Having spent a good chunk of the weekend watching the trailers that made their debut at San Diego Comic Con, I have been thinking a lot about the way that modern movies are marketed. A oft-heard complaint about most trailers these days is that they give away too much of the movie that they are trying to promote. There’s some validity to that to be sure, but what is even more irksome to me personally is when a trailer looks magnificent and the finished product winds up to be, well, not. The best example in recent memory that I can think of is Prometheus. Ridley Scott‘s muddled sort-of Alien prequel does little more than to erase some of the mystery of his landmark 1979 sci-fi film. (A head-scratching tactic that Prometheus‘ sequel, Alien: Covenant, doubles down on). Yet though I’m not a fan of either of these efforts, I have to say that Prometheus‘ trailer is still perfect — even though I realize that it promises excitement, chills, and originality that it doesn’t deliver. Whether or not you agree with this assessment, I’m certain at some point or another that you’ve watched a bad movie that you thought had a great trailer. So for this Open Thread, I want you to tell me what the best trailer for a terrible film that you’ve ever seen was. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go cleanse my palate by watching some great trailers for flicks that I know I love.
