Catharsis. That’s what a horror movie is for many people. They know that what they are seeing is not real. Yet, they still watch it, scream, get their heart beat fast, get chills and get scared to their wits. They do it because it’s one of those moments when people get a perfect excuse to escape reality. Then there’s the “release”. When people are tired, angry, uptight… the best way to release all the “bad inner feelings” is to just scream.

That’s why people like it when others scare them, even though it drives them mad.

Movie Promotion

The best thing about promoting movies is that you get to be a bit more crazy than brands and products will allow you to be. Who would forget Blairwitch Project’s stunt? They created a whole new myth online at the time when internet was so young and few people were using it. All in the interest of creating buzz for their movie.

This one follows Blairwitch Project’s tradition but not as elaborate and certainly not as effective.

Prank and Result

In a Halloween party, a soap that colors water red was put in a bathroom. When people uses it to wash their hand, it appears as if their hands are bleeding.

It’s a fun idea but the idea itself doesn’t call for some extreme and funny reaction. It’s something that would make you go, “what on earth…” but not something that will make you jump and scream. However nonetheless creative.

People did get surprised as evidenced by their hidden cameras but the question is whether or not the reactions were enough.

Assessment

Some people dropped the soap, some indulged by wiping the blood on their shirt (why not, they are in a Halloween party) and some rushed out. There were some who recovered fast from the initial shock, took the tissue paper and saw the note about the movie.

However, two major things make this less effective than other movie promotional stunts:

• Lack of extreme reactions
• Some didn’t take the tissue and didn’t realize what the stunt was about

It is always the extremely funny reactions that hook people and the stunt itself doesn’t lend itself to people jumping out of the minds.

Lessons

Personally, I always say that marketing or promotional stunts should never be done with mediocrity. If you want to scare people, then make sure they will drop to the ground laughing after the stunt is revealed.

This one is not that bad but not that good either. That’s mediocre in my opinion.