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Confusion, Not Conversation Follows

Film

The Minus Man

Directed by Hampton Fancher

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Starring Owen Wilson, Janeane Garafalo, Shooting Gallery & Artisan Entertainment

'Tis a shame. Such brilliant advertising wasted on so ponderous a movie.

If you failed to see The Blair Witch Project, you missed The Minus Man trailer, perhaps the most intriguing preview of the year. It shows a teenage girl and her date leaving a viewing of The Minus Man. They talk about the movie all night. As the girl arrives at her job as a lifeguard, she finds that two swimmers have drowned because of her tardiness. Across the screen creep the words: "conversation follows."

If you did happen to view the trailer, you were probably confused as to why the movie itself wasn't being advertised as much as its "conversation follows" tagline (that fascinating scene, incidentally, is nowhere to be found in the actual film). Artisan Entertainment, recognizing the success that the Blair Witch advertising brought them, developed a devilish little pattern in their marketing strategy. First, they design an ultra-cool web page. Then, they show their enigmatic preview to those same people who were sucked in by Blair Witch hype. Finally, they sit back and watch the web geeks do the work, generating more buzz and rumor than substance.

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