Our (Other) Five Favorite 2009 Virals

5) Paranormal Activity and Paramount's Marketing Department

"Because You Demanded It" became a staple phrase starting in September and it completely overwhelmed the country by the time Paranormal Activity came out. From Eventful into an orchestrated PR campaign launched by Paramount's Digital Marketing department. So, why did we take part in it?

In a sick way, it's good to be wanted. And for the first time since the Saw franchise came bleeding and slicing into the world, horror fans were given a sense of self-importance and worth. This was a film that spoke to them because they had pretend power over its' release. Never mind that Paramount sat on the film for two years just to make a re-release. Not to mention that literally everyone reminded you to demand it, which is all in thanks to Paramount's awesome PR.

They're so awesome, in fact, that they've likely crippled the future of independent release structures and will shift us into the glorious future of "Indie"--BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO DEMAND IT.

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4) Avatar/Delgo Mash-Ups
The dust has settled: Avatar is now cool to like! You can want to watch it without irony and excitement. But I like to remember the days when blue CGI creatures were interchangeable with other blue CGI creatures.

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3) 2012/Collapse trailer
In a moment of marketing kismet in release karma, Roland Emmerich's diaster flick unspooled the same day as Chris Smith's documentary that was also about the actual end of the world as we know it. Then the trailers happened to run into each other at the theater. One thing lead to another and boom goes the dynamite.

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2) After Last Season
Perhaps a true legitimate independent film that found marketing through the Internet, Mark Region's After Last Season got a four-screen release in four different states for one week. It spawned discussion of it being viral marketing, an art project and even inspired rumors of an infamous festival programmer with a penchant for karaoke to steal a print from one of the theaters.  The same infamous festival programmer said it was akin to a true cinematic experience, since it inspired such a cult frenzy.

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Chaos Reigns (Antichrist)
While Lars Von Trier's latest got basic VOD distribution, it burned through the online film community faster than you could drink a milkshake. The spark happened at Cannes earlier and gradually came across the rest of the community until a full-blown forrest fire happened in Austin of epic meme proportions. But even then, this didn't spread nearly as wide as There Will Be Blood's iconic line. Instead, Chaos Reigns became a film nerd joke that the rest of the population could only squint at.

img uploaded with plasq's Skitch!