Watch the Trailer for Camp Hell, the Horror Pic Jesse Eisenberg Wishes He Could Take Back
To be fair, nothing in Jesse Eisenberg's recently filed lawsuit claims that he wishes he could take back his five-minute cameo in the low budget horror pic Camp Hell, about evil unleashing a bloodbath at a Christian youth retreat. (That's just a guess.) The actor is simply a stickler for truth in advertising and wants his fans to know he's "not the star of and does not appear in a prominent role in Camp Hell." As for co-stars Bruce Davison, Dana Delaney, and Andrew McCarthy... well, you're kinda stuck. Watch the unintentional horrors unfold in the trailer after the jump!
It would appear that Eisenberg appears in the film (released on home video in August) via flashback as a troubled, demon-haunted youth whom Davison's child-slapping minister attempts to save. He sketches. He's in dire need of a tan. "There is no hope. There is only God's will," he croaks.
According to reports, Eisenberg is seeking "$3 million in general damages for alleged misappropriation of right of publicity and unfair business practices." (The film's budget, per IMDB, is $3 million, while Academy Award nominee Eisenberg's fee was reportedly $3,000.)
Did Lionsgate's marketing team really misuse his good name in promotional materials for Camp Hell? There's this prominent bit from the trailer:
And, well, the DVD cover:
Yeeeeah. Who can blame Lionsgate for wanting to capitalize on Eisenberg's Oscar sheen? Or Eisenberg, for wanting distance from this would-be Razzie contender?
Camp Hell is currently available on DVD.
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Comments
See also: this movie. It's some POS indie flick from a few years ago with a one- or two-scene cameo from Zach Galifianakis. But the DVD plasters his name and face on the cover. It's also a terrible movie.
This kind of thing has been going on for years, decades in fact, an unkown becomes famous and he is sold as the star of some piece of crap movie, it is actually quite common.
But that doesn't mean the practice is not a fraudulent practice. The cover is mis-leading and just because other actors never mention it, that doesn't make it right.