Coming soon...Mediocrity

A couple weekends ago while donning Showplace West 12 with my presence during a screening of the retched "The Hills Have Eyes," I saw a teaser trailer for yet another upcoming horror remake of the classic film, "The Omen." The trailer featured a lingering shot of a creepy-looking demon child, perched on a slow-moving swing set. The music was eerie, the Amish-looking child was motionless and the audience in the theater was silent. As I watched the fairly intriguing trailer, I began to think to myself, "Well, Warner, this is pretty much the only good that will come out of this film."\nThere seems to be a growing trend in Hollywood these days to treat film trailers like separate movie entities that serve as more than just short previews of what is in the works. Sometimes these trailer masterpieces even best the films they are promoting.\nIf you think about it, film trailers have become somewhat of an art form lately in the same vein of music videos. They are often extravagant, relying on flashy special effects and a glut of mindless eye candy. They will feature catchy songs or dramatic film scores and in many ways can become monumental cult phenomenon that flow across the Internet for months at time (i.e. "Star Wars: Episode One" trailer). Also, since the advent of the Internet and a plethora of wonderful nerd dream Web sites like Ain't It Cool News (www.aintitcoolnews.com), Youtube (www.youtube.com) or eBaums world (www.ebaumsworld.com), trailers are now more than ever a popular visual medium.\nThere are two kinds of trailers out there. There are the ones that create a level of intrigue and mystery of the film, creating a killer cliffhanger for fans to marinade in for the remaining time until the film's release. These trailers tend to flow with high-profile filmmakers or highly anticipated monumental films (a good example of this can be seen with the recently released teaser trailer of "The Simpsons" movie that has a 2007 release date).\nThe second type support films that -- chances are -- will blow. These trailers are fast-moving, loud and will usually give away all major plot points and flashy action scenes in a quick three-minute vignette, prematurely blowing the film's load all together. You will find these trailers for bad comedy money-makers (the fictional but highly probable "Big Momma's House 3: Momma's Gonna Knock You Out"), big-budget popcorn action movies (oh, I don't know, "True Lies 2: Truth Been Told") and are especially popular in the current string of bad horror films being released (how 'bout "Friday the 13th 13: Massacre in Morocco"). \nThen there are the trailers that are so well-made and so enticing to the viewer that they in turn create a level of gleeful anticipation that is so high that the film ends up becoming a major let down. \nCase in point: 2005's highly anticipated "Sin City," by flashy cult action film director Robert Rodriguez. Here was a trailer that let the drool flow from all film geeks' mouths across the country upon its release. The trailer featured the Rodriquez's highly glossy cool-looking digital cinematography, a baadassssss cast of Hollywood pretty players and cult film actors and a dark and driving song by an unknown British band called The Servant. To put it in simpler words: the trailer kicked ass. \nThe "Sin City" teaser contained everything that one would want from a stylized comic book adaptation by one of the Hollywood's slickest filmmakers and the level of anticipation it created was unlike anything I had seen in the past. Unfortunately, upon release, the film, while being extremely popular and critically acclaimed, somehow failed to live up to its extreme expectations. \nDid this wickedly cool film trailer actually hinder the film? Should people be worried that sometimes trailers can actually play out better than the actual film? Personally, I love walking into a film with no expectations or prior knowledge of what I'm about to see. At the same time, I frequently find myself venturing through Apple's Quicktime movie trailer Web site. Dilemma.\nIt is no secret that film trailers are made in order to entice filmgoers to return to their megaplexes for more. They take up coveted Super Bowl commercial spots, crowd DVDs and define the saying, "Don't worry, we're not gonna miss the film. There are still previews." And trailers should still set out to wow audiences and make them want to plop down eight more dollars to get their full fix. However, shouldn't there be a line drawn on how a trailer presents a film? After all it's extremely easy to compile a flashy two-minute trailer that pumps your adrenaline, however, creating a two-hour plus film to continue the hype is a bit more difficult.