Why do horror brands work so well for CLC Creative Licensing? Rand Marlis tells all

Rand, how lovely to see you! It’s always a highlight of BLE if we get to meet… So… What’s new?
Thank you! Well, you can see on the poster behind me one thing that’s really doing well for us. Downloadable content! We’re taking our brands and putting them in other people’s games: Fortnite, Mortal Combat, Call of Duty, War Gaming… As you know, these are well-established games that sell to tens of millions of users. So someone can get the rights to use our great characters and put them in their game. That’s proving very successful.

That’s quite an interesting opportunity with some of the characters you hold. I mean: you have a LOT of iconic characters…
Yes, and you can see in the brochure here a couple of the Fortnite versions we’ve done – they really do have the right cosmetics. And by cosmetics, I mean the look of the character…

Right. You’re not doing Terminator lipstick…
Ha! You joke, Deej, but we do have people making some unbelievable eye shadows based on some of our brands. There’s a Re-Animator Eyeshadow Palette… And this one is Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn eyeshadow. Isn’t that amazing? It’s hard to believe what people come up with, but it works!

Ha! My jaw is hanging open… That takes some real imagination! And does that mean you represent Evil Dead now?
Yes, Studio Canal got that just this month. We don’t represent Army of Darkness because that’s owned by someone else… We have all the other Evil Dead properties though.

Well, this is great news! Congratulations! That’s an IP that really feels like it belongs with your company…
Thank you, sir. I agree! And Evil Dead is heading towards its 45th anniversary in 2026, so the timing is great for that. We find horror is working really well for us.

And why do you think that is, Rand? What is it about horror that means it wins fans – loyal fans – and goes on and on?
Horror audiences like to tell their friends, “Wow. Did you see this movie?” And the more obscure it is, the more fun it seems. Did you see Dog Soldiers? Very obscure…

I did actually!
You saw that? You’re kidding?! You’re the first person I know who’s actually seen the movie!

Yes. A long time ago, mind; my friend Jim made me watch it in the cinema. I’ll be honest: I was squirming in my seat…
See, this is what I was going to say… You can tell me that story because horror resonates. You went to see Dog Soldiers. It made you squirm – and being scared, all the emotionality of that, means you still remember it twenty years later. You look back and say, “We survived that.” And even then, you would’ve told your friends, “Have you seen this movie? It’ll scare the life out of you.”

Like a badge of honour! “I screamed like a child! I was physically sick… And that was just the trailer…”
Exactly. And while we’re talking about horror, you might be interested in a Halloween Christmas-tree ornament…

Oh, look at that! I’ll have to put pictures of these things in the article, Rand, because just mentioning a Michael Myers decoration for your fir tree scarcely does it justice!
Right. Or there’s this one from Hallmark… It’s a Terminator 2 T-800 Endoskeleton to hang on your tree. In your house, I imagine nothing says ‘the nativity’ like the Terminator.

Ha! “I’ll be back” might be the resurrection! But this shows the value of the brand, I think… As society becomes more secular, I imagine a good number of people want to keep the tradition of having a tree but don’t want angels or fairies on it. If you want the T2 Endoskeleton, or a bust of Michael Myers, why not?!
That’s right! So these brands are going to new areas – there’s so much more than just t-shirts and posters. It’s really imaginative. Of course, we still have traditional things that work really well. The really high-quality standees; the figures. This one is 12 inches tall. But we have another one that’s full size…

A full-size Terminator? Literally life size?
Literally life size. If you’re interested, it’s about £5,000. Well – if you’re seriously interested, I have a certain amount of power and influence… I can get you a deal; I can save you $5.

Wow. They told me you knew all the right people – I didn’t believe it until now!
There you go! Terminator is always popular, but this year is the 40th anniversary… The first one came out in 1984. And in my opinion that film is actually the best idea of all the Terminator films – even though the better film was T2…

You and I are on the same page, Rand. T2 is a better film, but the first film has the best idea. So that’s 40 this year. But is there a cut-off point? Is there a point at which a film is too old for you to really work with?
Some films are much harder to licence products for than others because of that, yes. Because – well, why do people buy product? It’s because they know what the underlying IP is. And they love it. When a title is too old, there’re too few people that know it – and those that do aren’t the consumer!

Ah! Yes, I guess that’s the critical bit. It’s an ever-diminishing audience, and one that’s unlikely to be spending – even if the IP is brilliant. My dad loves the Ealing comedies you represent, but he’s not likely to spend money on products… What’s he going to buy? Lavender Hill Mob lavender bags?
Exactly. Those are brilliant films! Very funny – but really old. You may remember it today because your father watched it, your grandfather even. But that doesn’t mean any of you are going to want merchandise. There’s also a chance – when something gets really old – that some of it goes into the public domain, so you don’t have protected rights.

Right. You’d be putting out stuff with a tiny audience that doesn’t spend when maybe it’s only got a few years before anybody can do it. So how old is too old?
Probably 50, 55 years is about as old as I could go to make it work. Which is a shame, because there were some really good 1950’s sci-fi movies that deserve remembering. The Day Earth Stood Still comes to mind…

Klaatu barada nikto…
There you go! Wow! That’s great! It’s seminal sci fi… But go talk to 90 percent of people: they won’t remember it. And remember: my competition is Universal and Paramount and Warner Bros. They’re releasing new movies all the time, so kids are always going to want to buy new Avengers stuff. But you? If you want something that’s a little cooler, a little more sophisticated… You’re going to look at something like Terminator.

And adorn my Christmas tree with it! Alright… Rand, this has been – as it always is – a great pleasure. Thank you so much.