Sunday, August 29, 2010

spookiest damn trailer i'd ever seen

which is no damn mere boast. i recall the teaser trailer to ridley scott's gothic horror masterpiece alien [1979] which doesn't feature a single frame of the film. i don't know when the teaser was released but i'm pretty sure it was at least 6 months to a year before the movie was released. what i do remember is thinking, in my child's mind, what the fuck?! in a good way. not only does this teaser capture the mood and tone of the movie it makes you want to see the film even if you have no idea what it's about. remember way back in the late '70s there was no such thing as the internet. what little info one got on upcoming flicks was gleaned maybe from fan mags and word-of-mouth, which were not the stellar sources of accuracy. the movie was even greater than the sum of its parts and lived up to and beyond this teaser's early promise. however, i'd not seen the teaser in many, many, many a moon. i've seen variations of it, often with scenes of the flick spliced in, but not the whole as i remembered it. well, lo! tonight i've been exploring the excellent website trailers from hell where filmmakers and writers discuss their favorite movie prevues and i found the teaser i remembered all in its creepy glory. trailers are an art form too and this is simply one of the best in its simplicity, minimalism, terrific ambient soundscape, and one of the best taglines ever concocted. remember, in space no one can hear you scream.

click here to watch the teaser trailer with or without commentary, and should this piece of filmmaking scare the crap outta you don't blame me if you go crying for your momma if you can't get to sleep tonight. fair warning.


2 Comments:

At 11:27 PM, Blogger Jean Vengua said...

Heh, thanks for the memories, Richard! I remember that just seeing the way the letters of the logo appeared on the screen made me want to go rushing to see the film. I could tell that this one was going to be different...and it was.

 
At 10:34 PM, Blogger richard lopez said...

your welcome jean. i was stoked on finding this trailer too. i thought i'd imagined it since i'd not seen it since that long ago. movie trailers are designed to shill the flick and get butts into movie theater seats but i do think that they are also an art form too, and this teaser is simply one of the best because it is so simple, and so evocative. i just love it.

 

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