What the Hell? “Devil Inside” at the Box Office

Edit: For the record, it’s Miranda Doerfler, even though I said Miranda Saico. Also, the formatting gets really weird towards the end.  I’m sorry if it’s hard to read for anyone.  It shows up normal on my screen, so I have no idea what’s going on with that.  Hopefully I’ll get that fixed soon.  Sorry!

I’m a chicken-shit.

It’s true.  When it comes to horror, I’m a big chicken-shit.  I’m squeamish, I get freaked out very easily, and I will scream like a 13-year-old girl (which shouldn’t be much of a surprise since I am a girl..) and I will grab the hand of whoever’s next to me, or the arm of my chair if I’m alone.  I’ll sleep with the lights on for a week after and check under my bed for whatever monster was in the movie.

It is for these reasons I refused to even consider seeing The Devil Inside after I saw part of the trailer (I couldn’t watch the full thing when that girl on the bed started contorting and breaking her bones, it was just too much.  See? Chicken-shit).

From what I’ve been hearing about it, however, it seems like the film was one big million-dollar joke.

Horror writer Miranda Saico, author of Modern Day Horrors, refuses to see it because, “1. Exorcism/possession stuff does not scare/interest me at all, 2. It doesn’t sound like all that strong or original a premise to begin with, and 3. I heard it was a disgustingly bad movie and that people who got to see it for free booed it.”

If the reviews are anything to go by, film critics agree that it was “a disgustingly bad movie.”

The question is then, how did it become such a big Box Office hit?

According to this article on “The Wrap,” The Devil Inside was such a big hit because of,  ”a combination of targeted marketing, lucky timing and the hands-on involvement of one of the biggest producers in Hollywood turned The Devil Inside from a super-low-budget orphan into the No. 1 movie in America.”

Joshua L. Weinstein explains how the popular trailer, which was first shown before Paranormal 3, went viral on Facebook and Twitter, sparking much conversation that was fueled by Paramount Pictures, Insurge Picture’s parent company.  The ad was also used in a targeted marketing campaign and aired during the finales of AMC’s zombie-thriller The Walking Dead and TNT’s American Horror Story. Ads were also shown on SyFy and Chiller.

One of the more unique aspects of the advertising campaign, in my opinion, was that the studio not only marketed the movie to the 18-35 audience but they marketed to the Latino 18-35 audience with Spanish language trailers and radio advertisements in the top 12 Hispanic markets.  In this way, they marketed the movie to two separate demographics.

Weinstein also observes that the movie’s release date played a large part in its success.  During the opening weekend of January 6th, when a movie generally has its largest audience, The Devil Inside was the only big film to open, which seriously reduced the competition.

Overall, it appears as though most of The Devil Inside’s success is mostly because of a very big, very well-planned targeted marketing campaign and a very lucky release date.  It’s clearly not because it’s the next Great American Film.

Either way, I’m still too much of a chicken-shit to watch it.