I’ve said for a long time now that I don’t mind graphic violence, or even shocking gore or torture in horror films. As a matter of fact, when used the right way, that can add a lot to a properly made horror. HOWEVER… when a horror movie has nothing else to it… when the gore and torture and shock are the WHOLE POINT of the movie… than that movie sucks (ie. Hostel 2).
Captivity not only appeared to be just another one of these films… but it also proclaimed itself proudly as nothing but one of these movies. And so, as further evidence that the viewing public is already sick of the gimmick, the new Elisha Cuthbert flick BOMBED on its opening weekend. Opening on over a thousand screens, Captivity came in twelfth place on its opening weekend, making a pathetic $1.5 million. Yup, you read that right… $1.5 million.
People are tired of the gimmick. If they had been smarter, they should have rushed this thing into theaters BEFORE Hostel 2 got out and made us all even more tired of it.
My hope is that good filmmakers with solid horror movie ideas don’t shy away from using “Hard R” material in their films… just so long as that Hard R stuff is there as a supporting tool to the over all story… instead of the story itself.
Elisha Cuthbert has two marketable skills and they rest on her chest. She has no talent and an average face. She will be doing B-movies on Cinemax/Showslime in 5 years.
Captivity ROCKED! All you haters out there have no concept of cinema. The reason the movie flopped at the box office was because of horrible marketing. They released it in July where Transformers, Harry Potter, and The Simpsons movie came out. Everyone is seeing them not a horror movie, retards! And they didn’t run enough commercials or billboards on account of terrible advertising. But let us break down this movie to prove my point. The acting was PHENOMENAL! Every actor was connected to their material and acted truthful under imaginary circumstances. The cinetmography was excellent. They way the movie was shot, gritty and raw gave it horrid feel. The torture scenes were creative and have not been done before. In addition, the movie kept me interested the entire time. So before you bash TORTURE PORN go to acting or directing school, learn about movies, and act with Jodie Foster. OH because I have!
BlaZe Foster
i DON’T KNOW HOW IT MISSED, Elisha Cuthbert is the next cumming of “liz taylor”… P.S> @4 got rid of her for a reason, she suck, and not in a good way.
So I was sitting at work listing to you guys chat and one of the main reasons why I think the studio would’ve thrown 10-15M at this film and probably aren’t crying too bad with the horrible performance..
Tax Write-Off..
For every film that makes 2x, 3x, or more of it’s budget I’m sure the corp accountants are looking for any and all ways to find ways of cutting the tax bill…
Looking at Captivity as a 10M+ tax deduction as opposed to a 1-2M box office performer… one starts to see the logic.
Man, Naught… you have some of the strangest opinions. “If anyone can make Elisha Cuthbert disappear”? I think most of the guys like her, and basically anyone who liked The Girl Next Door will disagree with you. You “don’t see what the big deal was with The Descent”? It was one of the best horror movies in recent history. Even Stephen King considered it one of the best movies of the year. It was scary, claustrophobic, terrifying, well acted… what else can I say? What’s wrong with you?
Plus, I hardly saw any commercials for it. Wasn’t marketed very well, like the studio gave up on the thing.
Hey Mofo
I see what you’re saying, but there is NO WAY you can blame Harry Potter on the horrible performance of Captivity…. they appeal to 2 totally different audiences. People didn’t aviod Captivity to see Potter…. they just avoided Captivity.
I, for one, found it HILARIOUS that Captivity actually thought it stood a chance on Harry Potter’s opening weekend! Same goes for Hostel Part 2 going up against Ocean’s 13 (though, as I have stated in a previous post on ur review of it John, I still sort of liked Hostel 2). My theory is that non-mainstream, less marketable “torture porn” is dead, but mainstream cash cows like the invincible Saw franchise will continue to plague the multiplexes anually.
Perhaps its less about torture porn and more about shitty stories.
Put torture porn with a good story, and you’ve got something. Slap the two together in the hopes of making a fast buck and, sure, it might work once, but not over and over again.
Look at Reservoir Dogs. Quite the torture scene folded into an excellent movie (story). More? Yes, please.
Here’s how it works, the genre isn’t dead. Summer time is a bad time for this type of film, someone will release something similar in the dead period during the winter and it will take off. Anyway, whose idea was it to open Captivity now? It was obvious Transformers and Harry Potter would crush it.
I don’t think the genre is dead, I’m sure that Saw IV will be raking in the money come Halloween but you can’t release these types of films during the summer blockbuster season. They fit better in the early fall or late winter/spring area because they won’t be going up against films everyone wants to go to.
I.. don’t see what the big deal was with The Descent. I watched it even b4 TMB started talking about it, and I was like “really? That movie??” cos I didn’t find anything memorable.
I hope that “torture porn” is indeed dead.
I also hope that anyone even remotely associated with such pieces of shit as Saw and Hostel are not just banished from the film industry, but from any position that pays better than minimum wage as well.
When I go to a horror movie, I want to be SCARED, not grossed out. I can honestly say that I haven’t seen a decent recent horror movie since the first Scream. And no John, I haven’t seen The Descent yet:)
P.S. https://themovieblog.com/community/?p=310
I don’t think it’s because the genre’s dead. I just think that the movie looks boring. Not that I really enjoy the genre, in the first place. However, if people are interested, look up Takashi Miike’s movies. He’s obviously Eli Roth’s inspiration and he even has a small part in the first Hostel.
From what I understand, the film was tinkered with. Originally ‘just a psych thriller’, it was reshot to cater studio demands for ‘torture horror’. More sad is that once upon a time the director of this film directed ‘The Killing Fields’ , “The Mission’ and ‘City Of Joy’.
Roland Joffe….that’s what you get for selling out.
they will still have these movies… however they will just market them differently.
We had Captivity in our cinema for like 2-3 weeks. No one would go to it.
I did see Hostel part 2 the other day though. I liked it. There was not that much gore. I was laughing for the whole movie….Maybe thats why I liked it, it made me laugh. Wait so that means it didn’t set out what it was meant to do………Yep toture movies are dying.
If anyone can make Elisha Cuthbert disappear with torture porn genre, I would be eternally grateful. Do you hear me Hollywood?!???
There aren’t much blood or gore in Captivity actually, and there is only one “torture”-scene which involves sand.
it was a boring piece of shit with the most predictable twist ever.