An End to the Torture?
Ladies and gentlemen, it may finally be safe to go backpacking in Eastern Europe again! It seems that the trend of torture porn is on its way out. While I?m not going to point blame here (Captivity) it does seem that the intense influx of movies about people strapped to chairs and having things cut and pulled from them is the cause. The genre overflow has been its own death, with each new film trying to focus more on gore and less on plot.
CNN.com reports:
"Hostel: Part II" was expected to at least match the $47 million of 2006's "Hostel," but has generated only $17 million in the United States and Canada. "28 Weeks Later" hoped to reach the $45 million of 2005's "28 Days Later" but made only $28 million.
Those numbers do not bode well for "Captivity" and upcoming flicks such as "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" and "Saw IV." Hollywood producers know it and blame the downturn on a glut of horror in theaters.
"It's overkill," said Courtney Solomon, president of After Dark Films, which is behind "Captivity," the story of a man and woman trapped and tormented in a basement. "I think audiences have said, 'I've had enough.' It's as simple as that."
Anticipating the end of the torture flick trend, After Dark has adjusted its development plans to steer away from a large number of torture movies, Solomon said.
