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13. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
By IFC
on 06/25/2009
William Castle didn’t cut the same silhouette as Alfred Hitchcock, but he shared the same pride in cutting a trailer. Backlit with a cigar dangling from his lip as he perches in a director’s chair, Castle sits silently as the words “from the screen’s No. 1 shock expert” blaze across the screen. Of course, audiences had seen Castle turn around from his chair before -- just two years earlier in 1959, he could be seen touting “Percepto,” a device that gave random audience members a buzz in their seats as they watched “The Tingler.” But “Mr. Sardonicus” encouraged further audience participation with Castle unveiling the “Punishment Poll,” an opportunity for viewers to choose the ending of the film at the close of the second act.
Gleefully co-opting stock footage of Roman gladiators and the French Revolution dramas to describe how the “thumbs up, thumbs down” system of voting was going to work, Castle goes on to blur Mr. Sardonicus’ face from the subsequent scenes of the film, not wanting to taint the voting process. As director Stuart Gordon recounts over at Trailers From Hell, the whole thing was a con, but only a showman like Castle could pull it off. --Stephen Saito
I guess you guys haven't seen the trailer for The Hughes Bros.'s Dead Presidents, huh? What about Forest Gump? I think those are the 2 greatest of all time. Gump is better than the movie. And Dead Prez is the best ever.
Oh... what about the SW Ep 1 teaser? Maybe you should call this the best film trailers on YouTube! LOL. Dead Prez is probably too hard for you to locate.
I think The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and 300 should be included!
Clerks? No love for the Clerks trailer? Sigh.
Honorable mention for the Grindhouse fake trailers? "Don't" was brilliant.
Great list, by the way. Thanks for including 'Man Who Wasn't There'
Seriously? We have to click 50 times just to get the damn list? No thanks.
Like clicking 50 times is soooo hard, right? But you guys forgot about There Will Be Blood!!
50 PAGES?!!! Get back to work researching how to post an article. No Digg for you.
50 PAGES?!!! Get back to work researching how to post an article. No Digg for you.
GREAT article and flawless pick for #1. I actually did a lil piece on that trailer at our own movie blog, so I'm elated to see as your top pick. Yay trailers!