The publicists at Neon and Cinetic did everything they could to keep me away from “Crimes of the Future.” I’m grateful to them now!
The David Cronenberg body horror surgery fest fetched just $1.1 million over four days. No one wanted to see it, and no one did. I think we’re all the better for it, too. Many people walked out in Cannes, and then walked out again here in the 773 theaters where it played here.
Cronenberg is a very fine filmmaker with two disparate personalities. One of them loves this unwatchable (for some) horror, the other made movies like “Eastern Promises” and “A History of Violence,” his best work. For film freaks, the horror genre works as something ironic. For people who just want to be entertained for two hours, “disgusting” is not welcome on the menu.
So “Crimes” is a write off for Neon. Maybe it will come in my Oscars DVD package in the winter. That way at last I can fast forward through the really grotesque stuff.
