I think we’ve all encountered movie trailers – especially for action/adventure movies or thrillers – that pique your interest in an upcoming movie, have you salivating with interest, can’t wait to see it – but then you see the movie and realize all the best parts were saved for the 60 second trailer. Or that stuff was made up for the trailer that never was seen in the movie.
What are some GREAT trailers for BAD (or disappointing) movies you recall?
For me, the first teaser trailer for Godzilla (1998) was the best – that was the one where a group of children in a museum are following a musuem guide as they look at a T-Rex skeleton. The guide drones on and on about the T-Rex’s size and undisputed savagery. In the distance, however, an omnious thumping noise can be heard. The children look around nervously. Gee, it sounds close. Is it thunder? The unflappable guide talks louder and louder until – Godzilla’s foot comes down through the roof and smashes the T-Rex skeleton to bits. The foot immediately rises back through the ceiling and a massive tail whips through the remains of the museum and the petrified, stunned onlookers. CUT TO: the title credits. “Godzilla. Coming Summer 1998.” Grown-ass man I was then, I was still hooked! Nice indirect dig at JURASSIC PARK with an unexpected thrill that the movie it all its gross stupidity and unoriginality never matched. Of course, if helped they kept Godzilla’s revamped appearance under wraps, too; if they had ever shown Godzilla’s face in the trailer, I would’ve passed on the movie. I should have known something was up when the subsequent tagline, “Bigger Is Better!” kept popping up everywhere…
