John Huston

Okay, let’s be honest: neither Basket Case nor Shakma! are actually “classics”. Well, not in any traditional sense of the word, anyway.

And as far as the trailers go, well… Let’s just put it like this: our local “arthouse”, “revival”, “alternative”, whatever you want to call it theater showed them in front of this week’s midnight showing of Escape from New York this weekend, and they are going to be showing them as part of their October line-up, and the crowd there ate them up, and I heard lots of murmurs of “Oh, yeah!”, and “I’m definitely coming for that!”, so unintentionally hilarious or not, one can’t deny that they actually do what a trailer is supposed to do: put the butts in the seats.

Of course, that may also say as much about the crowd that goes to the Belcourt’s midnight movies as it does about the trailers themselves, but in the end, if they work, they work.

So what do you think? Do these trailers make you want to see the movies? And do you know of any really good trailers? Or are there any classic films you’d like to see trailers for? Let me know in the comment below.

Until next time, Happy Viewing!

The African Queen – 1951 (bogiefilmblog.wordpress.com)
The African Queen is King! (johngreanias.wordpress.com)

Let’s face it, the purpose of a trailer is to sell a movie. To put butts in seats. And one of the best ways to do that is through the use of hyperbole.

See something you’ve never seen before!

This is the greatest [whatever genre the movie falls into] film of all time!

You won’t believe your eyes!

You won’t believe your ears!

You won’t believe your fingers!

You won’t believe somebody put up the money to make this movie!

Of course, few films can actually live up to all the hype that surrounds them before they come out. Fortunately, some do. One of those is 1951’s The African Queen.

What do you think? Does the trailer make you want to see the film? Does it live up to this amount of hype? And do you know of any really good trailers? Or are there any classic films you’d like to see trailers for? Let me know in the comment below.

Until next time, Happy Viewing!