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8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
By IFC
on 06/25/2009
Most horror film trailers play coy with details. They know what audiences go to horror movies to see, and they don't give that sort of stuff away for free. Not so for the trailer to the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Where others hint, it wallows, shoving the viewer's face into its gruesome imagery with almost sadistic pleasure, as if Leatherface himself edited the spot.
There's no discernible logic to the way shots are strung together and connected with recurring images of flashbulb and viscera, which only serves to underscore the senseless and incomprehensible nature of the titular crime. The terror comes in flashes: meat hooks, mallets, bones, decomposing corpses and, of course, chainsaws, all punctuated by the frequent and all-too-convincing shrieks of the female cast members. The blood-drenched visuals contrast with a measured voiceover stating simply but insistently that "what happened was true," a far cry from the more declamatory aural stylings from Don LaFontaine and his imitators. He promises that the film is "just as real, just as close, just as terrifying as being there." It's true of the trailer as well; when it's all over after one hundred frenzied seconds, the audience has gone through nearly as much of an ordeal as the onscreen participants. --Matt Singer
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!