20 Recent Horror Movies That Made ONE Big Mistake
5. Leaning On Jordan Peele - Him
The marketing for last year's sports-themed horror film Him doomed it from the jump when it relentlessly dined out on Jordan Peele's name.
This was clearly an attempt to trick casual audiences into assuming that Peele directed the film, when in fact he served as a producer while the director and co-writer was actually up-and-comer Justin Tipping.
In the weeks leading up to Him's release, you could practically sense the desperation as the marketing continued to use Peele as a crutch to dupe unsuspecting folk into thinking they were walking into another Get Out, Us, or Nope.
That surely didn't help the film's word-of-mouth when it turned out to be a far lesser piece of work, resulting in Him landing a dire "C-" CinemaScore in addition to mostly negative reviews.
Though one can at least appreciate the logic of Universal's decision here, it's also a terrible look to try and hoodwink audiences into watching a film by implying it's something it's not.
The gambit didn't pay off though, as Him grossed just $28 million worldwide - a hair more than its $27 million budget.