Lovely Molly - Analysis of Marketing & Hype
Welcome to Hype, a new weekly column where I give my two cents worth on movie marketing hype.
the What Culture verdict is solid but regardless of fan reception, 20th Century Fox proved with Prometheus that you can make anyone and everyone believe that your film will be the best thing people will see all year- it could in fact be a load of old hogwash but reel them in with the right marketing and you'll be guaranteed bums on seats come opening night. After all this is a money making business right?
Lovely Molly
Released 29th June 2012
Now, I am a huge fan of horror films, in all their many glorious guises, so when a trailer makes a claim that it will redefine horror once again- then you have my interest straight away. As far as I'm concerned the most ground-breaking and genre defying horror film I have seen in a long time was Cabin in the Woods, and I doubt that anything this year could top that, especially in terms of originality and inventiveness. But while Cabin in the Woods toyed with the conventions of the teen slasher, zombies and crazy cults, Lovely Molly takes on some of the darker elements of the genre; paranoia, psychosis and possession. Newlywed Molly Reynolds returns to her family home where dark secrets and memories of a traumatic childhood are buried. It is not long before she is battling demons, whether real or imagined, that are determined to drag Molly, and everyone she loves into the depths of depravity and darkness. The trailer boasts from the creators of The Blair Witch Project and you cant argue that that film was a huge game changer in horror film-making, not to mention one of the most profitable indie films ever made. Eduardo Sanchez is the man in question, responsible for writing and co-directing the eponymous found footage ball roller but there is little else to his name to get horror fans excited. Whereas others have found ways to cash in on the faux-documentary craze in horror, Sanchez himself has struggled, up till now, to follow on from the success of Blair Witch. Oddly, we also have Mark Odesky on board here- one of the producers of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy- its hard to imagine going from the most epic fantasy saga ever made to a relatively low budget horror film but this is no doubt a man with fingers in many pies and the industry know how to rake in the dosh. In terms of cast the film seems to sit pretty firmly on the shoulders of Gretchen Lodge, a newcomer in the title role that certainly seems to have jumped into some bog ol' boots with such a complex and demanding character.