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A24’s Approach to Viral Marketing for ‘Hereditary’ is a Little Creepy

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A24

Currently, “hype-trains” seem to be in abundance, with movies being “so scary that people just can’t finish them.” This is a marketing tactic that has been around for ages, and has never seemed to fail in getting crowds to flock en masse to the next biggest fright-fest.

While there have been some marketing strategies that have promoted outside the ads within computer and TV screens, it seems safe to say that few advertisements will literally stay with you. This is, until A24 launched their recent viral marketing campaign with their newest horror film, Hereditary.

A24’s Hereditary premiered at SXSW this past week, with reviews swarming onto the web praising how unnervingly terrifying it is, along with the film fairing noticeably well among critical acclaim.

However, while the praise is certainly welcomed by A24, the studio wanted to send some chillingly lasting impressions outside of the reviews. But how would they do this? Reported by A.V. Club, A24 decided to promote the film immediately after its premier at SXSW by sending petit, unnerving, unsettling dolls to select viewers.

Following the night of the Hereditary premier, viewers opened their doors to find these tiny, little, hellish “toys” sitting upon their door steps. The dolls were accompanied with tags and labels inscribed with the viewers name, along with “Will you take care of me?” Pictures of the dolls have been circulating the “Twitter-sphere,” but it would seem there are many more in stock than the ones sent out.

A24 uploaded a photo to their twitter displaying their collection of nightmare-fuel dolls, one of the tweets saying “collect them all.”

While there is no confirmation yet as to how each doll ties to the film, or if A24 will be sending more of these films out, one doll in particular does stand out in its relevance to Hereditary.

Barry Jenkins received a doll after his viewing of the film, and while this is speculation, his doll stands out among the rest for a certain reason.

Jenkins’ has an affiliation with A24 since his film Moonlight was distributed by the company, but this ties into the interest in this particular doll. The doll Jenkins’ posted appears to be a bird with sea shell wings, a severed bird head, and gold-ish beads that are arranged in a way to look like blonde hair.

Why this stands out is due to the daughter’s room in the trailer, which features a plethora of bird themed decorations, as well as the scene where a bird smashes into her classroom’s window and is then followed by the scene of her decapitating it with scissors. The hair-beads arguably bear resemblance to the daughter and mother’s hair style (the daughter’s blonde hair being hereditary, in this case).

Whether this specific doll is meant to pay homage to small details in the film, and if it was meant to be sent to Jenkins’ due to his association is (of course) speculation, but viral marketing has certainly proven its efficiency for A24 and their film.

For those who are “infected,” by this viral marketing, then it’s important to know Hereditary will be released in theaters nationwide on June 8th of this year.

I you would like to know more about Hereditary, you should absolutely read up on our review it from the SXSW premier! However, if you want to go into the film completely blind, but want more A24 related news, check out our article on A24 purchasing the horror script based on the popular short story for “Cat Person.”

Sources: A.V. Club

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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