10 Amazing Trailers That Tricked You Into Seeing Terrible Horror Movies

7. Rings

Rings Movie
Paramount Pictures

Hollywood really wanted to make The Ring a franchise, and fell at the first hurdle. Unlike its Japanese counterpart which pumped out sequel, after sequel, after crossover to a welcoming audience, the American version petered out after an impressive first movie.

Still, that original remake was so beloved that it kept the series and lead villain Samara in the minds of fans eager to see more. Queue Rings, a soft-reboot of the franchise that promised to update the concept for a modern audience.

Though the effects looked a little bit ropey, the trailer seemed very promising. Shots of the cursed video tape going viral, being played on airplanes and in chained e-mails, teased a larger, almost apocalyptic scale compared to the character-driven approach of previous movies. Combine that with the spooky whispers repeating "seven days" over and over, and you had a suitably exciting trailer.

Sadly, those intriguing concepts teased by the trailer only made up a tiny part of the movie. In fact, the trailer pretty much is the film. Without any surprises, Rings was little more than a boring old retread.

Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.