A few words from the director
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couzijn — 19 years ago(December 03, 2006 06:49 AM)
Hi Mark, what makes you think that we Europeans can't properly order DVD's from anywhere in the world? What makes you think that people from Cyprus and Romania must be thieves when they comment on your movies?
It is probably the same kind of narrowmindedness or downright bigotry that drives you into believing that people with nonsensical aliases must be 'superficial knuckleheads' who can't appreciate a good movie.
It appears that you wanted to write a reasonable reply to the criticism on your movie 'Claustrophobia'. With these ad hominem attacks on your critics, you yourself have just undermined that attempt. -
mark-506 — 19 years ago(December 29, 2006 09:32 AM)
Boy, talk about an ad hominem attack! Now I'm being called a narrowminded bigot by somebody I don't even know - and who I'm not sure has even seen my film.
I had not planned to write any more about my film on the IMDb, but this comment is so insulting and ignorant that I must reply.
First of all, you're right: I should not have used the word "obviously" when stating that the person in Romania and the person in Cyprus illegally downloaded my film. It is technically possible that, soon after the film's US release, they located US DVD sites that could ship to their countries and each paid $20 - plus shipping - to see a film that had no publicity, advertising, or big stars.
But let's have a reality check, shall we? Claustrophobia/Serial Slayer showed up on BitTorrent within days of its December 14, 2004 release in the US. Millions of people around the world use BitTorrent to download films illegally. And as producer of the film, I know that individual sales of the DVD were small; most of those who saw the film either rented it or watched it on Video On Demand. So the odds are far, far greater that somebody outside of the territories where the film was officially released downloaded the film from a file-sharing service instead of buying the DVD.
Thus, I will amend my statement to say that it is not obvious but still extremely likely that those two people in Romania and Cyprus watched the film illegally. If you read their reviews, you'd note that the Cypriot said "I cannot believe that people actually paid to watch this movie" - which would indicate that the Cypriot did not - and that the Romanian complained that "the camera is flickering all the time," which sounds like a by-product of poor video compression on a file-sharing service. The camera does anything but "flicker" in my film.
As for "poo_diddles" and "kobewillrapeagain," I singled them out because their handles were childish, not because they were "nonsensical." (Frankly, just about everybody's handle on IMDb is nonsensical, unless someone is brave enough to use his real name.) Also, their comments were not particularly intelligent. There are a couple of well-written critiques of my film on IMDb, and I welcome such critiques, even if I will disagree with them.
Finally, you are wrong: it was not my intention to write a "reasonable reply to the criticism" so much as it was an attempt to clear the air over the raw video look of the film, which I take responsibility for, and for the misleading marketing of the film, which was beyond my control. I have no desire to ingratiate myself to those who post juvenile pans of my film, nor do I need to be accountable to sniffy name-callers like yourself who barge in on the conversation only to launch anonymous attacks on my character.
Sincerely,
Mark Tapio Kines -
wal2914 — 19 years ago(January 16, 2007 10:00 AM)
Well, for what it's worth, I liked your movie. You directed an entertaining
film using 3 cute, talented, (and, underrated), actresses. I look forward to
your next film.
You wouldn't believe what we want from you. In your worst nightmare you wouldn't believe. -
actr206 — 17 years ago(May 03, 2008 10:35 AM)
does any body know the body count, im not allowed to watch this movie
"Listen, actr206, if you're the sort of person who watches films for their body count, then you know what? I don't WANT you watching my film. Do me a favor and stay away from it." -
NorthSoul — 17 years ago(June 02, 2008 06:57 AM)
Well, I just want to say this: Thanks for a great movie!!! (The "video" quality was a drawback, but still a movie worth five stars to me).
I especially enjoyed the sound effects.
Hope to see more of your work soon. -
yesaimon — 17 years ago(July 23, 2008 03:44 AM)
Oh my lord, talk about pretentiousness
Your movie was crap, basically. Badly made and written. To suggest that it was anything else (subtle of all words!) is ridiculous.
Stop defending it, this whole this is so childish. I can't believe you're on the message board of your own film defending it.
Pretty pathetic don't you think? -
NorthSoul — 17 years ago(February 16, 2009 02:16 PM)
Hey, theres no need to mock other peoples opinion.
We dont have the same taste in movies - big shocker
(Maybe I liked the movie because I bought the version without the misleading picture of a masked killer on the front and didnexpect too much to begin with). -
jimmcguigan1965 — 16 years ago(September 19, 2009 05:21 AM)
The film was jaw droppingly bad. The verbs and adverbs don't exist to describe this utter tripe. I actually feel a little bad reviewing this because I feel I'm only advertising it somewhatlike a lot of people curiosity got the better of me after reading the reviewsI have to say though it's a work of genius from the director to film a LOW low budget film and then come on here and deny he knew what the final cut of the film looked likethat had me on the floorwhat great directing that is The acting is bad to the extent that it simply cannot have been serious. The three girls in it are outgunning each other to see who can play it worseI give it to the girl with the glasses simply because of the glasses..they just add that bit of unbelievability that clinches it for methe plot is thinner than Kojack's wigthe script was written by someone clearly drunkand the scorewelldefies belief. The front cover of the DVD bares no resemblance to anything in the movie at allthe killer when revealed looks about as convincing aswellsomething not very convincingall in all a totally ghastly load of rubbish that's worth watching to see how not to make a movie every single thing that you could do wrong is included in this film. If it is played as a double bluff I might just say well doneif it was filmed as a serious piece I'd be pointing Mr Tapio Kines towards a padded cell, a table, some straps and four electrodesand even that wouldn't be enough.