Jonathan Melville: It’s time to trash movie trailers

By Jonathan Melville
Published on 07/06/2012 14:55

YOU could hardly miss the fact that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, a sort-of prequel to 1979’s Alien starring Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace, opened in Edinburgh cinemas last week.

What with the teaser trailers, viral videos, sneak-peek photos and other hints at what the plot may or may not hold, this was a film that raised viewer expectations into the stratosphere, which is perhaps apt for sci-fi.

As a fan of the first two films in the Alien franchise, I followed the PR campaign as far as I could, until it felt as if I’d seen much of the first half of the film before stepping into the cinema.

Prometheus is by no means bad – it looks gorgeous and the cast all try their best to look as perplexed as the audience while Fassbender steals the show – it just wan’t quite what I expected from the hype.

Another film that could suffer from hype, or at least a very revealing trailer, is William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, which opens this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

When announced, I watched some of the trailer online but had to stop as it was giving away most of the film.

Then, while waiting for Prometheus to start at the cinema, the Killer Joe trailer was shown in full and I couldn’t avoid it. So much for viewer choice.

Until film companies stop trying to ruin their own products through trailers we all need to be more vigilant. Or stick our fingers in our ears before the movie starts.

As for the Prometheus sequel, I’ll probably go and see it, though my suggestion is to get rid of everyone else, keep Fassbender and call the film David.

@jon_melville

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