Cinefantastique Online

Doing a little catch-up on news I missed when it was news, I find this interesting article by Anne Thompson in Variety: “No horror story for studio genre labels.” The gist of the piece is that hardcore horror movies are petering out, so the studio genre labels dedicated to making them (Fox Atomic, Sony’s Screen Gems, the Weinstein’s Dimension) are moving into other genres, such as thrillers. Only a couple of these so-called specialists insist that current market trends have not turned them off the genre:

“We are going to continue to be leaders in the horror genre for the foreseeable future,” says Tom Ortenberg of Lionsgate.

“We don’t make any rules or pick movies by any particular genre,” says Weinstein. “Projects come to me and I do them regardless if there are 50 horror movies. If I like it, I do it.”

Actually, I think this is good news. The specialty labels were not doing a particularly good job of filling the horror niche, and much of their work lacked distinction, often consisting of remaking older titles that no one really needed to see again. The article specifically references The Hitcher from Focus’ Features, Rogue Pictures, which thumbed its way to critical and box office indifference.

Typically, in cases such as these, the Hollywood hotshots conclude that the audience is the problem, theorizing that the market has changed and viewers just aren’t interested anymore. Hence the movie away from horror, under the assumption that audiences are looking for something “new” as opposed to something “good.” 

“Too much of a good thing loses its appeal,” says John Hegeman, whose Fox Atomic came up snake eyes with Turistas, 28 Weeks Later, and The Hills Have Eyes 2.

More like too much of a bad thing, John. 

As the saying goes, with friends like these, who needs enemies? While Michael Bay’s Rogue Pictures takes a rest from remaking Chainsaw and Hitcher movies, and while torture porn flicks like Captivity disappear without a trace that leaves room in the marketplace for more deserving titles like 1408, which is reckoned a hit with $68.5-million to its credit.

The only cloud marring this silver lining is that cannibal-zombie movie-makers will inevitably return from the dead:

“A slowdown,” says Hegeman, “will get the appetite going again down the road.”

Adds [Screen Gems' Clint] Culpepper: “Everything old is new again. It always comes back.”