Have you ever wondered just how honest that review you just read really was? Perhaps it sounded a little too glowing, a little to gushing with enthusiasm, leaving the reader to wonder just where all this adoration is really coming from. Sometimes it really is true love. Good films happen, thankfully. But some of this gushing may also be due to a seedier side of internet film reviews – the influence of studio public relations upon mid-tier film reviewers.
The growth of the internet over the last decade has facilitated a new style of media in the form of mid-tier film publications typically run by fans turned writers and editors. In the 90's and earlier, genre fans typically got their reviews from the same place everyone else did – newspapers or TV shows with top tier critics such Siskel and Ebert. This has all changed. With the proliferation of the web, horror review sites and blogs are now like grains of sand in a clam. Amongst the deluge have arisen a number of mid-tier horror film sites, such as Dread Central, Shock 'til you Drop, Bloody Disgusting, and of course our own FanGirlTastic.
These websites brought a new commodity – horror film reviews written by the horror fans themselves. Most, if not all, of the writers of all of these various sites are genre fans, and they began writing about horror films because that's what they love. The great majority are completely unpaid, and are instead fueled by sheer genre enthusiasm. Some of them also carry aspirations within the industry itself, and hope to become screenwriters, producers, directors, or even actors.
Studio press relations know all of this. They know it very well!
The writers of mid-tier film websites are often invited to free private screenings so that they may see it early and save their dime on the ticket. Popcorn and drinks are usually thrown in for free. This, alone, isn't so bad; however, studio PR also often provides free swag to reviewers for them to take home and enjoy. Often after parties and special events are included, where review writers can meet the celebrities and directors while enjoying free alcohol and food. Set visits of films in work are also doled out, typically to the darlings of the press relations representatives; those who are most favored get the biggest prize.
In return, these studio press relations want to see some positive energy. They very much like it when the films they are pushing get kudos. Sometimes, for upcoming projects, they'll even go so far as to directly contact film site editors with pre-written press releases, and ask the editors to seed their site with press release quotes in order to generate a more positive buzz. Surprisingly, they often get their way.
This obviously conflicts with the goal of writing an objective review. Many film reviewers are great people and certainly would never consciously pad a review to the positive just because they were wined and dined; however, being treated so positively can infect the opinions of even the well intended. As mentioned, many of these reviewers also have aspirations within the industry, so they might even find themselves in a position where writing a positive review might please a studio they hope to work with some day. Hollywood is very much a who-you-know industry and it's possible that a writer may not want to burn bridges with a negative review if it can at all be avoided.
With the above in mind, we have conceived a new style of feature film review. These reviews will be written by critics who did not attend any after-parties or special events with free food and booze. They did not meet the directors or actors and schmooze backlot studio talk. They did not even attend a free screening offered by the studio, or enjoy any free popcorn. Instead, we will make them pay. These critics will sit with everyone else, at your local theater amongst the lights of annoying cell phones, eight dollar bags of popcorn, and all the other nuisances the public endures. These reviews will be the most honest you can get on the web – written by fans who have nothing to gain and were given nothing in return.
This new feature is so dubbed 'Day Two Reviews' as they will rarely be up by 'day one'. Each one will include a scan of the movie ticket as proof of purchase. Look for them soon, here on FanGirlTastic.
How do you keep a critic honest? You make them pay!
I tend to believe that the internet community, and especially horror fans, are generally so switched on to studio flim-flammery these days that they can spot a dodgy review or studio-mandated 'editorial' a mile off.
When the likes of Harry Knowles are straight-up declaring "Waaaahhhh. Me want pwesents!!!" (actual line from an article, folks...) you know that a corner has been turned in regards to the studios reaching out to the online community. And bribing them.
I don't even bother to read the 'Exclusive Report from the After Party' features that sites often post up. I don't care how many Suicide Girls they hired for the event or what was in the drink you spilled on Darren Bousman.
So yeah, I do think fans are much smarter than studios and some of these sites seem to think. And there are some sites that are so blatantly on the studio gravy train that I just don't bother going to them anymore.