I am currently compiling my list of top films from 2008 and one movie that might just make it on is the Finnish horror film Sauna (My Review, Kurt’s Review). The movie is a bleak journey through the wilderness where the sins of soldiers come back to haunt them. It is one of those smaller films that win you completely over with great atmosphere and style.
Since I am making the list of best films of 2008 I thought I would do a bit of browsing to see if I could find some more information on some of the movies I have seen. I headed over to the official site and then to the Bronson Club blog. While browsing around and reading about the film I discovered a post from December, 8th entitled “Sauna” opened to an empty theater in Loviisa. The director AJ Annila, producer Jesse Fryckman and Kari Ketonen, who plays Musko all showed up at the screening to discover that no one was coming out to their movie. I could go on about what a shame this is as Sauna is a terrific movie that really should be seen and experienced but really I am mostly mentioning the post because of the questions which were asked of their readers:
Ok so, I would love to hear peoples thoughts on this. What went wrong? Should movie companies only promote in the big cities? How can we get people to go see more films in theaters? Etc.
I can appreciate the questions and I understand not wanting to go through an evening like that but I would hate it if the smaller movies were only released in big cities. I already have to deal with a lot of good movies not showing up in my city which has a population of just over 200,000. Unfortunately I have no answer either as to how more people can be driven to theatres in smaller towns and cities for films which are not directed by Bay or Spielberg, produced by Bruckheimer or starring Wil Smith, Brad Pit or George Clooney. I guess the main thing I can do is continue to inform people of these hidden gems which truly deserve to be seen by a larger audience.
I often am in the multiplex, where in my particular screening it is just me.
Same that such a good film like SAUNA has to OPEN that way in a town. Perhaps, like many films these days, it was the promotion of the film that was a problem.
People don’t go to films like “TELL NO ONE” in the ‘Burbs here outside of Toronto because they simply do no hear about them. Lack of TV and Print ads means many a good film is left to empty screening rooms.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a trailer that openly said ‘rape’ before. I have to say, that the trailer makes it look like it would be torture porn.
It’s nothing like that Goon…It’s more like Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” via a smidge of J-Horror with perhaps some of the aesthetics of a “Hostel” (by the way, that’s not to say that “Sauna” copies any of that stuff – just the best I could do for signposts).
I think Kurt is right about promotion – I attended a couple of the screenings of the Generation DIY film fest earlier this year and for “Dance Party USA” there were only 7 people. Now this was at The Bloor (big rep downtown theatre) with the director in attendance for a “genre” (Mumblecore) that, though maybe not hugely popular, was at least known. Granted, this didn’t have mainstream appeal, but Toronto has enough film lovers that I expected a bigger crowd.
The movie house that knows how to market itself I think will become a winner. It wouldn’t happen right away, but with alot of hard work, you get regulars. I look at some of the small theatres that manage to find a market and wonder why it couldn’t work in a smaller area. The Alamo in Austin, The Bloor in Toronto, and a bunch of others seem to how to get people into the seats on a regular basis.
Marketing through social media (Twitter, Facebook, SMS txt message list) is becoming an easy way to tell your regulars what they are missing. I don’t see the chain capitalizing. I am constantly talking about film at my work place, and my co-workers are always bummed out that its only playing in Downtown.
The big local Cineplex chain cheeses me off almost on every trip.
That’s a real shame about Sauna. Even though I found it a bit plodding, the visual style was pretty stunning.
This is so brutal to hear, especially considering what a fascinating film Sauna is. I’m chiming in on the marketing boat though, I wonder how much the film was promo’d.
I look at and write about the new releases every week I’m shocked when there are films that not only lack print ads and trailers but don’t even have a website or much info on IMDb. People want to know!
I’m really saddened to hear people talk so highly about a film such as SAUNA. Being a finnish citizen and not the least experiensed about the art of film, I can honestly say that, as with the case of the other same genre pic due out the same year, DARK FLOORS (ok, this is an unjust comparison due to the obviously nature of the latter pic), SAUNA was simply mearly a shame on the finnish culture (of sauna) (and film alike). Although the beginning of the film was strong and intreguing, as the plot delved deeper into the hidden village etc. the whole thing came crushing down to the level of infants day-dream: merely a flick with nice esthetics with no message or thought what-so-ever. The characters lost their momentum, motivation,.. and the story became just another basic two-cent-scary-movie. If people around the world really buy this sort of crap, I’m really saddened to realize that the age of under-estamating your audience is long since gone (or hopefully somewhere on the horizon. I wish)…
And what kind of difference does it make if the film has an web-site or not? Or an imdb reference? Other than in marketing sense of course. It doesn’t make the film any better or worse. It just is a case of finance: some groups are happy to receave a financing of some sort for their project and some aren’t so fortunate. But it doesn’t mean that their picture isn’t as good as the one that got the budget for the marketing expences… Think about some classic films such as The last tango in Paris or The dinner with Andre: they had relativly no makreting at all but became cult classics. And foremost had some insight on human nature. Something that films such as SAUNA, DARK FLOORS or almost all the american remakes of eastern horror films only can dream of accomplishing. Or to think about the majority of the worlds short films. Almost all of them go on to reseave no kind of recognition what-so-ever. Still we struggle on to make them. For the sake of ART. NOT to be a popcorn flick…
F of you all, who fool yourself in dreaming that SAUNA had any message. In the end it was just a lame copy of the eastern visual patterns seen in almost every unknown horror flick coming to theaters these days. I’m a real fan of genuine horror films but I’m growing more and more tired on the flow of crap like this. No more please! And finns: please do what you do best: melancholic, depressive yet insightfull portraits of human nature. Even though they may not be understood by the audience across the borders (ie. I’m inclined to say americans but I withdraw the right to do so) or to receave awards in Cannes, Toronto, Berlin or Veniece, it doesn’t make them a drop less meaninfull to the audience in your own backyard…
Peace and more power to Obama. Hope he’ll save what’s left of the states…
-tMe
I must disagree with tMe about Sauna and its message. Although the film is far from flawless, I enjoyed it a lot. Also I STRONGLY disagree about what kind of movies Finns should do. There has been (and will be) enough melancholic and depressive portraits of human nature in the Finnish film collection, I’m really happy that the young film makers of Finland are breaking the old traditions and are bringing the movie scene in our country to a new level. It will take time, but I see no reason why Finns couldn’t achieve high quality in cinema and make films that appeal to a large group of people outside the Finnish borders.
When it comes to marketing the film received a quite a good coverage on the press and advertising visibility, although I think they didn’t have a huge marketing budget for it. Well, really few Finnish films actually have a big marketing budget.
I think that what killed Sauna wasn’t the lack of marketing as such but the reception in the press, which labeled the film strongly as a difficult and mediocre film. Also Sauna seemed to lack the potential to attract audience outside its core audience group, which in Finland is a must for a film that wants to do good as we only have 5,5 million residents total. Many of my friends didn’t want to see it in the theatre but wait for the dvd instead.
To go to the topic of the conversation, I think it is appalling that someone organizes a special event for a movie and no one shows up. I read the blog and the place where this took place was in Loviisa which is a tiny tiny town, where the admissions in total are counted in tens and not even in hundreds. Still I’m ashamed that things like this happen.
@Rigger, Agreed. At least the Finnish film community had the foresight to nominate Sauna for 7 awards (the 2nd most nominated film for 2008) despite its lack of popular success.
(http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/sauna-nominated-for-7-jussis/)
The film is very strong indeed, but this trailer is rubbish. Sauna will never bring in the gore crowd and this approach is bound to alienate a more thoughtful audience. In fact, had I only seen this and not read comments on IMDb first, I’d have given the film a miss. I know it’s a hard sell moving contemplative horror in a marketplace dominated by the Abu Ghraib thrills of Saw and Hostel, but playing to its innate strengths is the film’s best hope. Don’t make films for the art house and try to sell them to suburbia; it’s, well, a wash.