Photo Source: Captain Howdy

Recently I watched the horror classic, Amityville. It was purported to be one of the scariest movies ever made. Well, it was a rather well done flick, I'll give you that. But then part of the argument would have us believe that this was based on a true story. Hang on a minute, that's stretching it a bit, especially since I have actually seen the flick.

I don't want to dwell on all the details about Amityville and why I scoff when folks bring up the 'real life haunting' angle. The wiki page covers it rather well and google search brings up the numerous controversies surrounding the flick/story. For starters, folks who moved into the house later on didn't experience any X-Files style activity. Some of the events mentioned have been contested by many. At the very least, some folks involved have changed their version of the story a few times.

In fact, I think the captions at the end of the movie is rather telling. According to that, the family fled in fear and left all their belongings behind. And that they lived in another state. Makes you think they drove straight for the border and rented a motel two states down the road. Or something dramatic like that. Turns out they sent a moving van to pick up the stuff whereby the guy was not attacked, prodded or poked by anything invisible or malevolent. 

What is it with horror flicks and weird marketing, intentional or otherwise? Surely this sort of tactic backfires? Maybe it actually helps boost ticket sales for the flick or of the DVDs and thus, the stories are allowed to persist? Well, consider these following controversies about various horror flicks:

  Photo Source: Captain Howdy

Heard that one about the subliminal messages in the Exorcist? Well, subliminal images which were meant to enhance the atmosphere of fear for the viewers. This consisted of ghastly facial closeups in unexpected spots. A lot of critics believe that these stories are merely rumors, meant to boost interest in the flick. Others think that the folks behind the flick might have snipped those bits later on. I also read this section about the soundtrack (i.e. exorcism bits) where select parts are supposed to contain weird noises like squealing pigs and bees and other strange noises. The part about some guy's better half being tied down and poked for noises later on was … weird all by itself, without needing any associations with a horror movie.


Then there was an 1930s flick called Freaks. This one was part of undue controversy, at least in my opinion. Apparently, folks flipped because the movie makers used folks with real deformities as part of the circus folk. This in itself made critics, censor folk and some viewers uneasy and thus, the movie didn't do too well. And folks talked about it in whispers and thought of it as a taboo movie. That doesn't happen any more but, at the same time, it still struggles to find its place with a mainstream audience. Given that the movie was going for a 'the evil ones are not whom you think' angle, it is a pity that the hype resulted in it being sidelined.

And there was the scandals, rumors and urban legends surrounding the Poltergeist series. Folks believe that there is a curse surrounding the series and that a lot of cast members died right after being part of it. Contrary to some rumors that almost everyone involved in the flick died mysteriously, only 4 cast members passed away. This ranged from illnesses to one horrid murder case. As you can imagine, many folks would have watched these flicks just because of the stories. To be fair, no one involved in the movie seems to be have used these stories; rather, it was a case of viewers getting caught up with an idea and creating a hype around it.