# Misleading trailers that ruined the movie for you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466 "2010-08-06T23:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/61 "2010-08-10T09:33:06Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > It didn’t ruin the movie for me, but the previews of **Splice** make it look like a Species knockoff, with a lot of the monster getting loose and racking up a high body count. That’s really misleading because: > > There are only three human deaths the whole movie, and it’s really an updated retelling of Frankenstein, focusing on the creator rejecting her creature. I thought it was a story about child abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/62 "2010-08-10T10:17:28Z")
From the commercials, [Family Business](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097328/), with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick, looked like it was a rollicking comedy/“big score” kind of movie. As it turns out, the movie had only about two mildly amusing moments that were already in the commercials, and whatever heist they were pulling off was only a third of the way into the movie, leaving an hour to go of blah blah blah I don’t remember what. Ruined a good date for me. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/63 "2010-08-10T19:38:51Z")
_The Book of Eli_ The revelation of his blindness was supposed to be a huge twist. But from the trailers, I thought it was about some kick ass blind guy, because he was the only one (in the trailers) wearing dark glasses. Also, I hate movies with a message especially religious messages. I don’t mind that it was a Bible, but the whole thing about the Bible being the reason he was a kick ass blind guy was a little too much. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/64 "2010-08-10T19:59:25Z")
The trailers for “Hart’s War” made it seem an actiony WWII drama. It wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/65 "2010-08-10T20:10:22Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0jywTqFx_o) Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams looked like a comedy to me. It really wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/66 "2010-08-10T20:27:24Z")
The trailers for Top Gun gave no indication of the blatently homoerotic movie it turned out to be. Gayest movie ever! ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/67 "2010-08-10T20:44:56Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > > [@RikWriter](#): > > > > The Bridge to Terabithia. > > I opened the thread to say this. It was marketed as a family movie where two kids enter a fantasy world. They didn’t tell us about the twist halfway through that made the three children (and at least 3 of the 4 adults) we were seeing it with break down in tears. My son still refers to it as “that evil movie” That is \*exactly \*how my wife describes that movie. She still blames me because it was my idea to go see the movie that day. And, like a few others have commented, we’d never even heard of the book before we saw the movie… and we both read a LOT of books. Most. Misleading. Trailer. EVAR. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/68 "2010-08-10T20:57:40Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > > [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > > > I opened the thread to say this. It was marketed as a family movie where two kids enter a fantasy world. They didn’t tell us about the twist halfway through that made the three children (and at least 3 of the 4 adults) we were seeing it with break down in tears. My son still refers to it as “that evil movie” > > That is \*exactly \*how my wife describes that movie. She still blames me because it was my idea to go see the movie that day. > > And, like a few others have commented, we’d never even heard of the book before we saw the movie… and we both read a LOT of books. > > Most. Misleading. Trailer. EVAR. Yeah. Saw it while on a cruise in Europe, looking for a nice, happy fluff movie to complement our nice, happy vacation. I thought it was sad, but it _really_ got to my husband. He wept. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/69 "2010-08-10T21:11:46Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > > [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > > > Just out of curiosity, what sort of movie _were_ you expecting _Kick-Ass_ to be? > > I was expecting a comedy involving the antics of some geeks who decide to be “superheros”. I was expecting something more along the lines of Superbad. It was more Kill Bill. A lot of people were misled by the trailers, including me. Fortunately I like _Kill Bill_ about a thousand times more than _Superbad_ so it was a very pleasant surprise. I adore _Kick-Ass_. But it had seriously terrible marketing, designed to make every twelve year old in the country want to see it. If I were a parent who took my kid to see that film, I would be _pissed_. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/70 "2010-08-10T21:52:54Z")
I did consider watching that with my 11-year-daughter, but fortunately over here it was a 15 and that’s not at the parents’ discretion (at the cinema), so lots of people had already seen it and were able to tell me what it was really like. I still haven’t seen it myself, though I’d like to. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/71 "2010-08-10T22:27:54Z")
[This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzCfRbZunqU&feature=related) is the Kick-Ass trailer I saw on television. Here’s a [redband Hit-Girl](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjO7kBqTFqo&feature=related) trailer that more accurately shows film content. See what I mean? Though I gotta admit, not knowing about Hit-Girl in advance made her 10x more awesome in theater. That movie was the best surprise in a long time. It’s on my Top-Ten List. I also have a feeling if it were marketed properly Ebert might not have been such a giant tool about his review (he gave it bad review simply on the ‘‘won’t someone think of the children?’’ principle, refusing to even objectively consider its artistic merit because it featured kids witnessing and committing acts of violence.) My mother and my grandmother both went to see it. They loved it, but they didn’t like the little girl using foul language. No shit. All the people she brutally and graphically slaughtered, no problem, but they just didn’t like to hear the language coming out of that little girl’s mouth. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/72 "2010-08-12T04:57:09Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I’d heard of and read the novel Bridge to Terabithia. Had no idea it wasn’t that well known. Though I guess it’s all relative. I see people talking casually about Terry Pratchett and Robert Heinlein on these boards and these are things that I find personally find to be fairly obscure. I didn’t know it was a book until this thread. I didn’t realize there were people alive in English-speaking countries who hadn’t heard of Pratchett and Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/73 "2010-08-12T05:30:20Z")
We’d never heard of BtT before seeing the movie, and like many in this thread, we were expecting some sort of _Narnia_ knockoff. However, we were pleased with the movie we saw and it has since become a family favorite, especially when the girls (8 year-old Sophie and mom) want a good cry. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/74 "2010-08-12T06:01:39Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > My mother and my grandmother both went to see it. They loved it, but they didn’t like the little girl using foul language. No shit. All the people she brutally and graphically slaughtered, no problem, but they just didn’t like to hear the language coming out of that little girl’s mouth. To be fair, she didn’t \*actually \*kill all those people. I think. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/75 "2010-08-12T07:02:49Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > > [@elfkin477](#): > > > > It didn’t ruin the movie for me, but the previews of **Splice** make it look like a Species knockoff, with a lot of the monster getting loose and racking up a high body count. That’s really misleading because: > > > > There are only three human deaths the whole movie, and it’s really an updated retelling of Frankenstein, focusing on the creator rejecting her creature. > > I thought it was a story about child abuse. [spoiler]Well yeah, it was a kid for most of the movie, so it wasn’t like she could reject it by driving it away to annoy the villagers. But the rest of Frankenstein is there - unwisely creating a creature, being disappointed in it, pushing it away, it eventually gets revenge by killing off the creator’s loved ones. All it’s missing is the boring part about a ship trapped in ice.[/spoiler] > [@JohnT](#): > > We’d never heard of BtT before seeing the movie, and like many in this thread, we were expecting some sort of _Narnia_ knockoff. Wow, I guess the book was only popular when I was a kid. It came out the year I was born, and tons of my classmates and I read it around 5th or 6th grade. I guess it faded away after that. How about **Tuck Everlasting** , do kids still read that? I’m guessing not, considering they don’t seem to realize how much twilight ripped it off. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/76 "2010-08-12T08:07:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > To be fair, she didn’t \*actually \*kill all those people. I think. According to [this site](http://www.allouttabubblegum.com/main/?p=6957), she only kills 40 out of the 62 people blown away in the movie. Not too shabby. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/77 "2010-08-12T09:46:13Z")
I thought Coraline would be a movie a lot like The Nightmare Before Christmas. After all, it’s Tim Burton! It’s stop motion! It’s got a small child as the protagonist. What could go wrong? It’s seriously messed up, that’s what! It’s psychologically intense and some characters are outright horrifying. The villainess creeped me out during the _opening credits_. The constant button eyes were haunting. I would never let small children watch this movie! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/78 "2010-08-12T16:37:27Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > > > My mother and my grandmother both went to see it. They loved it, but they didn’t like the little girl using foul language. No shit. All the people she brutally and graphically slaughtered, no problem, but they just didn’t like to hear the language coming out of that little girl’s mouth. > > To be fair, she didn’t \*actually \*kill all those people. I think. Well, that was their argument. ‘‘The killing was just pretend, but she was _really_ swearing.’’ Okay, well, I don’t really get that bent out of shape about swearing, but I guess they have a point. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/79 "2010-08-12T17:23:12Z")
The Fifth Element. The trailer billed it as “Star Wars for the '90s.” ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/80 "2010-08-12T17:48:05Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I thought Coraline would be a movie a lot like The Nightmare Before Christmas. After all, it’s Tim Burton! It’s stop motion! It’s got a small child as the protagonist. What could go wrong? > > It’s seriously messed up, that’s what! It’s psychologically intense and some characters are outright horrifying. The villainess creeped me out during the _opening credits_. The constant button eyes were haunting. I would never let small children watch this movie! Tim Burton had fuckall to do with it. The movie was made by Henry Selick, who was indeed the director of the Nightmare Before Christmas. (See? It’s marketed as ‘by the director of’ and everyone thinks ‘Burton!’ As for the scaryness, I think Neil Gaiman says it best: > [@](#): > > When author Neil Gaiman was asked if Coraline was “too scary,” he replied: > > ``` > I hope so. I think a little bit of fear is a wonderful thing. And in 'Coraline' what you're telling them is that here's something big and it's something scary and it's something that's worth being a story. Look, she's a smart kid, and she doesn't have magical powers, and she's not the 'chosen one,' there's nothing cool or magical going on. She's just like you and she's going to win. And for most kids, and not for most parents, they read 'Coraline' as an adventure. I think for adults it tends to be much scarier. For adults you've got a number of things going on. For an adult, a story about a child in danger, that's big. That's scary. That's dangerous. And also of course, for adults, they get to watch it, and all sorts of long-forgotten, long-buried, repressed, and abandoned childhood memories start coming to the fore and worrying them. And children don't have repressed memories because that's where they live. > > ``` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466.md?page=5)