direct to video Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Back in the VHS days, "direct to video" actually meant something. It meant something BAD, more often than not. The video marketplace allowed a lot of people to make and sell their own flicks, but uh, they were generally pretty terrible. So when someone says "Ugh, I don't wanna rent that. It went direct to video," they're probably dredging up memories of backyard horror flicks or Oliver Gruner action films. But in today's ultra-modern, mega-bandwidth, multi-distributive movie landscape, "direct to video" can mean a whole lot of things.

Take the recent French horror film Inside, which played at festivals all over the world, opened theatrically in several countries, and got a basic (but well-received) DVD release from The Weinstein Company here in the States. So as far as the U.S. is concerned, this is considered a "direct to video" title. Yet it's an awesome film. How can that be? Heard of a little flick called Special, starring Michael Rapaport? Probably not, but if it's a good flick, why does "DTV" even matter anymore?

When you think of DTV, you probably think of low-rent and generally atrocious sequels like American Pie 5: Down to the Crust, Bring It On 6, The Bringening, or Prom Night 2: Sudden Cat Noises. And that's because the video market is a great place to bring in a few bucks from the teenage weekend rentals -- but since when are rotten sequels the exclusive domain of the video stores? (I recall six different Police Academy releases before the seventh one was finally remanded to the video market.) A great example would be the pretty wretched Hills Have Eyes 2 (theatrical release) versus the unexpectedly entertaining Wrong Turn 2 (DVD premiere). I say we should be grateful to the video shelves for cataloging all the flicks we'd probably NEVER go see at the multiplexes -- even if they're movies that even I'd never bother to rent. (I'm lookin' at you, Lost Boys 2.)

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the video store, a whole new line of sequels threatens to crowd the new release shelves. Paramount Famous Prods. announced plans to raid the libraries of Paramount, Paramount Vantage, DreamWorks, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies in search of source material to sequelize, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Projects already in development include sequels to Mean Girls, Road Trip, The Naked Gun, Bad News Bears and Grease. First out of the gate will be Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling, due out in early 2009.

If you're saying to yourself, "Wait a minute, haven't some of these movies already been sequel-ized, sometimes more than once?" the answer is yes. (Naked Gun, Bad News Bears, Grease). If you're then wondering, "Why more sequels?" the answer is, as Deep Throat told Bob Woodward, "Follow the money." The unit is headed by Louis Feola, who formerly ran Universal Studios Home Entertainment, which made three direct-to-video sequels to American Pie and three to Bring It On. Each sold between one to two million copies, translating into many millions of dollars without the risks and expense of thearical distribution.

I have absolutely no problem with low-budget productions that trade on their resemblance to well-known titles, as long as they're smartly made with a degree of fun, intelligence, and style. That's been in short supply lately in the direct-to-video productions I've seen. We'll see what happens when Paramount Famous starts releasing their line in earnest starting in 2010, at a pace of five to six films annually.

If you were watching Get Smart this past weekend (and many of you had been) and thought to yourself, "Self, whatever were those two gadget-crafting nerds played by that guy from 'Heroes' and that other dude up to while Steve Carell was off being less funny than he tends to be back home on the television set?," then do I have an answer for you!

And by I, I mean Warner Premiere, the studio's direct-to-DVD arm. See, for over a year now, they've had it up their sleeves to release a spin-off entitled Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control*, which would correspond to the events of that film's story and arrive on shelves within weeks of that film's release (next Tuesday, July 1, to be exact).

If the official website and its trailer are to be believed, the 71-minute supplement involves Bruce (Masi Oka) and Lloyd (Nate Torrence) as they construct, test, and tweak robotic agent Hymie (Patrick Warburton), who made an appearance at the end of Smart.

Whether it turns out to be actually amusing or just superfluous, the whole deal's a smart move on Warner Premiere's part; I suspect that they just shot stuff amidst regular filming, which in turn cut down both production and promotion costs, as opposed to the relative gamble of dusting off titles such as House on Haunted Hill, The Cell, and The Lost Boys.

Regardless, GS'sB&L:OOC hits shelves on DVD and Blu-Ray - and on-demand - next week.

*Get it? Because Control's the name of the government organization they work within. No, not because they got booted from their Joy Division cover band.

"You know what, Ted?"

"What, Frank?"

"There's been a whole bunch of them sequels lately - we got that Hulk and another Narnia, heck, even another Indiana Jones movie..."

"Yep."

"...and you know what I've been waiting for another one of?"

"What's that, Frank?"

"A Cinderella Story."

"Huh?"

Producer Joel Silver just made the equation crystal clear: If the direct-to-video Return to House on Haunted Hill is a success, then he'll probably churn out a few more just like it. So it's up to us now: If we don't want to be bothered with even more bargain bin cheese with titles like Return to Ghost Ship, House of Even More Wax, and The Reaping 2: The Reapening, then we should probably ignore Return to House on Haunted Hill when it hits DVD this September. Right? Who's with me?

Meh, who am I kidding? I'll give any horror flick an even chance, plus with the lowered expectations that come with a DTV sequel, we just might have something here. (Or maybe not.) The sequel to the remake of the 1959 William Castle production does come with a relatively colorful little ensemble: Jeffrey Combs, Cerina Vincent and Erik Palladino are among the bigger names. The director and the writer are both first-timers, so instead of being all snippy and dismissive about the generally well-established quality of DTV sequels (or lack thereof), I'll simply keep my fingers crossed and hope for a suitably entertaining little B-movie. (And it wouldn't have to be all that great to top the first House on Haunted Hill -- and by "the first" I mean "the remake.")

But seriously ... if Silver comes up with a sequel to Gothika, the gloves come off.

Ever since Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys became a fairly big hit back in 1987, fans have clamored for a sequel. For years we heard vague rumors about a potential follow-up called The Lost Girls (a script for which was allegedly penned by none other than Joss Whedon), but obviously it never came to pass -- which seems kind of weird considering that The Lost Boys grossed over $32 million domestically before turning into one of the most widely watched cable flicks of all time. (Then again it's always tough to do a sequel to an ensemble piece, particularly when half your original cast went on to become, well, instant has-beens.)

But now, according to exclusive word from IESB.net, it looks like we'll finally be getting that Lost Boys sequel -- only it looks to be arriving in direct-to-video form. All we seem to know so far is that a) production will begin in San Diego very soon and b) the plot has something to do with Surfer Vampires. Yep, vamps on boards. Throw some bank robberies in and we could call it Point Break 2: The Lost Vampire Surfer Gang.

More details as they become available, although if you think Jason Patric or Kiefer Sutherland are coming back for a DTV sequel, well, you're nuts. The interest/availability of Corey Haim, Corey Feldman and Jami Gertz might be an entirely different story.

Just about every movie studio bangs out a handful of Direct-to-Video titles every year, but Warner Bros. is about to get pretty serious about the practice. They even went and promoted someone to head up the new Warner Premiere department! (Yes, they need a president and a staff in order to bring Dukes of Hazzard 2 to your Netflix queue.)

Former Executive Vice-President of WB's Global Brand Management Division (and hottie) Diane Nelson has been named head of Warner's new Premiere division, which will kick off next spring with Dukes 2 and then continue to churn out inevitably inferior (yet unquestionably profitable) video sequels until we're all long dead and gone. So to those of you who were desperately praying for titles like Racing Stripes 2, Must Still Love Dogs, The Whole 11 Yards, GVT: Grind vs. Torque, and Son of Kangaroo Jack -- your prayers have been answered in the form of Diane Nelson.

OK, snark aside, I've been waiting a long time for someone to come along and say "Y'know... DTV titles don't necessarily HAVE to be cheap, chintzy, terrible movies" -- and it sure doesn't look like that person's going to be employed by Sony, Disney, MGM, Fox or Universal. So congrats and good luck to Ms. Nelson on her new promotion. Here's hoping she has something in her back pocket that's more promising than Dukes of Hazzard freakin' 2.

We don't really cover DVD sales around here (we much prefer to talk about the box office, and all those monkeys, hobbits, and wardrobes), but this week's numbers are worth noting. Though there's nothing particularly interesting or surprising about most of the movies in the top 10 - The 40 Year Old Virgin is still doing well, as is John Singleton's Four Brothers, and a couple of new releases also made strong showings. At the top of the heap, however, is a sequel that never appeared in theaters: yes, that's right, American Pie: Band Camp outsold all other DVD titles in its debut week. Despite the fact that the only returning main cast member is Eugene Levy and all the other actors are people you've never heard of, the movie moved over a million units in just a few days. So, if studios needed a sign that the direct-to-video market is thriving, I guess this is it.

Ok, who bought it? Fess up, and give us some details. Is it cheap and awful? Incredibly brilliant comedy? Boring and sad?