10 Awesome Trailers The Movie Just Couldn't Live Up To

3. Psycho (1998)

The original Psycho has one of the best trailers of all time. Featuring Alfred Hitchcock giving us a tour around the Bates Motel set, he expertly builds up curiosity about his latest film (the whole marketing campaign was based about what the big secret was), teasing key events and the brutal murders without ever going too far into spoiler territory. Using no footage from the movie proper, it puts most modern trailers to shame. Given that Gus Van Sant's remake was shot-for-shot save for some choice additions (the murders come with a montage of dark images and Norman now masturbates over Marion, because that's what this film needs), it was surprising he didn't do a recreation of the trailer too. Instead we got a short ninety-second tease of Norman Bates featuring spooky flashes and burning film to make the movie, and not just the character, appear unhinged. Interestingly trying to keep the mystery of who the killer really was intact for those in the audience who don't know Norman Bates' dark secret (how?!), the trailer doesn't rely too heavily on the previous film's reputation, promoting a real psychological probing of the character of Norman. In a time when horror remakes weren't a monthly occurrence it was incredibly alluring. Sadly a shot-for-shot remake had all the creativity you'd expect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1qVzqMG4VQ