(Thumbnail image: LIONSGATE)
BY ALYSSA CAVERLEY
Hailed the best horror movie since the original “Exorcist”: “The Last Exorcism” pulled out all the stops in the weeks leading up to the movie’s release, but reviews are mixed – some critics say it doesn’t measure up to all the hype, while others say it’s actually pretty scary.
We have perspectives of the movie and its interesting marketing campaign from NY1, CNBC, Slash Film and io9.
CNBC’s Street Signs talks about the unique marketing campaign the film-makers developed to promote the movie.
“You may have heard of ‘Chatroulette’ this website where visitors go for video chat and often they end up talking to someone naked thousands of miles away. Take a look at what happened to a couple of teenagers who came across a pretty young thing who obligingly starts to take off her blouse … Haha serves them right. Turns out it’s an ad for 'The Last Exorcism' ... Lionsgate is the film’s distributor and it’s done what few marketers are brave enough to do – advertise on an anything goes website where they have no control over message.”
The blog SlashFilm explains exactly how Lionsgate pulled off this, as they call it, brilliant campaign.
“It … involves a bunch of planted pre-recorded videos of a girl who appears to be responding to sexual advances, becoming possessed and scaring the users. Lionsgate has recorded some of the reactions and uploaded them to YouTube.”
But despite the intense campaign set to scare and entice potential movie-goers, NY1 says the actual movie isn’t that scary, it’s more the depiction of middle America and Christian fundamentalists that provide the chills.
“The movie is a nightmare vision of the rise of Christian fundamentalism. ‘The Last Exorcism’ is pretty good at stringing us along, feeding off our anticipation, yet the payoff isn’t scary enough. It’s like ‘The Exorcist’ without a spine-tickling catharsis. Still, the movie does leave you with creepy images of a newly severe bible thumping underground America. That’s the thing about the devil in movies, he’s really just a mirror.”
On the other hand, Io9 says the intense marketing campaigns over the past few weeks doesn’t even give the movie justice, it’s way better.
“Before you see ‘The Last Exorcism’ … forget everything you saw in the trailers. This is not a gorefest. It's a tense, character-driven story of skepticism and faith that will leave you utterly shaken.”
So will you be going to "The Last Exorcist"? Do these kinds of viral marketing campaigns make you want to see the movie more?
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