"Kick Ass" and "The Losers" beat up by "Dragon" and a look at the week in horror on DVD

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.

"Kick Ass" Gets Pummelled and The Upcoming Week in Horror On DVD

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 HERE and you can see all the trailers. You can also click on the film's title and be taken to its page on Amazon, where you can read more and/or buy it.

So, I really liked "The Lovely Bones". 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...

This is the first that I've heard of the film "Homecoming", 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.

"Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island" 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.

"Knife Edge" 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.

"Braincell" 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.

There are two films from Khavn De La Cruz coming out this week; "Vampire Of Quezon City" and "The Family That Eats Soil". 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.

A Look at the Box Office and the Upcoming Week in Horror DVD's

Yeah, Scorcese and DiCaprio won the weekend again with "Shutter Island", but don't fret, horror fans... "The Crazies" didn't do too poorly. Not only did it not do poorly, it's a pretty good film and is getting decent reviews. The film is, of course, a remake of the 1973 George Romero cult classic and it revolves around a town whose water supply has been poisoned by an unknown toxin that drives people insane. What's funny is, the original didn't really do that well. In fact, outside of the hard-core horror fans, it's not really well known at all. The reason I find that funny is, why would they remake an obscure horror film that really only has a cult following? I guess they figured that the hard-core horror fans would go to it because they do know about the original and newer horror fans would go just because it's horror... either way, it's still a great title and a good premise. That and it's an existing script, God forbid a studio green lights an original horror script... In any case, this update is directed by Breck Eisner, the son of Michael Eisner - Ex Disney CEO and Hollywood uber super power. Breck got his start in commercials, then moved on to TV movies, starting with Si-Fi channel's "The Invisible Man". His first feature film was the direct to DVD crime drama, "Thoughtcrimes", which he followed up with "Sahara"... which is considered to be one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history. "The Crazies" was his next project, after a few things fell apart... Do realize that there was over 5 years between the two films. He won't have to wait that long for his next film, as next up for him is the remake of "Flash Gordon". Anyhow, let's look at the week in horror DVD's. As usual, you can go to our Youtube Page and check out the trailers by clicking HERE and you can click on the title to be taken to the films Amazon page, where you can read more about it and/or buy it.

It's never a good sign when the bonus feature on a DVD is another entire feature film and they still keep the total cost to under $10.... but that's what you get when you buy "Last of the Living". The bonus feature is "Play Dead", a film by Jason Wiles that stars Fred Durst, Chris Klein and Jake Busey. What blows my mind is that "Last of the Living" is an awesome indie zombedy out of Australia that came out a few years back. It was done on next to no budget and it's right up there in the same vein as "Shaun of the Dead" or "Zombieland", check out the trailer... you'll eat it up. "Play Dead" has a bunch of real names in it and just looks awful, why in God's name would you throw it out there with "Last of the Living"? Honestly, it devalues and takes away from both films. In this case, the sum of both projects is worth less than each project on their own and someone really screwed the pooch when it came to marketing and distributing these films in North America. Unbelievable... I have no clue why "Play Dead" was even made, nor do I know why it was added as a bonus feature here, but "Last of the Living" is from Logan McMillan and it's definitely worth watching. Buy the DVD for that and that alone.

I'm definitely intrigued by "ReGOREgitated Sacrifice", a film by Lucifer Valentine, starring Ameara La Vey. The description says it's about the diabolical depiction of the alternate-parallel dimension of the simultaneous suicide deaths of Kurt Cobain and bulimic porn star Angela Aberdeen, as seen through the mental activity of Angela's journey toward brain death as a result of her self-inflicted death by drowning. There's some clips online and we posted a trailer on our Youtube Page, but they're weird, in a good way... definitely intrigued and the creepy, shot on DV doc look really works... at least in the trailers.

"The Terror Factor" is a micro-budget horror being released by Brain Damage and staring John Sylvia. It won a couple of awards from indie festivals and is, what else? A slasher flick. Looks alright, should be worth checking out.

"Chasing Darkness" is another micro-budget horror, this one released by Midnight Releasing and directed by Jason Hull and starring Todd Humes, Larry Liggett, Renee Porada and Katie Russell. The film is about a hit man who wants to retire, but finds out that a rival gang is actually a bunch of vampires and they've turned his over-jealous girlfriend into one of the undead. For a no-budget film, they've got some good looking action scenes and great make-up. I'm definitely going to be checking this one out. Also, I love the title.

Otherwise, there's a pile of box sets coming out that I'm not going to mention, as they're just cash grabs on mostly shitty films. So, that's all I've got for the new DVD releases...