The Cap'n is feeling a lot under the weather this evening, so I'm going to keep this short. Of course, if I nod off in the middle of writing this, the only way you'd know is that it won't appear for a few more hours. Anyway...
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One of the things I forgot to mention in my Haunted World of El Superbeasto write-up was that using it as a good example for my anthropology project collapsed as soon as we sat down. I deliberately chose the midnight showing over the 10 o'clock because midnight audiences have a different vibe about them, as anyone who attends "early" showings or The Rocky Horror Picture Show can attest. I thought this would be no different, but what I discovered instead surprised me.
Other than the people I dragged with me to see El Superbeasto, there were two people in the theatre. That's actually less of a turnout than when I saw Last Action Hero on opening day. In that case, it was maybe ten people. Five people for a late night showing of an animated Rob Zombie joint tells me one of two things were going on:
1. Everyone who would have seen it stayed home because the dvd is coming out next week. Maybe it wasn't worth paying for the ticket and popcorn and everything else for an 80-something minute movie when you can get it for $15 on the 22nd. It was also on a Saturday night, was really only advertised on the internet, and there were no signs in the theatre.
2. This is just speculation, but maybe the poor box office showings for Halloween 2 signal a backlash against Mr. Zombie. I haven't seen Halloween 2, but the impression I got from reviews is that people are pretty evenly split between loving it and hating it. I didn't get much in-between, although I hear what people hated was exactly why I wanted to see it (ghost mom). It's possible that people who saw Halloween 2 were pissed off and didn't want to see an animated enactment of all of Zombie's exploitation fetishes. This might work out in his favor though, since I could see a crowd turning against El Superbeasto upon first viewing. I really do think this is the kind of toon you need to let sink in before you render judgment.
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Either way, I doubt the Carousel made much money off of 5 people by staying open an extra two hours or so. Then again, those geniuses are showing The Room soon, and that's just a waste of time and money for anyone willing to pay for it. I saw it for free (or parts of it, until most of us got bored and Cranpire skipped around), and can honestly say I'll never pay for that experience.
Not to pick a fight with the programmer of these movies, but I couldn't help but notice Shark Attack 3: Megalodon is in the Carousel's horror festival. Had we not already seen it during Horror Fest two years ago and weren't planning on watching it again this year, I might think about seeing it. Maybe you can show Blood Car next...
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