Horror has been killing it lately!
In the past 20 years, the number of new horror movie releases has shot up, and there's more to see than ever before.
So, it's no surprise that we've also been seeing a lot of ~interesting~ marketing campaigns for horror movies over the years, as filmmakers need their movie to stand out from the literal hundreds of others to get as many butts in those theater seats as they can.
They often do so with over-the-top viral marketing campaigns to help spread the word. Here are eight of those campaigns:
1. Smile (2022) — Baseball "Smilers"
Here's one of the actors at the Mets vs. Athletics game on September 23. Positioned right behind the home plate, she was grinning ear-to-ear, staring at the camera, practically motionless, and wearing a highlighter yellow T-shirt with "Smile" written on the front.
Unsurprisingly, people began tweeting videos and pictures of the actors, and the whole thing went viral.
please eject thx @Athletics
People (me included) didn't know right away that this was a marketing campaign, so it was super creepy to see on live television.
blue shirt hasnt moved for 40 mins
2. Carrie (2013) — “A Telekinetic Surprise in a Coffee Shop”
The prank involved a woman becoming enraged after a man spilled his drink on her laptop. Using pulleys and remote controls, she appeared to be telekinetic. She seemingly pushed him up against a wall and lifted him off of his feet.
The big finale came when she let out a blood-curdling scream, as pictures fell off the walls and books flew off the shelves.
Customers at the coffee shop lost their shit.
This pipe-wielding construction worker was ready to protect the whole place.
And this guy dropped his poppyseed bagel.
Here's the full prank:
View this video on YouTube
The movie also advertised a phone number that you could call where you could hear Margaret White screaming at Carrie, reciting Bible passages, and humming. You can listen to them here:
View this video on YouTube
Carrie had a budget of $30 million and grossed over $84 million worldwide.
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999) — The Blair Witch Myth
The filmmakers, and then Artisan who purchased the film after seeing it at Sundance, distributed and plastered "missing" flyers of the three stars of the film, who used their real names in the movie, all around college campuses.
A website was created to further trick people into thinking this was an actual missing persons case and that there was an actual Blair Witch.
A couple of weeks before the release of the movie, Curse of the Blair Witch premiered on the Syfy channel (Sci-Fi at the time).
The film, and its intense guerrilla marketing, was an obvious success.
4. The Ring (2002) — Unmarked VHS Tapes
DreamWorks created several webpages (now defunct), like sevendaystolive.com that talked about "the ring virus" and anopenletter.com which explained what happened after you watched the haunted video tape.
Around the release of the film, people reported finding unmarked VHS tapes on their windshields that contained the minute and a half video from the film.
After sneak previews of the film revealed that audiences weren't 100% interested in — or had even heard of — The Ring, the studio changed tactics a bit and started airing TV spots that showed real footage of a terrified audience watching the film and quick testimonials from people who had just left the theater.
You can watch the footage from the VHS tape here:
View this video on YouTube
5. Rings (2017) — "TV Store Prank"
In the prank, a salesperson in an appliance store brought customers over to a wall of televisions to show them "the new 4K technology." While he talked, one of the TVs inconspicuously slid up into the wall, revealing Samara, the villain from the movie.
And, boy, did she scare them.
The video immediately went viral, garnering over 200 million views in just 24 hours after being posted. You can watch it here:
View this video on YouTube
Rings had a $25 million budget and made $83 million worldwide.
6. The Last Exorcism (2010) — Chatroulette Prank
As some lucky few perused Chatroulette in the summer of 2010, they were connected to what they thought was a live video chat with a random woman. However, it was actually a prerecorded video of an actor.
She stopped suddenly, moved her hair away from her face, and stared directly into the camera. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, she let out a guttural scream, and lunged at the camera. The screen went black, and the url of the movie appeared on screen.
The people she was chatting with freaked out, and Lionsgate got some pretty good reactions. A compilation video was released of the best ones, which you can watch here:
View this video on YouTube
The ad went viral, and the movie grossed almost $70 million worldwide. It only cost $1.8 million to make.
7. Chronicle (2012) — "Flying People in New York City"
In a "prank" designed to have strangers film it, remote-controlled planes in the shape of people were flown above New York City.
Onlookers who knew nothing about the movie filmed the planes, of course, not knowing what they were exactly watching.
Eventually, Thinkmodo uploaded their video to YouTube which explained the prank and that it was a promotion for Chronicle. You can watch the video here:
View this video on YouTube
Chronicle was made for $12 million and grossed over $126 million worldwide, making over 10 times its budget.
8. And finally, Scream (2022) — Fake TikToks
The account belongs to a fictional teen named Sarah who lives in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California where Scream takes place.
Eventually, her best friend, Ash, goes missing, and two days before the release of the new Scream movie, she posts her last video where while she's on her way to a party, she drops her phone, and Ghostface picks it up.
