Fan Rant: How Sony Sank 'The Plague'

So a few years back I reviewed a horror flick for DVD Talk called The Plague. Not great, not awful, but kind of a choppy time-waster that starts out with a cool premise before devolving into some sort of forgettable zombie affair. A few months later I got an email from The Plague director Hal Masonberg, thanking me for the review, but also intent on setting the record straight: That a film he directed, co-wrote, and had big plans for ... was basically yanked out of his hands by Sony (Screen Gems Division), re-cut (badly), and dumped onto the video market with Clive Barker's name in front of the title. (Barker's production company made the film, but it is not based on anything he has ever written, so it seems really obnoxious to call it Clive Barker's The Plague. Of course I mean no disrespect to Clive Barker, who is a true lord among horror writers, but I'm just a little confused.)

I'm certainly not the first horror geek to cover this tale, but I figure it's worth mentioning again -- simply because I like people who try to make good horror films, and I say Hal Masonberg got screwed bad. Now the guy is risking some burnt bridges because he simply WILL NOT STOP trying to get his "Writer's & Director's Cut" released by Sony. The man is in a tough spot because it's really hard to support a Special Edition DVD when the first DVD went mostly unnoticed -- but Sony seems to think Hal has the better part of a million bucks, because that's what they're asking in return for the rights to the property.

And I think it's a little ironic that, about a year later, Mr. Barker himself was dealing with all sorts of miseries because a distributor (Lionsgate) was screwing one of HIS movies (Midnight Meat Train). Not re-cutting it and sucking its soul out, but messing with its theatrical release, which is also annoying, I suppose. Anyway, long story short: Masonberg's preferred version is about fifteen times better than the one you (maybe) saw on DVD. Not brilliant, not a masterpiece, but a fine little horror tale that wanted to trade in a little character, depth and ambiguity -- and then got absolutely screwed for it.

For a whole lot more on this annoying story, check out Hal's Spreading the Plague website. I'd recommend you start with this article first and then pick through the home page. (There's also an hour-long documentary that covers the whole story, as well as a petition so you can help out a little.) And y'know, it's not just because it's a horror flick that this irks me so much ... it's that someone's passion project was taken away, transformed, trashed, and basically forgotten about. For lots of young filmmakers, that might be OK, perhaps even a necessary step on the painful trip up the Hollywood ladder -- but think about it: What if it was your movie?