2008 movies to open with a PSA under $1,000

[Ravenbomb 0]

Yeah, they really do. I didn't realize it was 3 directors until after I saw it and it just played as 3 acts. Some different tones but logical changes with the settings and characters that made up each one. And the different tones worked well to balance each other. Its not 90 minutes of the same stuff. There's a flow. All and all it was a pretty decent film.

 

And actually, the "comedic" third of the movie is when a lot of the rules of the movie are established.

Yeah, I was surprised by it when it started up but it ended up working and helped really make clear what was going on and how everything worked for the final act. And the break from the intense horror stuff kept the movie from burning out on it but still had enough of it to not seem like you were no longer watching the same film.

 

Like I said, it was surprising that it worked as well as it did, but I think it ended up being a cool little film. But I'm a horror buff and appreciate B-horrors that stand out in some way.

 

Yeah, I'm surprised how cohesive they all managed to keep it. And the end of the second act I'd say is the most intense part of the movie.

[King Kamala 0]

I think with other movies, it's in the contract that they have to give it a theatrical release. Direct to DVD also has a certain stigma, so often releasing a movie briefly in theatres is a glorified advertisement for DVD.

 

IIRC, Adam Carrolla met with theater owners to plead with them to show The Hammer just so it wouldn't have the stigma of going Direct to DVD.

 

I've got to say though- it seems like the star caliber of direct to DVD movies has gone WAY up in the past ten years. Why is that?

 

And I really want to see Zyzzyx Road for some reason. It's got to come out on DVD sometime, right?

[Hawk 34 0]

Probably because stars get stuck in contracts, doing someone a favor or just made really bad decisions.

[Gary Floyd 0]

"The Signal" is pretty damn good-one of my favorite horror movies of the year so far. It reminded me of Romero's "The Crazies" at times-and like that movie, it didn't make much in the Box Office.

 

I've been wanting to see "Rogue" for a while now. It got good word of mouth, and is said to be better than you'd expect. The DVD came out today in fact. That reminds me, Dimension still hasn't released "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane", as they've been delaying that one for God knows how long.

 

"Midnight Meat Train" has my interest because 1.) It's based on a good Clive Barker story 2.) Vinnie Jones as the villain, and 3.) It's from the director of "Versus" and "Godzilla: Final Wars", two movies I absolutely love.

 

"Shrooms" is a real let down. The premise is a lot of fun, but the movie itself is dull.

[bob_barron 0]

I've got to say though- it seems like the star caliber of direct to DVD movies has gone WAY up in the past ten years. Why is that?

 

Because putting out a movie is so expensive now. Not just with the bottom line but the marketing and advertising that's required of it. With DVD exploding for several years, producers could make enough money selling the film internationally and recoup the rest on DVD.

 

Guys like Wesley Snipes, Segal and Van Damme can still sell enough overseas, that their movies can be dumped to DVD in the states without having to spend out the ass promoting it.

 

Edison Force has probably the most high profile straight to DVD cast, though I think that went straight to DVD because it was so terrible that they didn't want to kill Justin Timberlake's film career out of the gate and embarass Spacey and Freeman.

 

Robin Williams also had a film go straight to DVD recently as well. That would be a fun project- find straight to DVD movies with name casts.

 

More on Zyzzx Road, from a Time magazine article-

 

Daily Variety mentioned the dismal box-office in a story last month, and since then the web has been abuzz with news, gossip and (mostly) bad jokes about the film. Produced for an estimated $1.2 million — about one-eighth the budget of Little Miss Sunshine — Zyzzyx Road played in a single, solitary Texas theater late last year. What happened? The answer is actually simple: the brief release in an inaccessible spot was deliberately chosen by the filmmakers to validate the Screen Actors Guild pay scales for films under $2.5 million.

 

The picture needed to be shown in at least one theater for at least one week to qualify for the special wages paid to actors who are involved with a low-budget film. This is to ensure that producers don't fast-talk eager actors into accepting lower pay for what they are told is a legitimate feature, but is actually a direct-to-video project. Although Zyzzyx's filmmakers had always planned to seek a distributor for a large, domestic release, they first rented out the small Texas theater in order to fulfill the SAG requirements.

 

[King Kamala 0]

Oooh OK. Here are three that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

 

The Big White: The aforementioned Robin Williams movie. Also starring Holly Hunter, Woody Harrelson, and Giovanni Ribisi. From what I've heard, it's a massive Fargo ripoff. Williams plays an Alaskan travel agent in financial trouble who tries to cash in on a one million dollar insurance claim on his brother (Harrelson), who's been missing for five years. He finds a body on the side of the road and tries to pretend it's his brother but surprise! He's still alive and shenanigans ensue! The reviews for it were mostly bad but I remember Leonard Maltin really liked it for some reason and talked about it on Secret's Out

 

The Alibi: Released on DVD as Lies and Alibis. Was supposed to be Steve Coogan's breakthrough as a leading man in the U.S. It didn't quite work. He plays a man who runs an alibi service for adulterous husbands who gets into a jam when the son of his most powerful clients murders his mistress. Somewhere along the line, Sam Elliot shows up as a Mormon hitman and John Leguizamo plays the jealous ex boyfriend of the mistress. I've actually seen this one. There are a few scenes but it's really too convoluted for its own good.

 

Havoc: Awful, awful movie where Anne Hathaway delves into the gangster culture of L.A. She gets topless but that's about the only good part. Also stars Bijou Philips, Joseph Gordon Leavitt, Freddy Rodreiguez, Channing Tatum, and Michael Biehn. Was written by the guy who wrote Traffic For some reason, it inspired a completely unrelated sequel with Amber Tamblyn.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I'm surprised "Frontier(s)" isn't on the list. Granted, it was released in a few theaters, then came to DVD two days later due to the ratings board refusing to give it an R-rating (probably because it dealt with a family of Nazi Cannibals), but I'm still surprised.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

The American remake of My Sassy girl with Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford is going straight to dvd. By the looks of the trailer, its not surprising.

 

Sarah Michelle Gellar is one famous actress who's had a lot of her films go to dvd (suburban girl, Harvard Man) or get extremley limited theatre releases (the return, southland tales). I don't know what's happened to her film movie career since Buffy.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Is that Genghis Khan movie a dramatization or a documentary? I love that guy.

[bob_barron 0]

It's a drama.

 

Havoc: Awful, awful movie where Anne Hathaway delves into the gangster culture of L.A. She gets topless but that's about the only good part. Also stars Bijou Philips, Joseph Gordon Leavitt, Freddy Rodreiguez, Channing Tatum, and Michael Biehn. Was written by the guy who wrote Traffic For some reason, it inspired a completely unrelated sequel with Amber Tamblyn.

 

The "sequel" to Havoc wasn't really a sequel. Amber did a movie called Normal Adolescent Behaviour that played some festivals and ended up appearing on Lifetime completely recut and then was released straight to DVD as Havoc 2: Normal Adolescent Behaviour. She wrote a really angry post at her message board.

 

The Return got a wide release, it's just that no one saw it.

 

I'm surprised "Frontier(s)" isn't on the list.

 

Not every film is on here. Postal, I know had a PSA of under $1,000 but I think the movie just wasn't tracked. Ditto another film called Felon with Val Kilmer.

[LuckyLopez 0]

"Shrooms" is a real let down. The premise is a lot of fun, but the movie itself is dull.

Agreed. As you said, the premise was fairly interesting and not TOO predictable but the movie just plays out like any other generic b-horror. Tragic story from the past, supernatural-like mind fucks, pretty people die. Ends up just being a movie I kept watching to see if it played out like I thought it might in the end.

 

Rogue was better than expected. I'm not sure it was really notable. Pretty much a standard monster movie like it looks. But the characters are much more relatable than most movies like this and you actually might care whether they live or die (at least I did). Which is much more than I expected. Still, a lot of cliches and a buy the numbers movie but one with surprisingly solid/good character work/acting.

 

This list inspired me to check out How to Rob A Bank and it was actually a pretty amusing film. Its a fun premise with no wasted time (the film begins in the middle of the heist and doesn't waste any time catching you up). Its not great but its basically all driven by characters, dialogue, and revelations. All of which are pretty amusing. It wasn't anything special but it was fun. My only real complaint was that it didn't really seem to resolve itself naturally. The film is about how the hell everyone is going to resolve this mess and then... it just sort of happens. So it wasn't much for a story. But Erika Christensen never looked better.

 

[Jingus 0]

I saw Rogue. Meh. Calling it "the least crappy movie about a giant killer crocodile" is about as much praise as I can give it. Beautiful cinematography of the outback, but the croc looks fake and there's too many random characters just cluttering up the scenery and doing nothing important. Not terrible, but very generic and forgettable.

[Gary Floyd 0]

"Rogue" is a good movie with some suspenseful moments, but it doesn't really live up to it's full potential, which is a shame. Worth a rental, but not a purchase.

 

"Postal" I haven't seen, and will probably rent.

 

"Frontier(s)" is derivative as hell, and Jingus should avoid it, but it's a good pastiche for what it is. Some awesome death scenes too.

[King Kamala 0]

Mildly off topic but I watched a bit of Primeval tonight for some reason on one of the movie channels. Man, whatever executive decided to greenlight a film that was part killer croc movie and part half assed attempt at an expose of social strife in Africa should have not only been fired but drawn and quartered as well.

[bob_barron 0]

What I liked about that one is that they marketed it as a serial killer movie. Not telling you the serial killer was an animal.

 

Also, Meg Ryan is in a new straight to DVD movie. That's just sad

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

What I liked about that one is that they marketed it as a serial killer movie. Not telling you the serial killer was an animal.

 

Also, Meg Ryan is in a new straight to DVD movie. That's just sad

 

I was pretty humored by the Primeval marketing too, thinking it looked like a slasher flick.

 

For the Meg Ryan one, are you referring to My Mom's New Boyfriend with her, Antonio Banderas, Selma Blair and Colin Hanks? I spotted that one recently and never heard of it. I would think that qualifies for a well known cast in StV.

 

Another big name StV (I think it was) that I can think of was The Contract with Morgan Freeman and John Cusack.

[Ravenbomb 0]

11:14 was a sold STV movie with a well-known cast. Patrick Swayze, Hilary Swank, Ben Foster, Henry Thomas, Colin Hanks, Rachel Leigh Cook, Barbara Hershey, and some other recognizable people. And it wasn't even released until Swank won her Million Dollar Baby Oscar, it just sat for a year doing nothing.

[bob_barron 0]

11:14 was a sold STV movie with a well-known cast. Patrick Swayze, Hilary Swank, Ben Foster, Henry Thomas, Colin Hanks, Rachel Leigh Cook, Barbara Hershey, and some other recognizable people. And it wasn't even released until Swank won her Million Dollar Baby Oscar, it just sat for a year doing nothing.

 

New Line didn't even pick up distribution rights until August 05.

 

The Contract was costly too, 25 mil and only goes straight to DVD. It was produced by Millenium Films, which seems to fund a lot of star-driven vehicles that end up going straight to DVD. It did play in theatres in Europe.

 

Here's another straight to DVD all-star cast film from NuImage/Millenium Films:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896798/