Show It Its It's s a blood bath out there Geoff Boucher Los Angeles Times The second annual After Dark is poised to land in theaters this weekend with a national splatter The six-day six film eight-film festival beginning Friday and stretched over two weekends will bring its collective charms which include cannibals Mexican cult killers spooks were- were rats a raging mystery virus and enough fake blood to fill a tanker truck to about US U.S. screens That arguably makes aka a.k.a. 8 Films to Die For a world-class world festival a sort of super-sized super Sundance for sadism Its the biggest on the planet said filmmaker Courtney Solomon the festival founder Well yes and no the 2006 festival was actually larger it was wason wason wason on screens with a respectable gross of 26 million But the 2006 the first festival to rank in inthe inthe inthe the weekly top 10 at the US U.S. box office has certainly cut through to core genre fans and has become viewed as asa asa asa a launching point for DVD releases and more lucrative international deals for the movies that make the cut A clear indication of its higher profile is the presence this year of The Deaths of Ian Stone a film with an 11 million budget about five times the cost of any movie in the 2006 festival In just a year its it's become a real brand name for horror fans and these are hard die-hard fans said James Koya Jones director of Crazy Eights one of the films in inthis inthis inthis this years year's festival Were very happy to be part of this festival and we think it will be great exposure for forthe forthe forthe the film Fans can buy tickets on line or at each theater box office for individual movies or pay an all- all p you-can-stomach you price of 75 and sit through every stabbing The other films this year Tooth and Nail Lake Dead Unearthed Nightmare Man Man Borderland and andr r 0 L I f 1 E. E I s J 1 t Los Angeles Times photo by Jay L. L Clendenin Courtney Solomon in the Los Angeles office of After Dark Films is the founder of I I Mulberry Street Solomon said the model for the festival came from beyond the world He compared it to the spirit of Con Comic-Con the massive pop-culture pop exposition in San Diego that has become a rite of passage for fan- fan boys Its a destination n event he said pointing out that fans come in large groups linger for hours and in some cases wear costumes He added Its about being seen as much muchas as seeing the movie The great challenge for theaters now is prying people away from the sofas and home theaters that have keep the popcorn crowd at home Solomon said that borrowing a page from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its ability to turn any theater lobby into a pop-culture pop hub is one way to pump new stage blood back into the business You have to todo todo todo do something he said After the festival last year organizers organizer received calls from theater managers that fell into two categories They were pleased with the turnout and feedback or they were aghast at the loitering teenagers the mess they left behind and the sound of beer bottles rolling down the aisles Really its it's more like a concert experience than man a neighborhood movie theater experience and that's a a- good thin thing because that makes it special argued Solomon who believes Hollywood should embrace more such I promotional stunts stunt to make lobbies and movie movIe house employees part of the show Solomon may find some Hollywood insiders a bit skeptical of his marketing advice after all aU his After Dark Films had an infamous us failure this year with Captivity an especially pungent example of the so-called so torture porn horror film sub Billboards for forthe forthe forthe the film showing unsettling images of a woman being kidnapped tortured and killed led to widespread criticism that resulted in inthe inthe inthe the ads being taken down Not tha Captivity was alone among flops in the vein open-vein sector The surge of horror hits over the past decade led to a particularly crowded release schedule this year 26 such studio theatrical releases last year versus more than O Othis this year The saturation undercut many of the films this summer especially sequels such as Hostel 2 28 Weeks Later and The Hills Have Eyes II 11 Saw IV was No l 1 at the box office the final weekend making it a third consecutive Halloween season opening of more than 30 million for the franchise the studio behind Saw Sia a Partner in bui bd ut j Solomon Solomon said taid even ven if it wasn't nhe the Saw machine is is p po ra run up against head to That he said would be really scary i I |