1]

I wouldn't describe The Others as a Historical Drama as the whole focus was on the fact that she believed they were being haunted.

A lot of ghost movies end in a way that negates the scares of movie - it often turns out that the ghost is just trying to communicate and isn't actually a malevolent spirit as believed. But that doesn't mean it wasn't scary as you were watching it.

I know what you mean though LP. When I think 'horror' I think visceral, rather than psychological. I don't tend to think of ghost movies as horror movies, I tend to think of them as 'scary' movies, even though they do fit under the definition of horror (an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust). Ghost movies are often described as 'supernatural horror' which I think better suits.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - it certainly wasn't made clear in the trailers that it was a musical!

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by Smeg Head1

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - it certainly wasn't made clear in the trailers that it was a musical!

So true! But I still loved it. It was such a disturbingly dark movie and the songs were what made it such a unique experience.

[LuvablePsycho]

I thought of The Others as not being so much about "Ghosts are scary" as it was "Ghosts are still people". It was set up to be kind of scary because the mother didn't know what was going on but it's not like anybody was really harmed in this movie, and in the end everything turned out to be OK and it kind of gave a message that maybe ghosts are just as afraid of us as we are of them. It's like saying "How would you feel if some unknown thing entered into your home with you and your family?".

I really loved this movie but I didn't think it was much of a horror movie. It was definitely an emotional movie and I could feel everything that the characters were going through including the mother, her two children, the servants, and even her husband who only appeared briefly.