As paradoxes go, this ones up there with Schrodingers Cat: while its easier than ever to find movies to watch, its never been more difficult for a film to find its audience. Most films are sneaked out rather than released, and if youre not a blockbuster, nobody appears to be paying much attention. When Troma attempted to self-distribute their movie Poultrygeist: Night Of The Chicken Dead, they lost money on the theatrical release and the DVD. Not because its a duff movie its one of Tromas best but because they didnt have sufficient resources to reach viewers. Instead, the movie just lay there, unseen and unsung. There are lots of these types of films out there, particularly in the horror genre, where dozens of new titles seem to appear each week. Cheaply made and independently distributed, they play a few festivals before going straight to Blu-Ray and streaming, where theyre lost among thousands of other movies. Made by filmmakers with passion and a vision, theyre usually more inventive and entertaining than prestigious studio films, but those are the pictures that the audience gets to see. If you believe in conspiracy theories, you could argue that the studios filter out the little movies in order to give more attention to their inferior product. If youre looking for a horror movie to watch this Halloween, you might want to check out the following before laying down good money to see Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
