10 Horror Movie Trailers Scarier Than The Actual Film
These trailers promised MUCH scarier films!
There are many horror movie trailers that accurately foreshadow how frightening their respective films will be.
For example, look at the previews for newer gems such as Longlegs, Talk to Me, and 2013’s Evil Dead, as well as the official teasers for older staples such The Ring, Candyman, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Exorcist.
Just as often, however, a horror film’s marketing misleads prospective viewers by promising an endurance test significantly scarier than the picture it’s promoting.
Now, a trailer’s job is obviously to get as many people into the theatre as possible, so it’s no surprise that the teams who’re creating them will use any tactics necessary – regarding editing, music, voiceovers, and other stylistic choices – to make them seem and look tantalisingly terrifying.
Plus, horror is highly subjective, so different audiences will inevitably get different things out of the same piece of cinema.
Nevertheless, and as the following 10 examples prove, it can be extremely frustrating and disappointing when a horror movie trailer is undeniably scarier than the actual film.
Even if they’re still good for other reasons – which some of them certainly are – these feature-length experiences still fall short of fully realising the creepiness that was advertised beforehand.
(Spoilers ahead, of course.)
10. When a Stranger Calls (1979)
The original When a Stranger Calls has one of the most masterfully unsettling horror openings of all time.
It centers on good-natured babysitter Jill Johnson as she’s harassed by a mysterious caller – later revealed to be Curt Duncan – who keeps asking, “Have you checked the children?” Soon, the police tell her that the calls are “coming from inside the house” and that said caller killed the kids she's supposed to protect.
Clearly, it was smart for the official trailer to showcase an abridged version of this scene alongside an ominous score, foreboding narration, and a couple of positive pull quotes lifted from professional reviews.
As it turns out, though, the preview was also cunningly constructed because it avoided exposing how underwhelmingly monotonous When a Stranger Calls becomes as soon as the petrifying prologue is over.
In fact, the bulk of the movie abandons the unnerving tone and narrative aftermath of Jill’s traumatizing night to focus on two other people – citizen Tracy Fuller and detective John Clifford – hunting Duncan after he escapes from a mental health facility. It’s basically a disinteresting police investigation for the entire middle hour, with Duncan’s prior threateningness being swapped for sympathetic timidness.
Eventually, Jill and Duncan get the confrontation viewers have been waiting for, and the film’s initial edginess returns. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late.