We went to go see THIS THING the other day. I am sure you have all seen the commercials... [cue creepy voice over]
"They live in your blood...and they feed on your brain...this Spring...from the Academy-Award-Winning Director of The Exorcist...comes the movie the Chicago Tribune calls 'one of the most disturbing horror movies imaginable...' BUG."Now, based on that quote from the trailer --- paired with the horror street cred of William Friedkin and
The Exorcist --- we expected to be, oh, I don't know? Scared?!? Not gratuitously-gory-scared...because after all, Ashley Judd was the star of the film. And she wouldn't do anything that would be too gross or ridiculous, right? So, we were ready to enjoy a good scare.
And, all I can say is that the trailer is a marketing disaster. What it prepares you for and what you actually get --- which by the way, would have been better described as a psychological drama --- are such vastly different creatures, that you wind up leaving the movie angry. Not so much because it was
bad per se, but because it makes you feel like you were lied to by someone. Someone who told you he was taking you out for dinner...and then he pulls up to a drive-thru window at Burger King. The Whopper-with-Cheese itself may still taste pretty good (I like Whoppers!), but you still feel angry about the deception and let-down. You see what I am saying? Just tell me the truth and it will be fine.
Tell me, for instance, what I found out when I got home and angrily started searching the Internet for information on
BUG. That it is based on an Off-Broadway play by Tracy Letts. That it is about conspiracy-paranoia, isolation, co-dependency and shared delusions. A love story with selected moments of dark comedy and disturbing behavior. Tell me that it showed at the Cannes Film Festival. Tell me that I should be expecting something kind of actor-artsy and more cerebral rather than "horrific." I mean, I suppose the real horror is actually
being a mentally disturbed person with schizoid delusions --- yes, that must be
horrible for such persons. But we are talking about "horror" on a different level then, aren't we? Not
movie horror.
All I'm saying is, if you want to take me out for a psychological-drama-Whopper with a few laughs and some cheese, just say so. I'd like that. Just don't lie to me and try to be something you are not.
The boyfriend and I concluded that this movie is going to make many people angry and lose a lot of money. And all because of an inaccurate trailer that sets people up for serious movie-genre disappointment. Another marketing disaster that was totally avoidable, in my opinion. Ah, well.