Movie review: the worst box-office grosser of 2005

I talk a lot in the book about how distribution bottlenecks distort our culture, with one of the best examples being Hollywood box office. Domestic box office gross revenues are heavily influenced by the number of screens any given movie is shown on. Much of what is usually attributed to quality and popularity is actually due to ubiquity--if you can get your movie to open on more than 3,000 screens, it's bound to do big numbers, whether it's any good or not (see Scary Movie 4). And if you can't get your movie into many theaters, it's not going to do much box office business, even if it's terrific.

The example I used in the book was 2005's absolute worst box office performer, The Dark Hours, which grossed $423 in its run (Not $423,000. Four hundred and twenty-three dollars). It's a Canadian horror film made on a small budget with a cast of relative unknowns, but, I wrote, "not bad at all, according to those who've seen it."

After the book came out, the agent of the film's director, Paul Fox, wrote to say that he had been honored to be mentioned. Despite winning several international awards, The Dark Hours (like many Canadian films) never got US distribution. The only reason it shows up on the US charts at all is that it played for one week at the indie-friendly Pioneer cinema in NYC. One theater, one week, and lucky to get even that--that's the reality of independent films. They asked me if I'd like a copy, and kindly sent a DVD along.

I got a chance to watch it last night and I'm pleased to report that it's really quite good. It's a psychological thriller about a prison psychiatrist, Samantha Goodman, with a brain tumor. After a year of stability, the tumor is now growing and she's starting to lose her grip on reality. Distraught, she drives through the snow to spend the weekend with her husband in the cabin where he's finishing a novel (assisted by her young sister) so she can tell him that the end is probably near. But shortly after arriving and giving him the bad news, they're interrupted by a knock on the door. A young man enters, suddenly pulls a gun, and is then joined by Harlan Pyne, a former patient of hers who had been imprisoned for murder and was, last she knew, still in a coma. He forces them to play games at gunpoint, choosing which body parts to lose and confessing to their crimes, from the affair that Sam's husband and her sister are having to the illegal drug experiment Sam performed on Harlan, who has the same tumor she has.

So far, that's the usual hostage horror stuff. But what makes the movie really interesting [spoiler alert] is that it's never clear what's real and what's being hallucinated by Sam. Does Harlan exist or is he simply a fantasy she created to cover her own murderous rampage? Are her husband and sister having an affair, or has she merely turned her suspicions about them into a vivid dream? There are dozens of clues scattered throughout to suggest that all is not what it seems, but the ambiguity about what's really going on will leaving you turning over scenes for hours afterwards as you consider different interpretations.

The acting is very solid, with Aidan Devine, who plays the psychopathically logical Harlan, the clear standout. Kate Greenhouse (Sam) is a bit chilly and unlikable, but I imagine that's meant to convey the emotional cost of living with a brain tumor. Aside from the distribution problem, my only explanation for the film's poor performance is its uninspired name, generic horror-film box art, and otherwise cheesy packaging--this film is a lot smarter than the box it came in. It's by no means the worst film of 2005; indeed, I'd actually put it in my personal top 100 for the year. The fact that House of Wax did $32 million at the box office and The Dark Hours did $0 million seems to be entirely due to differences in marketing and distribution, not quality.

Reassuringly, the financial failure of The Dark Hours hasn't destroyed Paul Fox's career. He's just finished Everything's Gone Green, which is Douglas Coupland's first screenplay and opened to acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in September. But once again, it appears that he doesn't have any US theatrical distribution. Fox has talent and a track record of original, excellent filmmaking. Unfortunately, he's Canadian, so you probably won't be able to see his films here on anything but DVD. That's how distribution scarcity distorts culture. There are loads of good movies out there. There just aren't enough theater screens to show them on. 

Comments

[Dennis D. McDonald]

Sounds like another argument for alternatve distribution channels (also known as the Internet).

[Greg Banville]

This movie isn't the only one suffering from poor box cover art in the video and rental market. Wandering around the video store as I often do, I'm often struck by how bland and uninteresting most of the video box covers are. I think this is one art form that hasn't ever achieved a standard of competence. I notice that even movies I thought were stunning have cover art that turns me off and gives the impression that there is nothing interesting to be found inside. Everyone is invited to test this observation by going to the video store and looking at the covers of movies they liked among those they haven't seen.

[John Dumbrille]

Interesting. I may be off, but judging by the detail you've given of the Canadian movie, sounds like you might be nudging a latent long tail phenom for these guys. Hope so.

The emergent visions of how to bring a niche movie to market are pretty fascinating. One example I've been following: Hugh McLeod at Gaping Void is jumpstarting interest-then-distribution for a small budget British Movie - by leveraging his blog with patter and publicity for small public pre-screenings.

[Wil]

Here is another interesting wrinkle. Domestic box office is considered to be US and Canada (which usually accounts for about 10% of the total). Since The Dark Hours was released in the US by Freestyle Releasing and in Canada by Capri Films, the Canadian box office numbers didn't show up in the domestic totals. I don't know the official numbers, but it was much better than $423.

However, there is a perverse glee in crossing the finish line last.

-Wil Zmak, screenwriter "The Dark Hours"

[Andy]

Chris, as a sometime horror writer and full time s/w engineer, I tend to spend a lot of time hanging out in the long tail. I was delighted to see you give "The Dark Hours" some love. I reviewed this great little Canadian horror flick over a year ago and was hoping it would do well given the great reception it got at its screening at Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival (a long tail festival if ever there was one). In Canada I presume The Dark Hours made much more than $400, since I attended a packed screening with over 700 people, each paying $7CAD apiece.

Check out my Dark Hours review at Dread Central, and for god's sake, rent this movie!

-Andy

[wowgold]

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[A.R.Yngve]

THE DARK HOURS sounds like the kind of mind-bending movie I'd like. I can always buy it on Amazon.com...
:)

So it's a Canadian movie? Who cares? Apparently 1/4 of Hollywood was born in Canada!

[Dina]

Dear Fans
How are you?I hope that you are fine too.

Wells thats the thank you.

No thats did you too.
Didn`t you go all.

[san]

This movie isn't the only one suffering from poor box cover art in the video and rental market.条码条码机条码打印机 仓库管理条码枪