10 Classic Film Trailers That Show Us How It's Done

9. Poltergeist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ytjaMfoF2M Let€™s get something straight right off the bat, okay? There€™s a lot of controversy, all very well-documented, about whether Poltergeist was directed by Tobe Hooper or by Steven Spielberg. If it€™s all the same to you, I€™d rather not get into that mess. All that matters here is that Spielberg€™s name is all over the movie (and this trailer), and it€™s obvious that the guys who made this trailer capitalized on Spielberg€™s name and style, and they did so really well. Spielberg€™s films of the €˜70s and €˜80s tended to focus on everyday people and what happens to such people when they€™re placed in extreme situations. The trailer begins to establish such a theme with the voice-over, which states, €œThe house looks just like the one next to it€€ while showing us a long row of identical cookie-cutter homes. The trailer goes on to show us a typical all-American family going about their normal, unremarkable lives. This could be my family, or it could be yours. Just when we€™re getting settled into this comfortable routine of normalcy, the musical score goes a tad darker as we watch little Carol Anne (Heather O€™Rourke) come up to the family TV and put her hands on the static-filled screen. She utters that famous line, €œThey€™re here,€ and everything goes to pot quickly. We see closets filled with glowing light, machines going crazy, and coffins rising from the ground. And here all these weird things are, intruding on and ruining family€™s life, a life that€™s just like YOURS AND MINE. This trailer is implying that these horrific events that we see unfolding could easily HAPPEN TO US, TOO!!! That€™s just what makes this film and trailer so terrifying. In this world, nobody is truly safe, not even nice, normal people like us€