I remember quite a while back, someone posted on the topic of the greatest trailer of all time. It dealt with trailers for films that had strong images but weak stories, thus making the film's trailer more enjoyable than the actual film itself.
I came across a trailer like this, for the 1981 horror obscurity Dead and Buried. You can view the trailer here:
http://www.blue-underground.com/show_trailer.php?trailer=http://www.blue-underground.com/dev/quicktime/deadandburiedlg.mov&width=320&height=188
The film is remarkably stupid, lacking in any kind of logic or coherence (I'm no follower of McKee, I admit that, but in this case, it comes off like the screenwriters sat down with a concept, a few good scenes, and just started writing; I highly doubt there was even a second draft). The visuals, however, are creepy as hell. Taken out of context, as in the case of the films trailer, they *really* get under your skin. It's Norman Rockwell filtered through the Twilight Zone, and one virtuoso sequence in particular involving the complete reconfiguration of a dead body (a few clips are shown in the trailer) is a real highlight of the film.
Watch the trailer with the sound off (it adds to the experience), and I think you've got a nice little nightmare of a short film. It's unfortunate for the film itself that the screenplay is straight out of a cinematic bad dream.
Anyone else know of any trailers like this? I believe the example used in the old post was Batman Returns.
― Anthony (Anthony F), Saturday, 16 October 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)
'Hero' looked like the most exhilirating film ever made from the trailer, but turned out to be rather soulless and plodding, with extremely dubious politics to boot. Pretty, mind.
― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 17 October 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)
Thank you for posting the link! That was awesome. The first shock of the man coming through the window is quite nice. The bit with the nurse and the bandaged hospital patient is also good. I originally started the thread and used Batman Returns as a example trailer which is superior to the film because the images are stronger outside the context of a story. I got a few really good responses.
― herbert hebert (herbert hebert), Sunday, 17 October 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)