I've got a bone to pick. And it's got juicy bits of flesh hanging from it. I'm talking about the state of the hard horror movie on the big screen. Where have they gone?!
Let me be a more specific. I'm not talking about film festivals; they're a different kettle of fish, or to be more precise, they're the oasis of blood, but out of reach like mirages. I'm talking about the general release movies, those earmarked for a theatrical season, a run on the big screen for a couple of weeks, or more (like in the scarlet age).
But in these increasingly neo-conservative times of commercialism and ginger fingers, distributors and film companies, ie those that usually have sweet little savvy about what the fans actually want, have become more and more firm about putting more bums on seats in the cinemas, and they way they see that happening is by having the movies appeal to a wider demographic.
This is justified by demanding filmmakers cut their movies so that they fit the criteria that will get them a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, or an M rating from the Australian Classification Board. It is becoming increasingly rare to see R18 horror movies on the big screen or the hard-R rated American version. You can forget about seeing an unrated American horror movie on the big screen altogether. Dawn of the Dead and Re-Animator are movies from a bygone era.
It's frustrating as hell to have to settle for the uncut version, the director's intended vision, on the small home screen (okay, smallish). Horrorphiles have a right to experience the horror movie as it was intended, not truncated for mass consumption.
Horror as marketed commodity leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.