Director J. T. Petty’s new horror movie, “The Burrowers,” will be seen by audiences for the first time on DVD.
That’s not what Petty had in mind.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Petty tells WWTW. “It kills me ‘Burrowers’ won’t be easy to see on the big screen.“
The film offers the kind of expansive vistas and crisp cinematography that scream out for a theatrical presentation. But the modern movie distribution process wouldn’t allow it.
And it doesn’t just affect his indie film.
“My wife went and saw ‘Sunshine Cleaning. She was the only person in the theater,” he says. “It’s the poster child of an independent movie that would be a success a few years.”
Modern horror movies like “Let the Right One In,” he argues, could enthrall a wide audience if only given the chance.
“I do think its dangerous for our culture that so much of what we’re ingesting are remakes and sequels,” he says.
That’s where horror fans come in.
Horror movie devotees “are some of the most dedicated fans in the world,” he says. And today’s fans have more control of the genre than they think. Horror films that film critics reject often find cult status once the fans embrace it, he says.
Hollywood isn’t helping matters much.
The industry is “largely run by [wimps],” he says, too eager to pump up a film with a marketable name rather than giving an indie film a chance.
Petty’s next project will work within that system. He’s remaking “Faces of Death,“ a documentary series from the ‘80s.
“It’s one of the few remakes I would do. The original has no story,“ he says.
This time, it looks like his work will get the big screen treatment.
“The marketing department is crazy about the title. They knew about [the films] when they were kids,” he says.
That approach, ultimately, is short sighted from a business perspective. If Hollywood put $30 behind an original title “you’ve created a brand.”
Before the first “Saw” feature hit theaters, no one had heard of Jigsaw.
“The studios had faith in something fresh,” he says.
Check out Part I of WWTW’s interview with J.T. Petty.
(Photo: Director J.T. Petty (left) hard at work on the set of “The Burrowers.”)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with petty when it comes to all the remakes and sequels it seems that everything is being force fed to us as consumers. Being a big horror fan it is a good time for the genre with there being more choices out there but at the same time it is a lot harder to find goof films that often get over looked like ‘Splinter’ and petty’s ‘The Burrowers’. though i was too young the early 80’s was a great time for horror pretty much every week a new horror movie was coming to the big screen with no name actors and a creative title. Now it is hard to get a movie that has big name actors i’ve been waiting for WB to release Michael Dougherty’s ‘Trick r Treat’ which has brian cox and anna paquin in it and every test screening and festival it has played at it has gotten nothing but positive reviews and hopefully Wb will finally release it this halloween. it’s just a sign of the times it seems the studios are not taking risks and they are too afraid to try something new and we have to suffer through it.
It’s a power to the people moment, Ronn. The content is out there … we just have to be more proactive in finding it – and supporting it.