Germans Get A Nicer Hostel...

Hey guys, it's Donnie...I've said this before, but I'm saying it again because it's still true and because I still don't understand why.

European film marketing is often infinitely superior to American film marketing.

Further evidence abounds. Below we have two posters for Eli Roth's upcoming depraved gore-fest, Hostel. One is awesome and one is boring.

Guess which one is ours? If you guessed the one featuring an unidentifiable tool and the name of a famous filmmaker who didn't actually make this movie, you're correct! I don't understand the reasoning behind this. Why is it that European posters and even DVD art are so often so much cooler than the stuff coming out of the country that actually produced the damn movie? Is it our fault? Are American audiences and consumers so adlebrained that marketing companies have to rely on the simplest, basest images that will appeal to the lowest common denominator of viewers?

Or are marketing firms just stubborn in their refusal to accept new and innovative ideas? Is this why we get poster upon poster that is either totally lifeless (ala Hostel) or nothing more than a series of giant floating heads? Because, to me, these strategies represent a complete lack of faith in the film itself. It's saying that the only way we're gonna get people in the theater to watch our mediocre film is on star power and a sense of morbid curiosity. What the hell? This shit is so frustrating it hurts...