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... For example, two independent companies, Miramax and New Line, were recently purchased by major companies Disney and Turner respectively. To confuse matters, some independent companies have a separate distribution arm to handle specialized markets. For example, Miramax has Dimension Films to distribute genre (horror) and New Line has Fine Line for arthouse films. ... The demarcation lines today may by less clear, but the schism between the major and independent studios remains. This article will point out some general differences between independent (indie) and major studio horror films,underline some trends in indie horror, and discuss some of its key films/figures. ...
To give you some examples, the recent Dimension Films release The Prophecy, (Gregory Widen, 1995, originally titled Gods Army) has an $8,000,000 budget, and Trimarks Return of the Living Dead 3 (Brian Yuzna, 1992) a $2,000,000, while two of the more notorious underground horror films of recent years, German Jorg Buttgereits Nekromantik (1988) and Nekromantik 2 (1990) have a combined budget of $45,000. ... These latter films are an offshoot of a horror fanzine revolution which has generated a new forum for ultra low-budget horror film/video production and distribution. Though this revolution suggests Walter Benjamins democratizing of art, the amateurish quality of the average product distributed through fan-journals makes them off-limits to even the most die-hard horror fans. ...
It may seem like a truism that horror thrives on the margins, beyond the fickle, censorious hands of major studios, but something does happen to the creative juices when the no-holds-barred horror imagination collides with major studio practices. Roy Frumkes, who has been involved in the horror/film industry from all sides, directing, producing, publishing and serving on the board of directors of the National Board of Review, has this to say concerning the horror scene:
"A lot of the really strong horror films come from the indies, because thats where you get the chance to do something radical. ...
The dean of indie horror, George Romero and Dario Argento
The following list of independently made virgin horror successes confirms Frumkes words: Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968), The Last House on the Left (Wes Craven, 1972), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974), Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1983), Re-animator (Stuart Gordon, 1985), Society (Brian Yuzna, 1985).
The beauty of these first time horror classics is in their primal simplicity and single-minded directness, uncluttered by reflexivity or critical or commercial pressure. ... Blattys intentions were to make the third installment in the Exorcist series an unfashionably literate and low-key horror film. ... The result is an ending which feels separate from the rest of the film and destroys the previously structured ambivalent, claustrophobic horror.
How many major studio released horror films of recent years have challenged both the staid horror junkie and mass audience in terms of intensity, viscerality or originality? ... The ground breaking horror films of the last ten years have come from the independents (Re-animator, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (John McNaughton, 1986), Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1987), Nekromantik, Brain Dead (aka Dead Alive, Peter Jackson, 1992), Dellamorte Dellamore (Michelle Soavi, 1994). It may seem strange to think of horror films in these terms, but the dichotomy between majors and indies often suggests the venerable "art" versus “industry" issue. ... In fact, several recent indie horror films which have garnered critical and fan acceptance straddle the line between commercial and art film: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Dust Devil (Richard Stanley, 1992), Nekromantik, Der Todesking (The Death King, Jorg Buttgereit, 1990), In a Glass Cage (Augustín Villaronga, 1988), Jack Be Nimble (Garth Maxwell,1992), Dellamorte, Dellamore, Nadja (Michael Almereyda, 1995), and The Addiction (Abel Ferrera, 1995).
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