It has recently dawned on me that I hardly get excited by most horror news anymore. Don't get me wrong, there are times when I am swept up by some big announcement, new trailers, stuff like that, but that doesn't seem to happen too often lately. I like to have my interest piqued, and it takes a lot to grab my attention, and then keeping my attention is even more difficult. Once in a while there is a film that begs to be ingested and has me clamoring for more. But more often than not, there isn't all that much I really need to know about a movie past a trailer or two, a couple of posters, and eventually a review.
I find a major annoyance with most internet horror news sites and what they deliver as "relevant" horror news, as it's mostly just boring and pointless filler. For example: "Hey horror fan, watch 96 new clips from Splice!" or "Oh snap, Jennifer Aniston is gonna be in Scream 4?!" or "C'mon, of course Jennifer Aniston's Scream 4 casting is a rumor. Duh?!" or "Here is another new trailer for REC 2! It's the brand new UK trailer, and it's new!" How about, I don't fucking care about a new trailer for REC 2 - how about, I only care about the DVD release date for REC 2, so I can go to the store and buy it. How about that? I saw trailers for REC 2 two years ago, and I can buy it on Amazon UK. A new trailer is not news to me.
I'm not even trying to place blame solely on the horror sites, even though it seems as if I just did. Obviously, being a fan of horror, I love horror sites, I just wish there wasn't so much bullshit on them sometimes. I notice and get most annoyed by it when news is especially slow. Being that this is mainly a horror blog, I receives some press release stuff from different companies here and there. Not like a website, or even like many of the bigger blogs, but I get mines. Now, it's cool getting those emails because it makes me feel…well, kind of special, but most of these emails are giving me news that is on par with what I just complained about in that last paragraph. It's pretty rare that I get one with something interesting and worth doing a post about. So I don't.
I guess a lot of the blame for that should be placed on marketing and companies throwing movie sites teeny tiny bones that have no meat, but they are still eaten up anyways and plastered as the newest headline. It's how these companies are keeping their product on the minds of horror fans with out giving up anything of real substance. Why do we need 6 boring new clips from so and so movie? We don't. Well, I don't, I just want to watch the movie, that's all.
Yeah, I know…waaah.
Word, brother. Especially on the clips. I once saw a site advertise 14 new clips of a movie a few days before it came out...and the movie only ran 90 minutes. What the heck is that? Why on earth would you want to see 14 1-3 minute clips which will equal half the movie? Garrr!
ReplyDeleteSpot on. We know far too much about films before we see them, and the actual viewing of them becomes so perfunctory -- just the last act of an endless campaign of hype. I love it when I stumble upon a film at 1 in the morning, and all I know about it is the mini-synopsis that the cable system provides. And if it's a halfway decent movie, I feel like I've uncovered treasure.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly. When I first starting receiving those press releases, I felt so ridiculously cool but never once have I felt the need to share anything of it with my readers. It's odd, because I actually do work in marketing (though sadly not of the horror movie ilk) and I'm constantly arguing the same points to superiors regarding mailings: there has to be a reason to get them out to a certain group and if you keep bombarding your audience with the same presentation, they'll just turn off every time they receive something with your address on it.
ReplyDeleteThen in terms of horror, we've been so defeated so many times. I can't let myself get excited about anything new anymore because i'ts so much more gentle to just keep my expectations in check.
I completely agree, what the mainstream horror sites typically hock as news is ridiculous. Tell me some interesting things about production, things you don't normally hear or read about. Stop telling me which flavor of the day actor/actress has been casted for a film.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hardly ever share those press releases. Whoever they hire for their marketing should be shot. Firing off emails without taking the time to understand content and whether or not it would be value-add to that particular site is just really bad marketing.
I'm more annoyed by the fact that what gets reported as top 'news' gets higher billing over independent horror film coverage. But thats a whole other topic altogether, one that I'll be writing about to join in the internet cry fest right along with you.
Amen, preacher man. I definitely have little patience for all these slowly released clips and other assorted teasers. Or telling me that I should be excited for the casting of "celebrity A" in the remake of a foreign film that came out 3 months ago and never even got a proper release. SCREW YOU! (not you, Matt)
ReplyDeleteMike: I know, there is no reason to see that much of a film without seeing all of it. Most of the time those clips are lame due to the lack of meaning they possess without the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteSenski: I feel the same way. I find so many treasures from the past that I never heard of, but my interest is piqued because of the to the point synopsis, cast, a director, or whatever tickles my fancy. It's nice to make those discoveries because they have no hype behind them.
Emily: It must have to do with keeping the product in peoples minds. Like if the email receivers don't get constant reminders, they will forget, so the need to send out useless reminders would be the logical step. Unfortunately, if it ain't good in the subject, it probably ain't getting read.
POT: Indie stuff is always put on the back burner at most sites for the latest casting news, or what have you, all the time. I understand that from a business standpoint the sites need to have a steady flow of the big news stories and gossip, but to flood the market with them instead of mixing things up is where the problem lies.
Some sites are better than others, of course, but when there are four or five sites with nearly identical front pages, I start to shake a little.
Chris: Yeah, that is another issue that will someday be vented around here I am sure. What happened with the first [REC] was a major pile of bullshit. That film should have come out on DVD way before it did, but instead, it got pushed back for the inferior remake. *Fart noise*
Ive literally given up on straight Horror News sites and rely on the bloggers incase anything mindblowing is going on that Im not aware of. Im just so fucking sick of spoilers, bogus news, and everything else you touched on
ReplyDeleteI never read reviews and watch clips for a movie I want to watch. The movie has to be seen clean (aside from watching the trailer).
ReplyDeleteQ&As, stills, clips will all take away from the flick.
Carl: There are a few sites that I still check out and some of them are good, but many of them are worth no more than a stop by to look at the headlines.
ReplyDeleteJaded: I don't read many reviews. I'll read blogger reviews, as long as I know they will be spoiler free 100%, but otherwise I fear spoilers too much. All that extra crap is just that, crap, especially when taken out of context to the film.