How the trailer convinced me NOT to watch the movie

The purpose of a movie trailer is to excite the audience and encourage them to go see the movie for when it actually comes out. However, there have been a few movie trailers that I've seen that did the exact opposite for me.


The Giver:
I first read the book "The Giver" in grade school when I was forced to write an essay on it. Unlike most assigned readings, I actually really enjoyed the book and really got into the story. I can remember a time in class when we actually talked about how it wouldn't make a good movie because of how the whole movie was based around a slow reveal and the main character's thoughts. Here's the trailer:

What?

Spaceships at the end? Did the creators even read the book? I was half expecting the trailer to end with "directed by Michael Bay." I talked to a friend who saw the movie (but didn't read the book) and he actually really enjoyed it. So maybe I'm just being a hater, or pictured the book in a different way than anyone else, but I never would have guessed that, that trailer would be for "The Giver."


Cabin in the Woods

I actually have seen "Cabin in the Woods," and I thought it was a really enjoyable movie. But the trailer wouldn't make it seem like that. The actual movie was a really unique take on a genre that is normally over-saturated with similar ideas and basic plots.

The thing that "Cabin in the Woods" is how unique it is. The trailer makes it seem like the movie carries the same plot lines as every other scary movie: The hot couple, the stoner, a cabin in the woods, a lake, a creepy old man, ect. They hinted at the unique portion of the plot, but not enough to actually know that the movie would be anything different.

Battleship

To be fair, I have not been a fan of this movie since the beginning; since I found out that they were making a movie based on a board game. I realize that people are struggling to come up with original ideas for movies; using a board game that I learned to play when I was 6 seems like a bit of a stretch.

It starts out seeming like it has an actual plot that seems vaguely based on a board game (basically just naval battles). However that quickly turns into something with aliens and giant metal robots coming from the sea and a bunch of other big explosion-y things that happened really quick that I didn't understand.

The Cabin in the Woods - Purposefully Cliche

I recently watched The Cabin in the Woods (2012), directed by Drew Goddard, to prepare myself for Halloween. (I normally don't like too many "horror" movies because of how cheesy they can be, but this one was slightly different.) A jock, a nerd, a stoner, a dumb blonde, and a virgin decide to get away for the weekend by going to a desolate cabin in the middle of nowhere. Before which, they were warned by a creepy old man not to go there. Sound familiar?

That's because you've seen it a thousand times in every other scary movie.

However, The Cabin in the Woods played off of these normal cliches in a clever way. I won't explain in detail as to not give it away, but this movie is about ritual sacrifice. It's sort of The Hunger Games with a ritual sacrifice twist combined with every scary movie... If that makes sense.

The plot and writing (Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, who worked together on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) are what really make this movie worth watching. They play upon the stereotypes of scary movies, referencing many things that have been done over and over again. For example, there are spirits, zombies, killer mermen, giant snakes, flying beasts, and many other horrible creatures. All these typical monsters come out all at once in an exciting, gruesome climax.

To be able to play off the irony of the stereotypical characters, they need to be very well cast. Chris Hemsworth plays the role of the alpha male, thick-headed jock well. Fran Kranz is superb as the "fool" pothead, who's theories turn out to be true this time. Jesse Williams, a bit boring as the nerdy nice guy, but it is always harder to play the straight character. Anna Hutchison has the easy character ("easy" in both senses), as all she really does is look good and scream. And Kristen Connolly - the "virgin" - also seems a bit boring at times, but has a little more intellect and character depth.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film. It's entertaining, as most horror movies are, but also has more substance.