By Brett Blake Everybody has seen at least one trailer. They’re an inescapable, unavoidable part of the movie-going experience, and while they can sometimes give away too much, or misrepresent the films they’re supposed to be selling, a well-cut trailer can - in itself - be entertaining, a kind of mini-movie with its own pace, flow, and arc. The bad trailers, unfortunately, tend to outweigh the good, but I’m keeping this list positive, and what follow are ten of the most interesting, unique, and cool trailers and teasers. This kind of list is a dime a dozen on the internet, but I figured that this blog should contribute to that ongoing dialogue anyway. It’s also worth noting that I’m a huge fan of trailers that feature unique content, such as special footage shot specifically for the trailer and not found in the actual movie itself. You will find examples of this in at least half of the selections below. Rather thank ranking from one to ten, I’m presenting the trailers in the order of the movie’s year of release. Frankenstein (1931) This trailer is actually from a re-release campaign from the late 1930s, but it gives you a great sense of the kind of hyperbolic, over-the-top trailers that so often were used to promote B-grade science fiction and horror movies from the 1930s through the 1950s. The template was set right here. Psycho (1960) Probably the all-time classic teaser trailer, this six-minute short film features director Alfred Hitchcock himself leading the audience on a tour of the movie’s Bates Motel set. Its dry, macabre sense of humor (very much a stamp of the director) only hints at the story’s very dark undercurrents. The Exorcist (1973) A truly chilling teaser, it actually went unused during the movie’s marketing campaign, as some in the studio’s marketing department considered it too intense. It certainly is that, and even though the flashing, blinding imagery and shrieking, whirling music score become kind of a strain by the end, it’s a striking two minutes. Real Life (1979) Albert Brooks’ underseen film is a prescient and biting satire about reality television, and his trailer for the film is equally satirical; it remains especially topical today with the glut of 3D gimmickry that has been imposed (for good or bad) on movie-goers during the last few years. Alien (1979) A dialogue-less trailer that is memorable almost entirely because of its choice of music. It starts out moody, atonal, and creepy, and then explodes with a fully “alien” series of wails that accompany the expertly-edited montage of frightening images from the film. The final drop-off into silence is particularly effective. The Shining (1980) As simple a trailer as you could get, this ad for THE SHINING is only a single shot, but what a shot! And that music! Bizarre and unsettling. There’s a famous story, probably untrue, about the movie ratings board rejecting the trailer because of the copious amounts of blood, and director Stanley Kubrick then arguing that it wasn’t blood, but merely rusty water that is flooding out of the elevator. The board bought that story, and the trailer was released unscathed. Back to the Future (1985) This is a teaser trailer that really doesn’t tell you very much (if anything!) about the movie, but it does just enough to raise the audience’s collective curiosity. What kind of car is this? What’s going on with all the blinking lights and switches? What’s that title mean?! Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) The “terminator assembly line” seen here is kind of a brilliant idea for a teaser, and it does a great job of re-introducing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character a full seven years after the previous film. Jurassic Park (1993) Another teaser that relies almost completely on mystery to hook the audience. There’s not a single dinosaur on display, but it primes you for the eventual film to come. And the haunting dinosaur vocalization that comes over the credits list is a really neat touch. The Lord of the Rings (2001 - 2003) This teaser, which came out at Christmas of 2000, a full year before the first film in the trilogy, actually teases all three films, and deserves a place on the list because it establishes that the Tolkien novels were going to be done - and done seriously - on the grandest scale possible, and because it shows footage from films that were still one, two, and three years away from release! Talk about building anticipation. This was only a small sampling of some of the great trailers that have been unleashed over the years; there are dozens more to discuss, but that's a discussion for another day. What are some of your personal favorite teasers?
1 Comment
9/11/2013 05:39:10 pm
Thanks for sharing these teasers. I am a great movie lover, and I love to share the trailers of the box office hits through my You Tube channel.
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