Independent horror film “Terrifier 2” is feasting on boxoffice as a moderate hit, benefiting because of pandemic disruptions of film supply. “Terrifier 2” has grossed a respectable $5.3 million in 17 days of domestic theatrical release, and that’s boffo for a horror/slasher film with a bare minimum national release.
“While these grosses may seem low, don’t forget that ‘Terrifier 2’ is a micro-budget indie with a $250,000 price tag and next to zero mainstream marketing,” writes Zach Scharf in trade newspaper Variety.
The unrated “Terrifier 2” is distributed by Cinedigm, the content and cinema tech-services outfit. News reports indicate that the killer clown yarn triggered audience fainting or vomiting from the on-screen gore. For the splatter-loving horror audience, those news reports are something of a come-on.
Its cinema release pattern so far ranged from 866 to 700 theaters — that is a full national release, though at the low end of the range for national circulation. That translated to $2,510 per screen average for its third weekend (Oct 21-23), which is very good for indies though just okay by standards of major studio releases. Further, the per-screen average is on upward trajectory over its three weekends so far, which shows cinema strength because that metric usually goes down over time. In its second weekend Oct 14-16, “Terrifier 2” was eighth-ranked nationally in terms of total domestic boxoffice dollars and climbed to seventh its third weekend, again not bad for an indie film with a light national footprint.
“Terrifier 2” benefits from a thin crop of new theatrical releases because the Covid pandemic disrupted movie flow, which is expected to normalize next year. The first “Terrifier” was a direct-to-video release in 2018 that skipped theatrical. Horror films are popular in Hollywood because they don’t require star talent to be successful and thus can be low cost to make.
With the cinema release, distributor of the “2” edition, Cinedigm, gets a title with a marquee glow from theatrical to feed to its video streaming platforms. Cinedigm owns content outfit Bloody Disgusting and its associated online streamer Screambox, which are two in-house horror “genre”-audience outlets that will eventually run “Terrifier 2.” In Hollywood, the word genre refers to entertainment with a tight focus and appeal to a narrow audience.
Cinedigm is a New York-based content outfit and also provider of technical services to cinemas. It’s a modest-sized, publicly traded company with annual revenue of $56 million and a smallish stock-market capitalization of just $80 million. Its board has noteworthy directors: Cinedigm chairman Christopher J. McGurk is a former senior executive from MGM and Universal Pictures; Ashok Amritraj is a prolific independent producer (“Get Carter” starring Sylvester Stallone); and financier Peter C. Brown who is former chief of movie-theater giant AMC Entertainment.
The news reports that some in the audience of “Terrifier 2” vomited and passed out prompted the film director Damien Leone to tweet: “To everyone saying that reports of people fainting and puking during screenings of ‘Terrifier 2’ is a marketing ploy, I swear on the success of the film it is NOT. These reports are 100% legit. I wish we were smart enough to think of that!”
Whether planned or spontaneous, the audience reaction is actually good publicity that attracts the horror genre audience. Remember, “Terrifier 2” is unrated, so it lays on the bloodletting pretty thick.
In past decades, indie horror films routinely dialed up the hype from over-the-top gore. The apex was 1968’s shoe-string budget “Night of the Living Dead” that was a classy horror film mostly built on suspense, praised by critics, a boxoffice hit and made for a reputed $115,000 — mostly film stock and laboratory developing.
Says business/academic book “Marketing to Moviegoers”: “The independent distributors became a distinct strand of the cinema business in the 1950s, creating their own style of cheesy trailer promotions for light-weight youth films set on sun-drenched beaches and also for horror films from the 1950s to the 1970s. ‘It’s an orgy of terror,’ one trailer voice-over enthusiastically.”
For the 1966 indie horror film ‘The Undertaker and His Pals,’ its trailer presents on-screen the film’s producer who intones, “Ladies and gentlemen, as producer of this film, I would like to make the following statement. This motion picture is a vicious exposé. … Scenes of such brutal honestly will be shown on this screen. … [Those who will be upset by] scalpel-slashing, arm-twisting, and ax-hacking motorcycle maniacs now close their eyes for the remainder of this coming attraction.”
A decade earlier, low-budget horror film mogul William Castle employed an array of marketing gimmicks to support films like “The Tingler” and “Macabre.” Those marketing ploys included installing seat belts on theater seats, stationing nurses prominently in the lobby to resuscitate fainters, and handing out certificates to moviegoers for $1,000 in life insurance for anyone who died of fright watching his movie.
Again, all clever come-ons!
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