Linda R. Beck e-mailed me this morning to ask the following. I'm sharing it with you in the event you wonder the same thing ... and to explain our decision.
"I can understand the paper's decision to review the movie Hostel II (Ticket, 6/7/07) but why did this horror film rate an additional article ("Eli Roth knows how to slay ‘em") describing this movie and the previous one? It's bad enough that such vividly violent material is promoted as entertainment (and gets only an R rating). Does the area's main daily local newspaper have to provide additional publicity and dignify the work as mainline box office material? I understand that much of The Tribune's content comes pre-packaged from other sources, but I expect the local editors to exercise some discretion so that what they print is suitable for the community."
Here's my answer:
You’re correct in noting that we rely on our wire services to provide entertainment information that’s not local -- such as movie reviews and celebrity profiles.
Ticket Editor Justin Hoeger said he selected the second article about “Hostel: Part II” to offer insight into the director’s reasons for making such a disturbing series. “I thought readers might want some insight, upon reading the movie review, into what sort of person makes a movie like this.” The story allows readers to draw their own conclusions, he said.
Both this film and the original “Hostel’’ have been the subject of controversy. “’Hostel’ is frequently mentioned in reviews of other horror movies nowadays, and appears to be one of the standards by which contemporary horror films, or at least a sub-set of them, are judged,” Hoeger said.
-- Sandy Duerr
Friday, June 8, 2007
Why give "Hostel: Part 2" more press?
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1 comment:
I agree with Linda on this. Why even dignify graphically violent movies like this? What I found so sadly ironic today, as I logged onto my MySpace account, is that there is a clip of Hostel II playing on the main MySpace page today, just hours after learning that the alleged killer of the teen girl in the Midwest has a MySpace page, and that his page being cited in numerous media outlets today. The clip shows a young woman in peril, along with other violent images. Shameful what passes for mainstream entertainment now, and what corporations will do for money.
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