One of the greatest things a horror movie can do is to be a whole lot weirder than first expected, which is always helped when the marketing does not give away too much plot. If the trailer says too much it can spoil the enjoyment of that first-time watch, but it can be difficult for producers to find the perfect balance when advertising their films.
The desire to entice an audience will naturally often involve providing key scenes in a trailer to whet the appetite, and the horror genre especially can often fall foul of including a little too much. But there are of course perfect examples of when studios drip feed only a little, leaving some ambiguity as to where the movie is going to be heading. While in certain cases, horror movies can end up being a whole lot stranger than you might have had any good reason to suspect …
1. // Midsommar (2019)
Expectations were high when A24 announced Midsommar, director Ari Aster’s follow up to Hereditary released in 2018. Midsommar arrived a year later and early indications hinted at a slow-burning thriller, with a strong influence from The Wicker Man and other such genre films. In watching the movie this initially feels absolutely spot on, as it takes it’s time to build into a truly horrifying experience. Dropping some unforgettable gore onto the laps of the audience with THAT sacrificial cliff scene, and from here the movie only gets weirder.
Midsommar follows the tragic character of Dani (Florence Pugh) as she travels with her boyfriend and his friends to a religious festival in a small Swedish village. The film starts to turn psychedelic almost as soon as they arrive, with the group tripping on magic mushrooms. While it also lulls the audience into a false sense of security, as it focuses on a strong theme of nature.
The natural theme continues as the group arrive at the commune where the festival is held, where a bizarre cast of local characters first appear harmless as they dance around to folk music. But the movie turns incredibly dark, providing some truly graphic and disturbing body-horror when it really starts to get going in the second half, while focusing heavily on themes of sex, mortality and the cycle of life.
2. // In The Mouth Of Madness (1994)
For many In The Mouth of Madness is the last great horror film that John Carpenter directed. Arriving in 1994 it is perhaps the jewel in his crown from a decade where he also created a number of mediocre movies, including Escape from LA and Ghosts Of Mars. Neither of which held a torch to his classic films of the seventies and eighties, including of course iconic flicks such as Halloween and The Thing.
In the Mouth of Madness not only stands out as being a cut above many of his later films, but it’s also just about the weirdest movie he ever made! The movie follows insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill – Jurassic Park), as he is assigned to look into the disappearance of world-renowned Stephen King – esq Horror author Sutter Cane. And while the trailer hints at a movie of a distinctly film noir style … it soon becomes so much more!
The film follows the investigator’s descent as he heads further down the rabbit hole of a narrative, in which he is plagued by hellish visions that increasingly move further into realms of the fantastical. In The Mouth Of Madness progresses into a Psychological-Horror created with a wonderfully colourful tone by Carpenter, culminating with a climax of inter-dimensional portals and an apocalypse of crime and violence.
3. // Mother! (2017)
Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! is a portrayal of his central protagonist’s descent into madness, orchestrated by the invasion of her home by hordes of strangers. At face value the trailer certainly painted this picture well enough, promising a Psychological-Thriller where everything and everyone around Jennifer Lawrences’s Mother appears out of her control.
But the visionary director provides a hell of a lot more than this as he takes his character’s decline into utter chaos, as it turns out the movie is a metaphor for Christianity and the themes of the bible, while providing an overall bleak commentary on the existence of the human race. Jennifer Lawrence is in fact playing Mother Nature while her poet husband (Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men) is God. With their home representing Earth … Mother Nature’s pride and joy.
Visitors to the house continuously disturb Mother’s calm, first of all with Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer symbolising Adam and Eve, before the arrival of their sons (Cain and Abel) start to take the film into a darker direction. Eventually Aronofsky portrays the 21st century as Mother’s home becomes over run with hundreds of visitors, who destroy the house around them. It may be a little pretentious at times, but Mother! certainly delivers a bizarrely memorable and reflective viewing experience.
4. // The Cabin In The Woods (2011)
The Cabin in the Woods turned out to be anything but a typical ‘teenagers in the woods’ style slasher, despite the narrative initially following a group of young adults on a weekend retreat, in what appears to be a run of the mill Friday the 13th meets The Evil Dead type of shlocker. It soon becomes apparent that this movie is so much more, and comes with a whole load of tongue-in-cheek where a strong influence of The Truman Show (1998), provides an intriguing and unique meta commentary on classic Horror genres and cliches.
The film progressively gets more bizarre as it goes on and pays homage to many of the iconic movies of the genre, as it drip feeds Easter eggs inspired by legendary flicks including Hellraiser, The Shining and The Exorcist to name a few. Culminating in the final pair of survivors discovering they are pawns in a ritualistic game, created to placate an ancient evil entity with the spilling of blood.
This is fully explained as Sigourney Weaver makes a late appearance to deliver an exposition that confirms for the audience just what the hell has been going on. Cabin In The Woods is the ultimate in Meta-Horror story telling, and although the marketing hinted at the movie offering something a little different … just how strange it goes is a highly pleasant surprise on first viewing.
5. // Barbarian (2022)
Barbarian’s trailer provided a perfect example of how to supply the audience with just enough of the story to get excited about the direction the film was headed, while leaving a distinct air of mystery as to what was going to provide the money-shot during the final act. And word of mouth among the horror community spread like wildfire ahead of its release, helping Barbarian become the must-see cult horror success of 2022.
The trailer focused on the awkward relationship between Georgina Campbell’s Tess and Bill Skarsgard’s Keith, two strangers who are thrown together for the night after both inadvertently booking the same Airbnb property. The viewers suspicions are immediately raised regarding the intentions of Keith, and whether he himself has orchestrated the situation.
In the trailer we are shown that the house appears to hold a secret, but leaves out any major clue as to exactly what lies beneath. This allows for a second half of the movie that no-one really saw coming, with the tone moving from one of suspense to the outrageous. Barbarian also see’s actor Justin Long (Jeepers Creepers / Drag Me To Hell) make a return to the genre in director Zach Creggor’s intense debut, exploring the themes of motherhood and abuse in it’s own unique way.
6. // Army Of The Dead (2021)
Netflix made a statement when they acquired the rights to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, the self-proclaimed spiritual successor to his breakthrough remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in 2004. The movie had been in development for over a decade before the streaming giant’s funds of a reported $90m, turned the ambitious zombie flick into a reality when it finally started shooting in 2019.
Snyder was given complete artistic freedom by Netflix to create the film exactly how he wanted to, a working relationship that he no doubt relished following the difficulties he faced with Warner Bros at the end of his DCEU tenure. The resulting movie he created is really a zombie film like no other. An intriguing blend of a typical undead horror with nods to Romero as well as The Walking Dead, and a heist movie in the vein of Oceans 11, all played out within a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas setting.
A unique combination for sure, and brought to life with Snyder’s natural flair and passion. The movie stars wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista who must navigate the zombified City of Sin, and who was riding high following his performances in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The narrative of The Army of the Dead is laid out perfectly with Snyder’s Watchmen style opening montage providing the back story of the apocalypse, while it perfectly mixes gore and humour throughout it’s ambitious run time.
7. // Malignant (2021)
Following his blockbusting turn with Aquaman for the DCEU, director James Wan’s next outing behind the camera would be with Malignant, an immediate return to the horror genre in which he made his name. Expectations were high for the latest film from the man who brought us the likes of Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring, especially when the intriguing trailer landed which suggested a dark and twisted fantasy type horror.
But quite what Malignant would deliver was certainly unexpected, uniquely proving once again that Wan was capable of taking a horror audience into uncharted waters. Annabelle Wallis (The Mummy) plays Madison, a pregnant woman in a deeply abusive relationship who is subjected to nightmarish visions of murder, which play out in reality just as she has for-seen them.
Wan introduces the supernatural element to his story from the very opening scene, and provides a tonally dark but visually stunning bombshell of a picture from start to finish. The film’s ultimate reveal is a twist of epic proportions that literally turns the movie on its head, providing an unforgettable climax to the story. Malignant provides elements of a detective tale mixed with a Psychological-Thriller and with some beautifully executed Body-Horror throughout. All wrapped up in a story that demands a second viewing once you know where it’s headed, and have unraveled the initial mystery of the narrative.
8. // Audition (1999)
Audition is the Japanese horror film that put the esteemed cult director Takashi Miike on the map, and was the movie that production company Omega Project would release following the success of their 1998 hit Ring. The marketing around it’s arrival would briefly touch on the Horror within, but its main objective seemed to focus on the premise and set up for the story. Which is that of a widowed business man holding auditions for a potential new wife, with the help of his movie producer friend.
Miike would create a perfectly slow-burning suspense movie, which does it’s best to make the viewer forget they are even watching a Horror. As he provides the seemingly middle of the road tale of an ageing man coming to terms with his place in a generationally changing Japan. The suspense builds after he meets and pursues his chosen potential future wife Asami (Eihi Shiina), and the viewer is slowly taken out their comfort zone in anticipation of what is to come.
Miike then builds a nightmarish Lynchian vision as his protagonist descends into a madness of sorts, while providing an unimaginable level of visual torture years before audiences were attuned to the likes of Saw and Hostel. The hints of a darkness to come nowhere near prepare you for just how weird this movie goes, with a complete tonal shift in the final act providing an unforgettably morbid climax.
Words by Mark Bates
kult-zilla.com 
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