Wow. The film that was supposed to serve as the 'alternative programming' to the Harry Potter onslaught this weekend barely opened at all. All the free press and marketing in the world, a popular young starlet, an Oscar-nominated director, and all the rest of it barely lifted Captivity to an absurd 12th place finish for the weekend, topping out at an estimated $1.5 million. Assuming these estimates hold up on Monday morning, the film did less business than Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ocean's Thirteen and several other films that have been around for weeks and weeks. It did just a tad more business than Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which has been kicking around for months. In fact, it did only marginally better than Evening, the small-budget weepie featuring Claire Danes and Meryl Streep that creeped into theaters two weeks ago on a very limited platform and had practically no marketing push whatsoever. How is that even possible?

Anyway you slice it, this disasterous showing will have huge consequences for the horror genre going forward. Horror films of the 'torture porn' variety will probably not disappear from theatrical release all-together, but I bet that, going forward, the more gruesome elements of these films will be completely hidden by the marketing gurus rather than promoted. Also, films currently in production that could fall into the torture porn category, like the remake of the Wes Craven film The Last House on the Left will become a seriously tough sell. As for R-rated horror in general, the next test will be Rob Zombie's Halloween in late August. If that does well, expect the heat to cool off a bit, but in all seriousness, what is wrong with the American movie-going public? Aren't there any horror fans still out there? Am I the only one left?

I'm so annoyed that I have to pan Captivity, the horror film we've been hearing about forever that's finally arrived in theaters. The reason I'm annoyed is because I'm a fan of horror, the more extreme the better, and I couldn't be less on the same page as the Nikki Finkes of the world, who think that even working for a publicity firm that does business on behalf of a film like Captivity makes one morally bankrupt. So let me reiterate: I'm not one of those critics who would slam a horror film for being horrifying. I could conceivably write a glowing review of a movie where the lead actress is gang-raped by a group of angry coal miners, gives birth to a two-headed rape baby, and then is forced to eat that baby moments after delivering it. What I can't get on board with is directorial incompetence, which Captivity is, sadly, overflowing with. A retarded gorilla with nervous bowel syndrome could have done a better job of directing this film than double Oscar-nominee Roland Joffe, it seems.

The film drops us into its situation with next to no foreplay: a popular actress/model named Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) is kidnapped during a night out at a club. An unknown party slips something into her drink, she stumbles into an out of the way area, and the next thing we see is her waking up in a makeshift jail cell that's presumably located in the kidnapper's basement. A lot of torture follows -- editing-room torture. Someone was clearly worried that audiences would be bored by extended takes of a woman sitting alone in isolation, so the movie makes the most awkward jumps forward in time, going from having Cuthbert's character being alone in her cell to being suddenly strapped to a gurney while a hooded figure walks around her in circles, ominously. Important information is lost in the cuts, like where the kidnapper is coming from, and what avenues of escape that could present the heroine. The film is so devoid of establishing shots that we have to accept the torture scenes on a nightmare level.

Earlier this week, I got a call from Elisha Cuthbert to discuss what has to be the most talked-about movie of the year so far, Captivity. If I actually tried to give you a rundown all the digital ink we've spilled on this little horror film since the beginning of 2007, I'd never get around to actually typing out this interview, so I'll just choose a few highlights, like the original outbreak of controversy over the film's graphic billboard advertising back in March, the harsh response by the MPAA, the arrival of the first trailer, the release-date musical chairs, and our exclusive interview with After Dark Films about the whole project and the fuss it had caused. As you can probably imagine, the first question I asked Elisha when I spoke with her was, inevitably, 'Do you get asked your opinion about Captivity every single day?'

Elisha is, of course, known for her starring roles in such films as The Girl Next Door, where she played a mercurial porn star called Danielle, House of Wax, the 2005 horror remake in which she starred alongside a pre-incarceration Paris Hilton and famously allowed the stunt people to glue her lips together for a crucial scene, and the Will Ferrell comedy Old School. She's also widely recognized for her work on the small screen, appearing for several seasons as Jack Bauer's daughter on the hit show 24. Those two worlds are expected to collide sometime in late 2008 or 2009 as a movie adaptation of 24 ramps up production, but until that happens, if it happens at all, Cuthbert has a number of projects on the runway to keep her busy. Here is the interview, and fair warning -- it does contain some spoilers about Captivity.

RS: What's it like being at the center of this film's controversy-fueled marketing campaign for the past few months? Do you get asked your opinion about Captivity every single day?

EC: Not every day, but I definitely get a lot of questions about it. To be perfectly honest with you, a lot of it baffles me, and a lot of it is intriguing at the same time, because I had no idea that, in the world of the Saws and the Hostels ... somehow our film has sort of stuck out. I'm grateful for that, but at the same time, I'm a little confused. I know that we had some controversy with the womens' groups, and I just feel like I wanted them to see the film before making any judgments on it. I set out to make a film about a woman who fights for her life and comes out in the end sort of strong and learns something from her experience. But 30 million people chatting about it online? I couldn't ask for anything more!

RS: Did you find the billboards personally offensive?

EC: I personally didn't, but then again that doesn't mean it's not going to affect someone in a negative way, and we're here to sort of appease the people who go see the films. The only thing I can say about it is that I thought that they were interesting enough to be up. I hope people see the film and give it a chance. We're not here to sort of ... this isn't a documentary about, you know, women getting kidnapped. This is a horror film.

RS: Where do you come down on the whole recent issue of R-rated horror films like Hostel II seeming to give ground to films like 1408, which are PG-13 and clearly less gruesome?

EC: I don't know, you know, it's hard to judge. I think that, back in the day, there used to be a lot of horror films that kind of had a checklist of what went into making the 'perfect horror film', and I think now people are raising the bar in the industry, as far as the types of horror films that are being made. There's a sort of psychological undertone to films. 1408 -- I think we're also in the same realm as that, just as the Hostels and the Saws, because there is that sort of psychological fear and we're basing something on reality. I don't know -- it's tough to say, I just think the industry in general and the genre in general has changed and modified -- people want to see more.

Ranked as one of the Top Ten Fantasy Girlfriends by Askmen.com, Elisha Cuthbert has managed to build a fairly respectable resume from her turn as Jack Bauer's estranged daughter on 24, to the porn star with the heart of gold in the comedy The Girl Next Door. One of her latest upcoming roles is the horror flick Captivity (the other is the remake of the South Korean flick My Sassy Girl), and Bloody-disgusting has an early look at the new one-sheet for the horror film.

The movie is the story of a model and her chauffeur who are kidnapped and held in a cellar by a serial killer. In the midst of the torturing and terrorizing, the two find time to fall in love! Roland Joffé is directing his own script and Daniel Gillies co-stars with Cuthbert, along with Pruitt Taylor Vince. The new poster is definitely an improvement over the last poster I came across. It's creepy enough, but predictably still aims for the jiggle-factor, as you can't help but notice Cuthbert's more obvious "assets" are on full display. Although, I guess compared to the latest poster for Hostel II, this one looks down right tame. Captivity was initially scheduled for a late-winter release, but has now been re-penciled for release in May.