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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Breaking: Cthulhu Gets Picked Up for Distribution

posted by on May 7 at 13:45 PM

This just in from Cthulhu director Dan Gildark:

We were picked up by Regent Releasing for worldwide distribution which includes a theatrical platform release in Seattle and Portland (as of now I don’t know the dates) it also includes pay-per-view on the Here! channel. This is the same company that just released Shelter; the biggest film they have done is Gods and Monsters. They focus on horror and gay and lesbian film.

Congrats to Dan and Grant!

Also, I kinda called it:

It wasn’t long ago that a horror film with gay content would have had no hope of landing a major U.S. distributor, but in today’s niche-driven industry, the sexuality of Cthulhu’s main character may well prove a savvy marketing move. On the one hand, gay and lesbian film festivals have cultivated an audience that’s been proven hungry for movies with gay themes, regardless of hype or production values. More and more mainstream films are testing the sexuality barrier (both Cogswell and Gildark pointed to the upcoming Brokeback Mountain, an upcoming Ang Lee Western that explores a sexual relationship between cowboys played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, as a potential crossover hit); and specialty theatrical distributors like Strand Releasing have a long history of successfully marketing art-house films with gay and lesbian content. On the other hand, fans of horror films are equally voracious for new examples of the genre, making the prospect of home video and DVD sales particularly tantalizing. The possibility of uniting the two markets isn’t lost on other filmmakers: Hellbent, which is marketing itself as “the first ever gay slasher film!” is currently receiving a rolling national release, and opens in Seattle this Friday. Cthulhu may be chasing the zeitgeist.

RSS icon Comments

1

We need a SLOG outing for this!

Cool!

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 7, 2008 2:10 PM
2

Cthulhu was generally bad--in every way.

That is all.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 7, 2008 2:13 PM
3

I saw Cthulhu at the Lesbian & Gay film festival last year. Or at least some pre-release version of it. It obviously wasn't finished at the time. The copy they had was so dark as to be nearly unwatchable, and it desperately needed editing. A novel idea that had merit, but the version they showed at the festival was a gawdawful mess.

Grant and Dan should be ashamed, not congratulated, for showing a film in that condition to a live audience.

Posted by Reverse Polarity | May 7, 2008 2:23 PM
4

The whole "Breaking" thing has got to stop. Seriously. This goes for the entire Internet, not just Slog.

Posted by PA Native | May 7, 2008 2:33 PM
5

@2 "Cthulhu was generally bad--in every way."

Wrong. It had great cinematography. But beyond that the movie was awful.

Posted by stinkbug | May 7, 2008 2:34 PM
6

No, the cinematography wasn't great. Sure, the camera direction had a lot of thought put into it, but like Reverse Polarity says, the whole thing was incredibly dark. That can be taken care of in post, depending on the circumstances, but if you didn't find a shred of entertainment in the entire film, it won't make any difference.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 7, 2008 2:51 PM
7

Damn.. Everyone's a critic...

I still haven't seen this movie, but congrats on the distribution deal.

Posted by Clint | May 7, 2008 3:00 PM
8

So, you'll wait in line to get us tickets then, Mr. Poe?

Thanks!

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 7, 2008 3:01 PM
9

I saw Cthulhu at one of the SIFF screenings and thought it was just beautiful. And I think it's really sad the way people in Seattle jump on criticizing things that come out of our own backyard instead of supporting them. Congrats Dan and Grant! I will gladly see the movie again when it's distributed.

Posted by Jessica Knapp | May 7, 2008 3:05 PM
10

Wow, now that Josh Feet is gone, it's nice to see you've picked up the talent for self-fellation, Annie.

Posted by You called it! | May 7, 2008 3:21 PM
11

Cthulhu had it's moments, and it's weaknesses. But Dan and Grant pulled themselves up by their boostraps in the midst of so much hipster ennui and griping, and actually made something. They actually tried --and although they may have failed (that's for the viewer to decide), they got the damn thing done on their own.

Tori Spelling's performance, by the way, is totally wicked and electrifying.

The complainers might do well to remember Godard's quote that the only way to criticize a film is to make one yourself.

Posted by MonkeyNose | May 7, 2008 3:34 PM
12
The complainers might do well to remember Godard's quote that the only way to criticize a film is to make one yourself.

Brilliant. M Night probably busts this one out every day.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 7, 2008 4:00 PM
13

I'll be frank - Tori Spelling's performance is part of why I really want to see the movie. The casting for that just somehow grabs me.

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 7, 2008 4:09 PM
14

You guys are all wrong. It had great art direction, fair cinematography, and bad everything else.

@10: You try writing things every week that disappear into the ether forever the next week. I like to dig up old stuff once in a while, and if I called it, then I called it. What do you care if I suck my own non-existent dick?

Posted by annie | May 7, 2008 4:15 PM
15

Don't know the film or its makers, and congratulations to both of them, but what's up with them making a movie in a genre that Annie's article reveals neither of them had any respect for when they began making the movie?

Why do that? And why expect it to turn out any good?

Posted by whatevernevermind | May 7, 2008 4:20 PM
16

Wow.. Annie Wagner has a filthy mouth. filthy.

Posted by Clint | May 7, 2008 4:21 PM
17

And that's what we love about her ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 7, 2008 4:55 PM
18

Poe, you're confusing the cinematography with the (poor) projecting at some screenings.

Posted by stinkbug | May 7, 2008 4:58 PM
19

You kind of called it 2 1/2 years ago? That's stretching it a little bit, don't you think? Maybe if they'd gotten distribution within a few months of this, you could claim that. Or if this piece came out a few months ago. But 2 1/2 years? And don't say you called Brokeback Mountain, as Grant and Dan were the ones citing its potential success.

Posted by bookworm | May 8, 2008 10:59 AM
20

hey #14 annie - you must be a friend of the 'art director' of cthulu, who was a mediocre art assistant until falling backwards into her role on the movie. [insert fart sound here]

Posted by Art Direction Schmart Direction | May 8, 2008 3:25 PM
21

#9 -- you got it wrong. We're not trashing the film because it originated from our backyard. We're trashing it because it originated from Dan. While we was smart enough to hire a respected cinematographer, everything else he did was complete crap. Only in Seattle does one have a complete novice in charge of a high budget indie. Ridiculous.

Posted by In the know | May 8, 2008 7:15 PM

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