12 Worst Marketed Movies Of 2018

3. The Strangers: Prey At Night

The first rule of cynical movie marketing? If all else fails, just use some 80s pop music, because everyone loves that, right?

In this half-baked horror's mild defense, Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is actually featured in the film's best scene, but the use of Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" in the trailer just feels like a pandering attempt to compensate for how flat the actual movie mostly is.

The second half of the trailer makes the film looks so much more action-packed and exciting than it actually is, while it's instead a slower, more suspense-focused film (and a not-good one at that).

Using popular music to convince people that a product is worthwhile is a classic feat of marketing manipulation, and in this case it worked, with the film grossing $30 million against a mere $5 million budget.