10 Horror Movie Trailers Scarier Than The Actual Film
8. It Comes at Night
It Comes at Night is a textbook example of both a horror film and its enthusiastic audience being done dirty by distorted marketing. Honestly, you could blame every preview for setting up the same false expectations, but to keep things simple, we’ll examine what the 70-second “Official Trailer 2” did wrong.
It begins with a dog barking at something in the forest while its owners wonder why. Then, dissonant strings, birds chirping, and panicked discussions about intruders blend with images of the people at peace or in conflict as grisly violence, macabre figures, and on-screen sentiments about “paranoia,” “love,” “pain,” and “evil” are shown.
Beneath all the typical A24 artsy ambiguity is the irrefutable suggestion the picture will be about, well, something dreadful and dangerous coming at night to hurt everyone.
Technically, that’s accurate, but it’s not a monster, evil spirit, zombie, serial killer or any other external threat invading their space and sparking tension between them. Instead, it’s merely their mounting distrust of each other as they fight for post-apocalyptic survival that appears when the sun goes down.
If positioned accurately as an authentically unpredictable and harrowing study of human nature, It Comes at Night might’ve garnered better reviews and a sturdier legacy. Yet, it’s largely remembered for failing to deliver the tangible terror of its trailer(s).