Perkins’ 14 Movie Made with Help from Fans

The new movie, Perkins’ 14, will be released in theaters in January, but what makes this release of note is the level of participation fans had in creating the film. Produced by film production community Massify, fans were given the chance to select which movie pitch got greenlit, which actors were cast and even what the poster would look like.

Back in February, Massify held a contest asking users to submit movie pitches for what they thought the future of horror should be. The site received 400 pitches, and from that Perkins’ 14 won. It’s the story of abducted children, something, something, psychopaths, something, something, blood, something, something, gore (view the trailer here). Users then decided on the cast by voting for their favorite video audition. The completed film will be in theaters nationally as part of After Dark Films HorrorFest III from Jan. 9-15.

There are lots of people looking to make the movie business a more democratic one. MySpace’s limp attempt at a UGC film, Faintheart, will debut in a few theaters in the UK at the end of January, but the social network is also working with author Paulo Coelho to put together UGC elements for his upcoming film The Experimental Witch. An upstart called ZDONK will be fully up and running in April, as well, with the goal of letting users invest in small movie projects.