It Follows was released in New York and Los Angeles on March 13th. While I won’t get to see it until March 27th, when it’s finally released in Austin (damn you South By Southwest!), I have to say that I am incredibly excited about it (read both of our glowing reviews here and here), but a tiny part of me is terrified that I’m not going to like it as much as I think I’m going to. My reasoning for this is because it is becoming incredibly hyped, and I am a person who can let hype really get to me. Now, before I go on: I would like to point out that I am fully aware I could choose not to read reviews and news about movies before they are released, but it’s kind of part of my job. Call me masochistic if you want. All of this got me thinking about movies that have been overhyped for me in the past. I’m also quite interested to hear your thoughts on movies that have disappointed you in the past.
The most recent example of overhype for me was my experience with The Babadook last year. I had been following it for a while since it premiered at Sundance last January. Think about it: that is about 11 months of me reading glowing things about the film (I finally saw it in November). I probably should have expected to be disappointed, and I definitely was. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie. It just didn’t live up to the admittedly impossible expectations I had set for it. I’ve already pre-ordered the BluRay on Amazon though so I’m hoping that a second viewing with more perspective will help, but mostly I just want it for the special packaging.
Haute Tension was also a victim of overhype for me. This was due mostly to the fact that I still can’t stand the ending (and yes, I have seen it more than once). I don’t appreciate movies that flat out lie to the audience and this movie was one of them. It was very well made, had some amazing gore effects and all of the performances were great; but every time I watch it the final 10 minutes completely take me out of the film. To this day I still do not understand the hype this film still receives.
The biggest example of overhype for me isn’t even a recent film. It’s Suspiria. I have only seen Suspiria once, and it was over a decade ago when I was still in high school. I admit that I probably need to watch it again. I’ve been to film school and taken a few classes on horror films since then so I could probably appreciate it a little bit more now. I just remember being incredibly bored the first time I watched it. Suspiria is the reason I don’t buy movies without watching them first anymore. This is probably something most people do already, but since Suspiria is such a highly regarded classic, I thought it was pretty much guaranteed that I would like it. Undoubtedly, that added to my bad memory of the film. Nevertheless, whenever someone mentions overhype my mind always goes back to the first time I watched Suspiria.
My goal in writing this post is not to bash on the movies I have listed. I have a respect for most films and the effort that goes into them, but I fully realize I may be inviting a lot of backlash by writing this post. The three films I listed above had a lot of care and effort put into them, and I take most of the blame for allowing myself to fall victim to overhype. I’ve tried to not actually read the reviews for It Follows and just read the blurbs on Rotten Tomatoes. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed, but I am still wary about it. Fingers crossed it lives up to my (slightly more managed) expectations!
So now that I’ve shared my experiences with you and I would like to hear about yours. When has overhype ruined a movie for you? Let me know in the comments below!