Chapter 119: Black Friday

"I'm back!"

Luis Gonzalez shouted towards the kitchen as he pushed open the door and walked into his Long Island apartment. After setting down his briefcase, he changed into slippers, entered the living room, and collapsed onto the large sofa, sinking into the thick leather backrest. The exhaustion from a day's work left him looking listless.

It took him a while to sit up straight, but the pressures of work and life were inescapable.

As a Latin American immigrant, he had always yearned for the paradise of America. After finally making it to New York and achieving some success through hard work, he realized it was far from the paradise he had imagined. Mortgages, car loans, health insurance, property taxes, and various other expenses weighed heavily on him. Losing his job would lead to immediate bankruptcy.

This made him cautious and submissive at work. As a Latino in a predominantly white company, it wasn't easy for him.

Fortunately, he had found suitable channels to vent his frustrations; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to endure it.

After dinner, chatting with his wife for a while, Luis Gonzalez sat down at his computer. This was something he did every week—checking online for the latest horror movies to watch with fellow enthusiasts over the weekend.

He was part of a Long Island horror movie enthusiast group. They gathered weekly to watch movies, chat, and share films they were interested in.

This was Luis Gonzalez's biggest hobby and a way to relieve stress. Seeing white people brutally killed on screen gave him an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

As usual, Luis Gonzalez opened a forum-style movie website, found the horror movie section, and clicked in.

After a few days, there were many new posts. Some discussed when the next "Scream" would be released, others revealed that horror movie expert Lionsgate was preparing a new gore film, and some posted a list of horror films set to release in the next month, along with their dates.

Suddenly, a post caught Luis Gonzalez's attention.

"Review the most unbelievable killing methods in history with a single movie! Bloody! Terrifying! Not for the faint-hearted!"

The title of this post seemed to be a direct invitation to horror movie fans like Luis Gonzalez, saying, "Click on me; I'm exactly what you want to see."

Luis Gonzalez immediately opened the post. The first image wasn't very clear, looking like it was taken secretly, but the content made his eyes widen.

It was a white girl struggling through a pile of glistening syringes, wearing a bizarre headgear with numerous needles stuck in her body. The swollen skin and oozing blood, combined with the certainty that more needles would pierce her as she moved, made even a seasoned horror fan like Gonzalez shudder.

This was worse than death! A truly horrifying torture!

Simultaneously, his curiosity was piqued. What movie was this? It had such twisted and thrilling torture methods...

His wife walked over at that moment, glanced at the computer screen, and quickly turned her head away. "Good God! What is that? It's too sick!"

She left quickly after that, but Gonzalez just smiled. His wife wasn't into horror movies.

But his curiosity and interest were fully aroused. Just seeing the first image and the description of the pit of needles in the post, he felt this collection of the most unbelievable killing methods was genuinely impressive.

He continued scrolling down, seeing more images of traps and victims. The pictures were similarly unclear, as if taken secretly, accompanied by brief descriptions.

"Can you escape from these unbelievable traps?"

This phrase above all the pictures made Luis Gonzalez shiver, thinking of the pit of needles. He quickly shook his head and continued reading.

"Barbed Wire Maze: The victim, naked, is trapped in a vast basement maze. If they can't escape within three hours, the exit will permanently close. The path to the exit is lined with razor-sharp barbed wire. Any movement will result in severe cuts, leaving the victim bloody and screaming with each step..."

The image showed a man hanging on the barbed wire, with countless wounds on his body, especially his stomach. The liquid dripping wasn't blood but stomach acid...

Gonzalez instinctively touched his own stomach.

Below each picture, the poster had left a message.

"I watched this movie at a screening in Los Angeles yesterday. It was incredibly impressive and shocking. I couldn't help but take a few pictures. Here they are. Horror fans, this movie is called 'Saw'!"

"Saw?" Luis Gonzalez thought for a moment, realizing he had never heard of it. It must be a new release.

His interest piqued, he immediately logged onto a search engine and typed "Saw," finding a series of related information.

Director Murphy Stanton—who was that? He had never heard of him.

Lead actor James Franco? He had seen the name somewhere, but he wasn't a famous actor...

Gonzalez quickly browsed through the information, focusing on the release date—July 13, 2001, a classic Black Friday!

He closed the webpage, returned to the search engine results, and saw there was plenty of related content. Clicking on a few, he saw some text and some images, all praising the film.

"So terrifying..."

"I literally puked from fright..."

"It's the first time I've seen someone cry out of fear at a screening."

It seemed this movie was really scary!

Luis Gonzalez nodded slightly, memorizing the release date, and picked up his phone to call some members of his horror movie enthusiast group.

"I found a great movie that hasn't been released yet. Here are some pictures. It's really scary."

"Next Friday, let's go to the theater. I found a great movie."

In just ten minutes, Gonzalez had arranged plans with nearly ten people. Some had also seen related pictures or text on other websites and agreed that the images were impressive. The complete film might make people wet their pants.

The immediacy and shareability of online information far surpassed other media. Murphy kept a close eye on the progress of the hired online company. Using a non-existent screening to create buzz wasn't a sophisticated trick, but it still garnered attention in this era.

Especially on a large movie forum website, the related post in the horror section had over 100,000 views in just five days, representing a potential audience.

Forum posts, movie review sites, portals, and even large private organization websites—wherever people could leave messages—featured content about "Saw." The work done by the hired company made Murphy feel his investment was worth it.

Following last year's NASDAQ crash, internet-related industries were still struggling. Otherwise, this amount of money might not have achieved so much.

Despite seeing that "Saw" had attracted considerable attention among horror fans from the post views and replies, the actual impact would only be clear after the release.

While Murphy was creating buzz for "Saw," Fox Searchlight began their own promotional campaign.

Compared to the internet buzz, Fox Searchlight's methods were more conservative and traditional.

They posted outdoor ads, ran local media posters, aired trailers on late-night TV, and held a press conference. However, due to limited funds and the film's creators' lack of fame, it didn't generate much excitement.

Fox Searchlight used the standard promotional methods for independent films, creating a simple website for the film.

With a promotional budget of just $260,000, no one could expect spectacular results.

Moreover, the R-rating of "Saw" and the public nature of traditional media meant that the truly captivating graphic scenes couldn't be used as marketing gimmicks.

As time passed, after two weeks of limited promotion, Fox Searchlight finally released "Saw" in theaters. However, given the film's investment and promotional scale, neither the theaters nor Fox Searchlight could allocate many resources.

Like all independent films, "Saw" started with a limited release and had no premiere event.

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