Immaculate: How to Sell Horror 101

by Cláudio Alves

This Wednesday, April 3rd, a selection of theaters in the US will be selling tickets for Immaculate at the devilish price of $6.66. This promotion, devised by NEON in partnership with AMC, Regal, Marcus, and Harkins Theaters, is another ingenious step in the movie's pitch-perfect campaign. Horror is an easy sell, as the industry seems to re-discover every six months or so, but the Immaculate team has outdone themselves and surpassed most expectations. The Sydney Sweeney vehicle, which also counts with her as producer, has proven a word-of-mouth hit, slashing a bloody streak across the holy season that combines Easter, Ramadhan, Passover and the new Beyoncé release – thank you for the joke, Ramy Youssef…

Blasphemy is best served when spirituality is in the air, which might account for the close releases of Immaculate and the new Omen movie. One has to wonder if the promo people of the latter flick are jealous of the stunts their competition's pulling off ahead of their premiere. There's this Wednesday promotion, but just last week, the number of the beast was also invoked to report the picture's predicted winnings. On talk shows and social media, Sweeney's been hustling along. Personally, I haven't been wowed by any of her big screen turns, but one must commend her ability to turn such underestimated projects into box-office successes. Remember when folks were talking about Anywhere But Here as if it could underperform?

Just as NEON is spreading their 666 news, the Immaculate star shared a cross-shaped pregnancy test, one in many tongue-in-cheek posts that has led some fundamentalists to lose their minds. But, in another canny twist, the ad campaign has incorporated their outrage into the campaign. This gag of showcasing negative reviews as enticement has been done before, but seldom have I seen a movie use specific audience member's vitriol as juicy soundbites. In any case, this is how you do it, for polemic sells, and sacrilegious cinema deserves its time in the sun. I'll always prefer something closer to Ken Russell's The Devils, but you can't begrudge this indie's success. Like horror, ungodly cinema comes in many forms, and we should celebrate that we have it in the first place. Sinners rejoice.

Go to this link if you want to buy tickets to see Immaculate on Wednesday. Ave Satani!

Comments

[thevoid99]

Sydney Sweeney is $$$ right now.