Don't be fooled! NOT a zombie film!

Unfortunately, there's nothing anyone can really do. I'm no attorney but I know any studio that picks something up generally makes it look 10x better than it actually is or has any right to be. Granted, that's making a flashy cover, putting some mean artwork on it and calling it a day. Not changing the title and flipping the subject matter to another audience when it actually has nothing to do with the specific genre. But it happens more often than most realize.

A lot of "horror" films are advertised as horror, but something like "Lady In the Water" that was clearly advertised as a horror film, is more fantasy than anything else. Why was it advertised as a horror film? Well the horror market was flourishing at the time and it had certain horror elements to it, the studio saw these elements and chose to market the film as such.

Is that the case here? Absolutely not, Lions Gate made this film seem like it was a zombie film when it actually has nothing to do with zombies in the least bit. Where as Warner advertised "Lady In the Water", they used the material in the film to make it seem like it was a horror film when really it passes more for fantasy/thriller. Apples and oranges.

Lions Gate blatantly lied about the subject matter in this film. Filling the box art with groups of zombies and catchy tag lines clearly making it look like another kind of film which unfortunately is going to hurt it. People are going to judge the film based on the merit that it is a zombie film and absolutely hate it. And that is unfortunate because it's actually not a bad little film.

Now this may be a case of false advertising where something can be done but honestly, it's something that's been going on for years and years. Wizard Video was infamous for making films like "A Virgin Among the Living Dead", "Monster Hunter" and "The Screaming Dead" look like zombie gore-fests but in all actuality, there was little to no gore and 90% of the time - no zombies. Although the films certainly had zombie elements, there were no shambling flesh-eaters that were featured on the cover or the stills on the back of the box.

You must also look at the fact, Wizard Video shut down during the early 90's when home video was really starting to boom because customers weren't really trusting their product anymore. People were thinking they were getting an orange but got an apple underneath when they revealed the contents inside and that went against them. I do believe Wizard is still around today, co-distributing films with Full Moon but I could be wrong, but they're not nearly as strong as they used to be. There was a point where the horror section was filled with Wizard titles with enticing cover art and catchy tag lines.

It's all part of the game these studios play, and unfortunately there's nothing no one can really do about it. How a studio chooses to market their film is their decision whether it's right or wrong - either way, Lions Gate will suffer from it whether it be financially or based on the fact people will think twice about trusting them again. Who knows? But this isn't the first time they've done this and I'm sure it certainly won't be the last.