Greg Araki released a statement, as reported by Cinematical, about the removal of “Kaboom” from the Fright Fest line-up here in the UK. Read the full article here.

“Kaboom” (starring Thomas as “Smith”) was originally going to have it’s UK premiere at the festival, but was withdrawn in controversy last month after Araki reportedly objected to the movie being shown to a “bunch of geeks”. It seemed unlikely at the time – it’s good to hear his side of this!

In light of the controversy surrounding the withdrawal of my film Kaboom from London’s FrightFest this past weekend, I wanted to set the record straight. Alan Jones’ inflammatory story claiming I deemed the movie too good for a “bunch of geeks” is a complete fabrication. I would NEVER call anyone who wants to see any film of mine “a bunch of geeks.” I’ve never spoken or corresponded with Alan Jones and I’m stunned he would put words in my mouth that I never said. This kind of blatant and willful misrepresentation is not only damaging to my reputation, it’s hurtful to my fans so I take this offense very seriously. As anyone who’s seen my movies would know, I’m a cinema geek and genre fan myself – and in fact I have two projects I’m currently developing which are, yes, straight up horror genre films.

As an indie director, I never take any fan of mine for granted and am grateful for each and every one. The only part of this sordid saga that’s true is that Kaboom was unfortunately removed from the FrightFest lineup. That decision was made after careful consideration by myself, the other producers, the financiers and upon the advise of friends who work in distribution. The sad fact of the matter is it’s becoming harder and harder to make and distribute truly independent films in the current marketplace. Getting your film out there to audiences is more difficult than ever and requires careful planning and strategy. Fan buzz-generating screenings like FrightFest are of course amazing and great fun to do but they’re normally slotted closer to a film’s theatrical release date as part of an orchestrated marketing effort. Our foremost concern right now is what’s best for Kaboom overall and how to parlay the movie’s amazing debut in Cannes into the widest distribution possible. As to why the film was pulled so late, I wasn’t even told of its inclusion in the festival till a little over a week ago (sorry but I don’t google myself or my films on a regular basis and have no staff or assistants to keep me updated on stuff like that).

Finally to everyone who was eager to see Kaboom on Sunday night, I sincerely apologize and believe me, I’m just as excited for you all to see it. I’m super proud of the movie — everyone involved really put their heart and soul into it — and I truly hope there’s a chance to see it there in the UK soon!

Let’s hope “Kaboom” does see it’s UK premiere soon – I for one am dying to see it!