Here's an article from the L.A. Times. What do you think about the idea of horror films going straight to dvd and bypassing the big screen? Some recent movies, Hostel, Stay Alive, and others could have went straight to dvd and probably made more money. Whaddaya think?

AC

Warner Video Takes Horror Straight to DVD
The studio, a longtime holdout from the disc-only market, enters with three small films on the grisly side.
By Claire Hoffman, Times Staff Writer
April 9, 2006

If Warner Home Video and a trio of established TV and film creators have their way, sci-fi and horror fans will soon be watching three gruesome new movies — the fruits of Warner's first deal to bypass movie theaters and go straight to DVD.
Very loosely inspired by the 1960s TV series "The Twilight Zone," the scary movie slate — released under the banner Raw Feed — will be put together by men with proven track records for inducing fright.

Daniel Myrick, the director of the 1999 indie thriller "The Blair Witch Project," Tony Krantz, a producer on the Fox TV show "24," and John Shiban, a TV writer who has penned episodes of the WB series "Supernatural" and "The X-Files," will direct a film apiece, each shot in L.A. for less than $5 million.

Krantz said he and his partners would work on each others' films and would share crews and a common goal: creating a modernized homage to Rod Serling's famous show "but with a different energy: raw, edgy, realistic."

Last year, consumers spent $22.8 billion buying and renting DVDs, up about 8% from the prior year, according to Digital Entertainment Group, a trade association. Of that, purchased DVDs accounted for 71% of the money spent — or $16.3 billion. By comparison, domestic ticket sales in movie theaters in 2005 totaled $8.99 billion.

"You can really launch a new product on DVD without having the benefit of a theatrical release," said Jeff Baker, a Warner Home Video vice president.

Raw Feed's combination of a big studio and proven talent is unusual in the direct-to-DVD market. To date, such fare has mostly been animated family films and sequels or remakes made with B-list actors and unknown writers and directors. A recent example is last year's prequel "Carlito's Way: Rise to Power," a Universal Home Entertainment release that featured little-known Jay Hernandez as the young Carlito Brigante, the role Al Pacino made famous in the original 1993 film.

To hear the Raw Feed guys talk, however, direct-to-DVD distribution may be the next frontier for filmmakers eager to get their cinematic visions in front of an audience. They, too, will be casting new faces, but they say the stories they'll be telling will be as fresh as those of big-budget movies.

"I just want people to watch it and I just want it to get out there," Shiban said during an interview on the set of what will be the first Raw Feed release: "Rest Stop," about a young couple terrorized during a cross-country road trip.

Unlike some directors, Shiban said he and his comrades were not bothered by the thought of never seeing their films on the big screen.

"We can tell different kinds of stories and not appeal to some big marketing plan," he said, referring to how expensive studio releases face increased pressure to have plot lines that are easy to sell.

"The market is big enough to hold this kind of thing," said John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners. "As long as there are enough movies made of quality and quantity for theaters, we understand the studios' expanding. Our biggest concern is with the misguided notion that movies should be released in theaters and on DVDs at the same time."

Fithian is referring to proposals to close what's known as the "theater-only window" — that months-long stretch in which movies have traditionally played only on the big screen. This year, writer-director Steven Soderbergh released his film, "Bubble," in theaters, on DVD and via video-on-demand over a four-day period.

The Raw Feed deal came about after Endeavor Agency, which represents Myrick, Krantz and Shiban, pitched Warner on its clients' vision of DVDs for DVDs' sake. The horror genre in particular lends itself to the "extras" that DVDs provide.

After "Rest Stop" is in the can, Raw Feed has more gore on deck. "Sublime" will be about an outpatient who goes to the hospital for minor surgery only to discover his legs have been severed. In "Cult," a man visits the religious community his brother joined and learns he has arrived on the day everyone plans to commit suicide.

"We're trying," Shiban said, "to portray reality" — or at least one version of it. "We don't try to hide anything."

Here's an article from the L.A. Times. What do you think about the idea of horror films going straight to dvd and bypassing the big screen? Some recent movies, Hostel, Stay Alive, and others could have went straight to dvd and probably made more money. Whaddaya think?

AC

That's too bad! Horror, action, comedy......whatever the genres, I like seeing the movies on big screen.

But in Japan, sometimes some horror movies are going straight to DVD. Actually "Dead Birds" and "Skeleton Key" went straight to DVD. Maybe even "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Silent Hill" will go straight to DVD.

It's too bad for some of these movies. There's something to be said about having the monster/psychopath/criminal jump-out on a big screen. Kind of adds to the creepy-ness and scare factor for me.

If Warner Home Video and a trio of established TV and film creators have their way, sci-fi and horror fans will soon be watching three gruesome new movies — the fruits of Warner's first deal to bypass movie theaters and go straight to DVD.

[SIZE="3"]The DVD is the main thrust of the Masters of Horrorseries. The films will be shown first on Showtime where a million people ae expected to see them, then sold on DVD with tons of extras, including the text of the original story in the cases where such exists. The first couple are out.[/SIZE]

http://www.mastersofhorror.net/

For those of you who have been following the controversy, Takashi Miilke's movie for Masters of Horror, Imprint, was opted for DVD release and not shown on the Showtime TV show. I heard that the British version of the show, however, did show Imprint on April 4th, and that the American release of this Miilke movie will be sometime in September. I found some footage (just follow the fpw link in the above post) from Imprint and it just looks like a rehash of Gozu, but if it's Miilke, I'll be buying it (loved Audition).

But to the point: Straight-to-DVD releases of horror movies that are too horrific seems to be the trend. You should go to the MOH message board: that is one unhappy bunch of posters, very anti-Showtime for their toning down the horror of MOH with humor and schitcks. An episode titled Jennifer was one of the few that actually got raves.

I'd like to see some rj board members join the MOH message board and speak up for Season Two of MOH. And buy a DVD or two to help support the show. I joined the MOH board already and will be pushing for more fpw. Remember, the Masters in MOH refers to the "horror directors," not the writers. Let's send Showtime a message that without the writers, the directors would have nothing to direct.

AC

P.S. Haven't ranted in a while. But those MOH board people really rankled my ranting repetoire (and lots of other words that begin with "r" ).

Let's send Showtime a message that without the writers, the directors would have nothing to direct.

[SIZE="3"]"In the beginning was the Word."[/SIZE]

Good news for Japanese horror fans. This summer, The Masters of Horror series DVD box-set(13 episodes) is released in Japan.

http://www.moh13.jp/

Managing a threatre for years, I realize some of the reasons why this would work to their advantage. Typically, the Horror film genre only attracts crowds during evening, you have younger college based customers, and the movies themselves won't run long, like an Academy Award Drama would produce. Let's face it, the majority of income a threatre itself profits is the consessions. Ticket costs basically pay for the rights, and the film itself. Everyone makes more money with Horror genre leaving the big screen, and it makes actual threatres benifit too. Here lately, there has been a lot of lawsuits on children sneaking into these rated R shows, and technically it's the theatre's fault, so there is a liability. One day I had a lady threatened me by stating there was a PG preview before the show on a G rated showing. Same with PG-13 movies, and showing rated R previews. It's just a big gamble, and like anything you never know when you might offend someone. Keeping kids out of rated R movies is nearly impossible, and can't be 100% proof.

Personally, I don't like the move though. I realize the majority of films effected will be the low budget ones, and bigger movies like Saw, Texas Chainsaw, ext... Seeing as they generate so much revenue, I see these big movies still coming to Theatres. But the disappointment is with the low budget films. Mix in the late night atmosphere of a horror film, and that can make a movie. I will go see a Horror film more often on the big screen, than I will ever buy a DVD, or watch on TV. These statistics they came up with can't be calculated yet, because it's bound to make a lot of people angry, and rebel. Like I said, It's the enviroment, and sound that I go for late at night... The guy's date two rows behind me that screams for her life, and in return makes me jump. Maybe it's just me but sometimes it's the atmosphere for Horror films can be fun, and make movies scarrier. I can honestly say, I can't see these rumors coming true, at least I will pray that they don't.