Despite none really having the impact of the original, I clearly remember a poster, possibly for Saw 4, with a tagline of “If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.”
But now it seems Halloween is another prime slot for Box Office contenders.
Spectre came out on the 26th October 2015 last year and Marvel will release Doctor Strange on the 28th October of this year.
The excellent The Babadook was the last film in cinemas, that I was actually able to see on Halloween, so we have to wonder why?
I thought this was in general down to school holidays, but a quick google and it appears that break ends on October 28th!
This September, 2 big horror hits are released, Don’t Breathe from the director of the Evil Dead reboot, Fede Alvarez and the return of the Blair Witch, in the film of the same name, from the writer/director team of You’re Next and The Guest, Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard.
Are these scary films running scared of going up against blockbusters?
Last year, Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension was released on 23rd and did not make it into most cinemas the 8 days later for Halloween, in fact, the only film of the scary/spooky genre was The Last Witch Hunter starring Vin Diesel.
In 2014, Annabelle, a spin-off from The Conjuring entered cinemas on 10th October, slightly better than August for the original Conjuring film. Annabelle 2 is scheduled for a May 2017 release.
In 2012, Sinister came into cinemas but at the start of October, not the end. It’s sequel Sinister 2 did worse, coming out in August and its box office performance was way down on the original!
Possibly most bizarre of all, Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween had a release date of 28th September, its sequel Halloween II did slightly better with an October 9th release.
At least, in general, Jason Vorhees has hit our screens on a Friday the 13th so he has an excuse to avoid October 31st =)
But it does happen, in 2003 the Texas Chainsaw Massacre did well at the box office on Halloween, to spawn a prequel and a 3D version (prequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning had an early October release, but Texas Chainsaw 3D had a 4th January release!
I have sometimes been lucky to see special one-day-release of The likes of The Thing and Alien on the 31st October, so sometimes that slot can be filled with some nostalgia on the big screen.
Looking at movie releases for this year, the latest instalment of the Ring films, Rings hits cinemas on November 4th so surely we can expect some preview Halloween screenings, If not someone needs to have a word in marketing!
Of course, we may all be out trick or treating but I for one miss being able to see a good scary/horror film on the big screen. That does seem odd when the UK does seem to embrace the event now, with all sorts of brands from Kipling Cakes to Butterkist releasing Halloween themed products.
That does seem odd when the UK does seem to embrace the event now, with all sorts of brands from Kipling Cakes to Butterkist releasing Halloween themed products.
Even the TV schedules normally find a scary movie to show!
Going full circle however it looks like next year will see the return of the big Halloween release as Jigsaw returns in the eighth film in the franchise, Saw: Legacy scheduled for release on 28th October 2017 and we personally hope it does well to kickstart this genre’s return to Halloween screens.
Do you like to watch a film on Halloween? Would you like them in cinemas on or near to the 31st as part of your Halloween build up? We would love to hear from you here at barking mad about films