Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Spreading the Grudge: Interactive Marketing

Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures is taking an interactive approach to marketing their upcoming film The Grudge 2. In the film, as in the first Grudge, ghosts from an eerie house in Tokyo seek to spread terror to anyone who has visited the house, or who knows anyone who has. In the film's universe, the terror of the Grudge should come into contact with all of us, like a disease. Ghost House Pictures has decided to simulate the film's "haunting" and incorporate it into their marketing.

You can now receive surprise phone calls from Kayako or Toshio, the creepy spirits who bring death and madness to those they haunt, by registering at the official website. Better yet, you can sign your friends up and freak them out. You can also view non-platform specific mini-films to your computer or mobile phone. Raimi and crew call these, non-platform specific blipverts (that's a Max Headroom reference if you were wondering) "anysodes" because they can catch up to you anywhere.

I enjoyed the first US version of the Grudge, though one scene was very reminiscent of the old SNL "Land Shark" skit and made me laugh out loud.

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