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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Two horror movies are making waves in cinemas around the world, taking Hollywood by surprise as the box office hits of the summer. Obsession and Back Rooms are two movies made on a shoestring budget in comparison to the massive blockbusters that they've blown away so far this year. So why is it? What's going on? Do we like being scared or do we just crave new stories?
I'm joined by Sunday independent film critic Chris Wasser. Good morning, Chris.
Chapter 2: What two horror movies are surprising Hollywood this summer?
Good morning, Claire.
Have you seen these films?
I have, yeah. And I'm surprised and also delighted at their success, to be honest, because when I went along to see Obsession, I didn't know anything about it before I went in. Sometimes in my line of work, you know far too much about a film before you go in and you're expected to know everything about it afterwards. But I knew nothing, went in and was...
freaked out, amused, entertained, loved that it was an original story. For anyone who hasn't seen Obsession, it's a twist on the monkey's paw tale. You know, it's about a guy who wishes that his best friend would love him. He wishes on this magic shop trinkets that he actually bought for her. She doesn't love him. He makes this wish. He thinks it's, you know, just make believe. It's not.
His friend actually does fall in love with him. But, you know, the tagline for this film is be careful who you wish for. He's going to regret making that wish, let's just say. I loved it. And I filed the review and went off and thought nothing of it.
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Chapter 3: Why are low-budget films like Obsession and Back Rooms succeeding?
I thought to myself, actually, this thing might not find an audience because sometimes the best films you see this year, they don't. It did. It made a decent amount of money on its opening weekend. But something strange happened with it where word of mouth meant that over the next three weeks, it started making more money than it did in its first week.
It's the first film outside of the Christmas season since 1982. since 1982, since the release of E.T. in 1982, to make more money in its third week of release than it did in its first. This thing was shot in three weeks for $750,000, and now it has grossed $229 million at the box office. Give it another week or two, and it will become the most profitable horror ever made.
That title is currently The Blair Witch Project. But it's astonishing. And then a couple of weeks later, you had another film made by, you know, again, a 20-something YouTuber, Curry Barker, who made Obsession. It's just 26 years of age. This is his first feature length film. You know, he's basically well known for making YouTube shorts and YouTube comedy and horror shorts.
Another film came along, Back Rooms, by a 20 year old named Cain Parsons, who's best known for these YouTube shorts called the Back Room series, which really don't have much narrative at all. They're all focused on liminal spaces. They're these kind of drawn out scenes. shorts which focus on abandoned rooms and corridors and warehouses.
He somehow managed to spin a narrative feature around this, got $10 million from A24. He got Chiwetel Ejiofor when that's Rensi to star in the film. And that's another box office success. So the two biggest films in the world right now are made by Jen Zetter's whose previous experience involves entertaining people on YouTube and also their horrors.
That is an astonishing feat. Maybe that's the secret. You know, they're young. They know what people are looking for because they're so engaged online. Or do you think there's something else at play? Like, what do you think is going on?
I think they come in with a following already established. They already come in with, you know, like for example, Cain Parsons says 300,000 followers on a, you know, on one channel and Corey Barker was bringing in his own followers. And they do appeal to, to, to younger audiences who have maybe decided, Oh, Okay, I'm done with my phone. I'm done with streaming.
I kind of want an original story to go see.
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Chapter 4: What is the unique premise of the movie Obsession?
I don't want to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu. I've already watched all of that on television. I don't want to go see a Masters of the Universe film. I really did enjoy the Masters of the Universe film, but I do wonder who exactly asked for that thing. They want an original story and they also want to be genuinely scared. and to come out of the cinema afterwards.
I don't understand that. I don't understand that.
Oh no, I like, I'm a bit weird that way. I've always enjoyed, you know, feeling scared by a film, but also coming out of it, as I think the Gen Z audiences do, they come out of it and they have something to talk about. Obsession is a conversation starter. Backrooms is a conversation starter. What would you do in that circumstance? Who do you think was the real baddie there?
How would you make it out of this nightmare scenario? These films are fun to talk about.
And do you think that this signals a change then, that there's going to be a move away from the big budget? Like you'd always have the toy stories, I suppose, but will there be more of a search for these young hit makers?
I think so. I hope that the studios behind these things, that they learn the right lessons. I mean, at the minute, Curry Barker and Cain Parsons, who directed Backroom's Obsession, they're being offered franchises. And I think Curry Barker is going to do a Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot. That's all wrong. I don't want to see them do that. You're learning the wrong thing there.
You need to give these guys the resources and the teams to make original films because, you know, this has proven that people want to go see them. I would say that one film succeeding on this sort of level and beating off competition from Masters of the Universe and Star Wars and all the rest of it, that would be an accident too, is potentially the beginning of a trend.
But at the same time, you mentioned Toy Story there. Look at the next few weeks of releases. We've got Toy Story 5. We've got a new Spider-Man film. We've got a new Christopher Nolan film. We've got the 100th Minions film. We still are going to see... you know, tried and tested IP on our cinema screens. But this could be the start of something special.
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Chapter 5: How did Obsession achieve box office success against expectations?
I just say, like I said, I just hope the studios learn the right lesson from it and that, you know, new young storytellers tell original stories.
Chris, thank you very much for your enthusiasm about those low budget films. Chris Wasser there, film and TV critic with the Sunday Independent.
The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance.
Weekday mornings at 9.
On Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
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