Upon first glance at the cover, it’s pretty obvious “The Monster Club” didn’t just take a bunch of images and pasted them together (seriously, take a look at the cover! It’s like a poster! The horror gods shine on you Kerry Gammill). And “Festival of Fright” is not just a pastiche of trailers to sell DVDs. “Festival of Fright” is in the tradition of trailer compilations of the VHS era that not only help us relive some of the best and worst horror films ever made, but also show us that film can still be fun because it invokes nostalgia, amusement, and lets us marvel at how film has evolved and devolved over decades.
Tag Archives: Movie Trailer
Afro Promo: Black Cinema Trailers 1946-76 (DVD)
Afro Promo” is a textured and rich compendium of Black Cinema trailers that speaks more of the depictions of African Americans on film than any documentary can really try to. There are no real interviews here, just a collection of trailers involving black actors, or starring an all African American cast. And as you’d expect we see the progression from blacks with white lips and bulging eyes, to lecherous and despicable heathens, to blaxploitation films where they were more empowered and able to decide how they wanted to be seen (they settled on “Boss Nigger”?). And every now and then we see the great Sidney Poitier, and Richard Pryor, James Earl Jones, and Pam Grier respectively.
Retire These F*cking Songs, Already!
Now for the record, I love trailers. Some are good and some are bad and usually they’re just slapped together sloppily to promote the movie. But the best trailers are the ones that don’t give the movie away. “The Exorcist”, “Night of the Living Dead”, “Psycho”, those are trailers that didn’t give the movies away, and the most essential part of a trailer like the movie is the music. Compiled is a list of songs I’m begging Hollywood to retire from movie trailers that decrease the value of the movie and ruin the experience. Let me tell you what triggered my meltdown. I was at home watching “Cinenews,” a program I watch to keep up with upcoming movies. It’s a great show, and at the end of the program they feature a trailer for a movie coming soon. Up comes the trailer for “Monster-in-Law” and during the trailer on comes a commonly used song and something just snapped. These songs need to be retired for the love of humanity, I mean I’m not saying these songs suck, as a matter of fact, some of the songs I’m about to list, I love–but god retire them before they start sucking! Does modern music suck so bad they just have to keep re-using this stuff again and again?!