Scary Trailer, Lousy Movie: The Second Coming.

Well, here we go again, delving into the sadistic mind of the big-shot Hollywood producer who thinks that if his movie is about as scary as a bag of blueberry Jell-O, you might as well have Mr. and Mrs. Joe Schmoe from Kokomo get freaked out by the trailer, at least. If it works for a week or two, great. Then, the word gets out.... Hey, how do you think Steven Seagal movies did so well their first weeks out: great trailers.

Let's dig into the first one; Tourist Trap came out in 1979 and for what it was worth, the flick had some shocks here and there but nothing very memorable. When Chuck Conners is your mad killer, you might need more than a scary trailer. Though I do remember this one freaking me out quite nicely while I was innocently watching afternoon TV.

As a result, I've hated mannequins ever since.



Amityville 3-D marked a turning point in the Amityville series of films...from bad to worse. "The technology of terror" - ooh, scary!



Any movie with the late, great Anthony Perkins should be scary, shouldn't it? Not if it isn't the first Psycho or if it's any other movie wherein he'e apeing Norman Bates again. And especially not if it's Edge of Sanity. They tried, though.



They told the story of The Exorcist within the first movie. Why make a sequel? money, dear reader - MONEY. That's the only reason Exorcist II: The Heretic was made, then. But the only problem with that is - it didn't make money.



A bit of history here: the movie Magic came out in 1978 and though it was a lackluster psychological drama (NOT a horror movie), it did gain a notoriety of sorts in that the first commercial for its initial release scared nearly every defenseless child who saw it out of their wits (and yes, I proudly raise my hand in that company). I remember flipping out, changing the channel and/or running out of the room, hands over my ears whenever it came on. Again, the movie itself does not contain a murderous ventiloquist dummy on a rampage, so caveat emptor.

And for those of you who were scared you-know-what-less when this commercial first came out, I apologize...and you may not want to click the arrow on this one (...unless you're just a masochist).



Welp, that'll do 'er for this time out. Until I find some more examples of falseness in advertising, go rent something good, willya?

Dope out.

-TGWD