There’s another thread talking about titles where you get no real idea what the movie is about. This goes in the opposite direction. I’m mostly thinking of films but will accept books and plays and TV, etc. I have two examples in mind, “Snakes on a plane” and “Hobo with a shotgun”. Not great films, but I think a lot of people, especially when finding out Samuel L. Jackson is starring, could start writing Snakes on a plane themselves.
Well, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” pretty much sums up the plot. You certainly know that things aren’t gonna turn out too well for most everyone involved.
Also, slightly off the OP, but anytime you get a “II” slapped onto a summer blockbuster, you pretty much know the plot going in. Specifically, Jurassic Park II, III, and IV. It’s gonna be ringing some changes on “dinosaurs get loose and eat people”.
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION: there’s going to be a big trial – in criminal court, not in civil court – and the whole thing will surely come down to a key witness for the defense. No, wait; it’ll be a witness that the other side puts on the stand to get sworn in and offer testimony against the accused, right? What the hell was I thinking?
*The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade *
While the experiment appears in the movie, and is a metaphor for what goes on in the family, the title itself doesn’t really give you any idea of the plot.
Many good ones already, including Assassination above, but I have to agree with the others, Effect of Gamma Rays … doesn’t tell the average Satchmo in the street anything about the plot. I’m inclined to say the same about The Englishman … but I’ve never seen it.
There’s a class of Titles that fit here, only because they are about famous events/disasters. Any film called “Titanic” or “The Hindenberg” lets most people know at least the plot of the last act.
Of course, it can be subjective. Burke and Wills was completely meaningless to US audiences, but Australian audiences knew what it was about as soon as they saw the name, and would be amused by Americans talking about the shock at the end.