A little extra: you weren’t imagining things about the movie’s promotion. Here in Texas, I’m proud to say that the esteemed Joe Bob Briggs and I were the only two film critics in Dallas who reviewed it because critic screenings weren’t on the menu and the only screenings we got were the ones we paid for. Years later, I heard the Morgan Creek/20th publicity was nonexistent, up to and including its release in January so it wouldn’t interfere with Christmas releases, because one publicist’s view was “the sort of people who are going to see this aren’t going to read reviews, if they can read at all.”
The assumption at that time among movie publicists was that there wasn’t a point in promoting horror films, unless they were “arty” like “Lair of the White Worm.” That’s what also ate Tom
Savini’s remake of “Night of the Living Dead,” along with the MPAA Ratings Board’s release of the NC-17 rating giving an additional cudgel for the ratings board to bash horror films.
A little extra: you weren’t imagining things about the movie’s promotion. Here in Texas, I’m proud to say that the esteemed Joe Bob Briggs and I were the only two film critics in Dallas who reviewed it because critic screenings weren’t on the menu and the only screenings we got were the ones we paid for. Years later, I heard the Morgan Creek/20th publicity was nonexistent, up to and including its release in January so it wouldn’t interfere with Christmas releases, because one publicist’s view was “the sort of people who are going to see this aren’t going to read reviews, if they can read at all.”
Wow. They clearly had no idea how literate Barker's audience was. Madness. Thanks for the story!
The assumption at that time among movie publicists was that there wasn’t a point in promoting horror films, unless they were “arty” like “Lair of the White Worm.” That’s what also ate Tom
Savini’s remake of “Night of the Living Dead,” along with the MPAA Ratings Board’s release of the NC-17 rating giving an additional cudgel for the ratings board to bash horror films.