Even though "Kick-Ass" eked out the box office win last week, it fell off a cliff this last weekend and "How To Train Your Dragon" took its top spot back. "The Losers", which I would classify as in a similar sub-genre as "Kick-Ass", was, much like "Kick-Ass", a financial disappointment... Also, it should be duly noted that both of these films were heavily marketed. The second and third spot went to "The Back-Up Plan" and "Date Night", which are both girly, date movies... really. Fourth place went to "The Losers" and "Kick-Ass" was fifth. Now, even though I try to on a consistant basis, I can't speak for the masses... BUT, I thought "Kick-Ass" was pretty good. So, why didn't it do well? I don't really know, my guess is that demographic just doesn't go to the theaters any more, unless it's for something huge. Good kids movies are always profitable for various reasons; kids like to see movies multiple times, they take their parents, a lot of these films are for kids, but cast a wider net... Further, as long as teenagers don't want to talk to each other while they're on their awkward dates, the date movie will continue to pack them in on Friday and Saturday nights. Now, what does that say for "Nightmare on Elm Street", which comes out this Friday? Will horror transcend this action-comedy trap and prove that it's still a viable genre at the box office? I think so. I think it'll take top spot and I think it'll do it easy. Anyhow, the other news is, not only did "Avatar" prove that there's a way to make money on huge budget films, it proved that the DVD/Blu-ray market is more than just alive when it shattered the sales record held by "The Dark Knight". Is that because there's a bigger home entertainment audience these days or is it because "Avatar" is such a juggernaut film? That's a good question and I can't answer it. Since we're on the home entertainment market, let's check out all the horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, you can head over to our Youtube Page and see all the trailers and you can click on the title to be taken to the films Amazon page, where you can read more and/or buy it.Should I really be giving "Transylmania
" any time here? Probably not. If you think entertaining action-comedies do poorly at the box office, how do you think crappy horror-farces do? Piss poor. This is actually the sequel to the 2006 film, "National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2" and, quite frankly, it sucks... no pun intended. What sucks even worse is the fact that you could probably have made over ten low-budget features on the budget they had for this. Anyhow, next..."Sympathy
" is a low-budget horror film and it absolutely lit up the indie horror film festival circuit. Unfortunately for me, this is the first that I've heard of it and I'll definitely be checking this one out as soon as possible. From what I've read and seen, this looks like one of the films you need to look up to and emulate. There's only a few actors, they keep the locations to a minimum and they take a typical, run of the mill story-line and turn it on its head. Indie horror filmmakers, this your film to check out this week. I don't know what's up with the trailer that I found, but it's the only one I could find."Marked
" is the first of three films released by Night Light Films this week. The others are "The Fear Chamber
" and "Passed the Door of Darkness
". All three have notable actors and a bit of budget behind them, plus they all look pretty good. "Marked" is a creepy looking paranormal film, "The Fear Chamber" is about serial killer that steals organs and "Passed the Door of Darkness" looks like it takes the serial killer genre to a whole new level... and they all look fairly gruesome. Now, what's REALLY interesting is how cheap they are. They're $6.99 each. I'm wondering if these guys are testing the waters on new price points, trying to open the market up. In any case, all the films look worth watching and, at that price, it's just a bit more than renting them. Also, I'm going to look further into this Night Light Films business..."Spirit
" looks to be a micro-cinema film and, unfortunately for them, they picked the same title as the big-budget film, "The Spirit". So, I can't find much about it and I don't have the time to do serious digging. Lesson: if you don't have a big budget for marketing and making your film stand out, you probably want to pick a title that stands out a bit more. Something that's easy to find. Try to do a search for "Spirit", then do a search for the afore mentioned "Passed the Door of Darkness" and note the differences.
So much for that experiment... "Kick Ass" fell flat at the box office, losing out to "How To Train Your Dragon", which has been in the theaters for a few weeks now. Now, as usual, there's a lesson to be learned here. They're calling this sub-genre a superhero-comedy and this particular sub-genre does not do well when it's not geared for a very young audience. The most successful film in this sub-genre and, really, the only successful film out of this sub-genre, is the animated film, "The Incredibles". If you expand the sub-genre, you could make a case for "Watchmen" to be in there, as it's not exactly your typical superhero film, either. It wasn't a comedy, but it did step outside the comfort zone of a standard superhero film. Regardless, it ALSO underperformed. So, what can we learn? Well, for screenwriters... stay away from the superhero genre all together. I certainly wouldn't be pitching it. Audiences haven't been flocking to spoofs, comedies or any other type of sub-genre that steps out of the typical superhero framework and that means that the studios won't exactly be clamoring over each other to get at another one, especially one that's on spec. However, I think this may open up an opportunity if you're in the indie or micro-budget film scene, as I do think we may be ripe for a new take on the superhero genre and it's going to have to come out of the low-budget world. This is an arena where risks can be taken and I'd love to see a low-budget superhero horror or something that really turns the genre upside down. Something can be done here and it's got my brain going... if you're an indie-horror or micro-budget filmmaker that's looking for an idea and this got your wheels spinning, shoot me an email - I've got a few ideas. Anyhow, let's take a look at the horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, head over to our Youtube Page by clicking 
". It's not a slasher film, it's not gory and it's not really that scary, to be honest. However, there are definitely some thriller-type moments, the film deals with death and purgatory and, well, there's a serial killer in it. The film had a budget of $65Million, which is quite low by Jackson's standards, and it only grossed just over $93Million worldwide, which makes it a bit of a dud, money-wise. Although it gets a bit preachy and sappy, it's worth seeing, especially if you're a fan of Jackson's earlier, non-gory work like "Heavenly Creatures". Also, I have to say, I'm always a sucker for any film that explores the after-life, I just like seeing people's interpretations...
", but it does star Mischa Barton and it was directed by Morgan J. Freeman, not the Morgan Freeman that you're thinking about, Danny Dufraine, but the guy who made "Hurricane Streets" and won three awards at Sundance in 1997 with it. Freeman also did "Desert Blue", some of "Dawson's Creek", "American Psycho 2" and was a producer on "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County". The film is about a former small-town golden boy and his new girlfriend that come home to discover that his high school sweetheart, played by Barton, has an unhealthy obsession with him.
" is written and directed by Mark Jones and he's doing some interesting stuff here... sure, you have the typical fraternity tom-foolery surrounding a killer clown that's escaped from a mental home, but you also have the main character battling homophobia. Jones has made a few gay-themed projects, including a web-based soap opera called "The Edge of Happiness" and another feature called "Eli Parker Is Getting Married?". To be honest, the inclusion of gay themes in your film almost guarantees you exposure at festivals and in the media, as well as distribution. It's an interesting angle to take, whether or not you're actually gay... may help you get financing, too. Just some thoughts.
" is a British film that came out in 2009. It's about a successful Wall Street trader that returns to Britain with her family to find that her new home in the countryside contains a disturbing secret. The film is directed by Anthony Hickox and it's a return to horror for him. His first film was "Waxwork" in 1988, then he went on to do such films as "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" and "Warlock: The Armegeddon" before getting into more mainstream straight to DVD stuff like a few Dolph Lundgren and Stephen Seagal movies in the late nineties and early two thousands. Welcome back, Anthony, let's hope that Dolph and Stevie don't miss you too much.
" is a micro-budget film from Alex Birrell and it's about a wave of violence that spreads due to the strange experiments of Dr. Joseph Cornwall. The film has a great cast of micro-budget and low-budget horror stars, including Raine Brown, Joe Zaso and friend of Dead Harvey, Billy Garberina. Top of my list for the week, for sure.
" and "
". He's done a ton of films, they're all messed up, and he's the outspoken, experimental filmmaker that's considered to be the father of Philippine digital filmmaking. In the late nineties, he owned and managed Oracafe, which was a cultural hub for Philippine writers, musicians, filmmakers and other artists and went on to make twenty three features and over seventy short films. Very interesting guy and I want to check out a bunch of his films now.
So, comedy beat out action at the box office... kind of. Really, there was no clear winner, as "Date Night", "Clash of the Titans" and "How to Train Your Dragon" all came in within a couple million dollars of each other, which is nothing. What's a couple million dollars? However, they did come in, in that order. "Clash" dropped big time and "Dragon" held in there a lot better than people expected. Not much to report, really, so I'll just look to next week. This coming Friday has two big movies coming out, "Death at a Funeral" and "Kick Ass". Let's just say that I won't be seeing "Death at a Funeral" and leave it at that. However, I'm really interested in "Kick Ass", as, to be honest, it's really unique and I want to see how it does. It's based on a comic book of the same name, although the rights to the film version were sold before the first issue was even published. It's about a teenager that wants to become a superhero, then gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy, a former cop that's training his eleven year old girl to be a ruthless vigilante. I'm interested in it because it really seems to be going for a younger demographic (an eleven year old antagonist, a teenager that wants to be a superhero, a flashy soundtrack), HOWEVER, it's been called "jaw-droppingly violent", "relentlessly violent" and has an eleven year old girl that is more vulgar than a bus load of drunken sailors on their way to a whore house. The budget wasn't that big, by Hollywood standards, only $28Million, so I guess the risk is low for Lionsgate... but it's an interesting angle and I do want to check it out and see how it does. Anyhow, on to the horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, you can go to our 
and get the entire "
" on regular DVD.
", written and directed by Mark Stouffer, is about four young couples that head off to do some off-roading, but end up being attacked by 'The Catcher', an alien (or human or thing... I don't know) that's "a skilled and brutal hunter of human specimens for alien science". Reviews aren't that great, but it does look like it's got a bit of budget behind it. The trailer's very strange, as it has an official trailer at the front end, but then it cuts to this choppy sequence of events that I can't really figure out. I'm not going to lie to you, I really don't know what's going on here. Next.
". The title sounds a bit low-budget, but it's got a decent cast of people that you'd recognize and it's directed by Howard Wexler. This is the first real film of this kind that Wexler's directed, but he's spent a long time in the camera department, both as a cinematographer and camera operator, splitting his time between making straight-to-DVD horror and porn. Granted, it's been mostly horror for the last decade or so... but a career in porn will linger like the smell that filming a porn leaves behind... not that I know. I'm just guessing. Really. Anyhow, the plot is fairly interesting, as it's about a small town that WAS attacked on September 9th, 2009 and the film takes place sixty years later with the last survivor recounting the details of what the government calls 'the start of the modern plague'. Interesting angle, I like that.
" comes out of Ireland and it's directed by Aisling Walsh. It was nominated for best achievement in production and best actress for Samantha Morton at the British Independent Film Awards. You've got a classic horror backdrop, where an emotional fragile family moves to a remote village following the tragic death of their baby daughter, which sets up them taking in a disturbed and orphaned autistic girl called Daisy. One thing leads to another and, as you would expect, Daisy is not what she seems... in fact, she may be something far more malevolent.
", which in long form, is called "The Greatest American Snuff Film - Directors Cut Special Edition". Now, I don't know if this is a remake or reinvisioning of the original, but if you haven't seen the first, it'll be worth picking up. What's great about these films, and what I love about them, is the fact that he's justifying using an extremely low-budget medium. Yes, it looks low-budget. Yes, it's gritty. Yes, anyone could put this together... but that's the point. You want to know how to make a no-budget film marketable? Look at what Tretta's done with these two films.
" was actually already released... and not that long ago, just back in December. I'm pretty sure what I said then is still valid: "Mental Scars" is from Mischa Perez and it's got one of the creepiest looking killers I've seen in a while. However, I feel that he should've been taller... maybe move a bit slower. That could be just me, though. In any case, he goes by the name David Taggart, but his ancient Native American tribe refers to him as "the Protector" - a dark figure in the night who scavenges the grounds in search of human flesh... and he's got his work cut out for him here, when a bunch of investors try to turn a dilapidated old junk yard that sits on top of a Native burial ground into a profitable parking lot.