Less is more in new 'Poltergeist' trailer

Posted Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 11:32 AM Central

by John Couture

It's like a broken record on the site. Each week, there's a new trailer or ten and for the most part, we are left shaking our heads. It's as if the studios have decided that they would rather spend their money elsewhere instead of making the best trailer they can.

This sort of thinking is sad because, let's face it, the movie trailer is still the number one advertising vehicle to hook a potential audience. Whether it's on the big screen in front of another blockbuster or being featured on countess websites like this one, a film's trailer is the single best way to convince someone to come see your film. By using the current state of trailers as evidence, it would appear that the studios have forgotten this fact.

Case in point, today has given us a great teaching point when it comes to movie trailers and what works. I've long argued that less is more in most cases, especially when it comes to horror films. When the first trailer for Poltergeist hit back in February, Tim and I weren't impressed. It's bad enough that they were re-making this classic film, but then the trailer simply looked like they were trying to make fun of the original.

Check it out for yourself.

This was the perfect case of putting way too much in the trailer. This was the first trailer for the film and it would have probably best been served to be a teaser, but it was bloated and that only made the pain that much greater.

By contrast, a new trailer hit today and while it's a full-length trailer, it is about a half minute shorter then the first one and drives home the point that less is more sometimes. This trailer is the only one they should have released. Had I not already seen the first one, I would probably be more excited about this film, but alas, the cat is out of the bag on this one.

Poltergeist debuts in theaters on May 22.