Movie Trailers that Give Away the Ending

First of all, let me say Happy October, faithful readers! Can you believe it's finally here? Let's get to the semi-quasi-Halloween-related weekly posts!

 So I just saw this trailer for a horror movie called The Bay:


And while I roll my eyes at almost every "found footage film" these days, it was the ending of this trailer that caught my attention. It's not that the final few seconds of this trailer are amazing or even original -- movie trailer viewers expect this kind of stinger these days -- but it reminded me of a horror movie trailer I saw a few years ago:



Now, Quarantine wasn't a horrible film, but this trailer is particularly notorious because ***spoiler alert*** the last shot in the trailer is, in fact, the last shot of the film. Yup. Quarantine ends with that girl getting dragged off into the darkness. It's not a very good ending, but it's what you can expect from the run-of-the-mill found footage films. But why would the trailer makers decide to spoil the ending like that? Probably because it's one of the few memorable shots in the film. However, the ending loses 86% of its power if you've seen the trailer already.

And I have a feeling that the last shot of The Bay trailer is the same story. I haven't seen it yet, so technically that isn't a spoiler, but I'm willing to bet that the final shot of that woman in the car with the zombie-like creature popping up is how the film ends. Anyone want to take me up on that bet?

Anyway, The Bay trailer and its possible relationship to Quarantine led me to think about other movie trailers that give away the ending. Needless to say, this post deserves this kind of disclaimer:

*****WARNING! THIS POST WILL DISCUSS MOVIE TRAILERS THAT GIVE AWAY THE ENDING (AS YOU SHOULD EXPECT FROM THE TITLE OF THIS POST). THEREFORE, THERE IS A STANDING SPOILER ALERT FOR THE REST OF THIS POST!*****

Now, I haven't seen Apparition yet (I've been cautioned by a couple of friends to avoid it, in fact), but I was told that, once again, the last clip of the trailer is, in fact, how the movie ends. Take a look:



So the film apparently ends with a bunch of zombie hands groping Ashley Greene. But the filmmakers didn't stop there; they also spoiled the ending in the poster.

Smooth.

Now, lest you think that this spoiler-trailer-y thing only applies to horror films. Check out this family-friendly classic from the 90s:



Yup. The most iconic shot of Free Willy is, in fact, the moment at the end of the movie when the killer whale is let loose on the open waters once more. And, once again, it's spoiled by the poster as well as the trailer. But, I guess with a title like "Free Willy," you can probably guess that Willy is going to be free at some point in the film.

Back to horror:



Now, I like Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, but I was disappointed by how many deaths were spoiled in the trailer. There are seven people in that group of teens, and the trailer shows how six of them are killed. "But, The Former 786," you exclaim loudly, "this trailer doesn't give away the ending! Why would you include it on this post?" A fair question, faithful reader. My answer is that it's my blog and I can do what I want. Boo-yah.

But let's back to the point at hand:



To be honest, Carrie comes from a time when people were just starting to understand what a movie trailer should be. In the early days of film until about the mid-60s, movie trailers were much longer, much more boring and gave away almost the entire plot of the movie. Still, this movie would have been much more effective on viewers if they didn't know that a blood-soaked Carrie went telekinetically berserk on a room full of prom goers. However, if it wasn't for that part of the trailer, a lot of men probably wouldn't have gone to see it because it would just look like an angsty awkward teen girl film.


But Carrie doesn't give away the stinger ending where ***do I really need to say "spoiler alert" again?*** Carrie's dead hand shoots up from her grave and grabs Sue's arm, So it doesn't give away everything -- that honor belongs to this movie trailer:



Let me just run through how this trailer would play out with someone that hasn't seen the movie yet:

"Yikes! I wonder if he survives that plane crash! Oh. . .I guess he does."

"Hmmm. I wonder if a guy like Tom Hanks could survive on an island like that. Oh. . .I guess he can."

"Ha! He made fire."

"Whoa! He's skinny! I wonder if he's going to try and get off that island. Oh. . .I guess he does."

"I wonder how long he was on that island for. Oh. . .four years."

"And I guess since that guy on the plane is talking to him about getting off the island. . .he must get off the island at some point. Probably four years after he got there."

"It'd probably be hard to adjust to normal life after being on a desert island for four years. Yup. I was right." 

"Oh yeah! Helen Hunt! I wonder if they're going to work out. Well. . .based on her new haircut, probably not."

And then the end of the trailer shows us the very last shot of the film, with Tom Hanks standing at the crossroads, pondering what to do with his life. But Robert Zemeckis probably figured it didn't matter if he gave away the ENTIRE PLOT in the trailer, because people would go see it anyway. And they did.

So, there you have it. These are just a few of the movie trailers that ruin the ending of a film. I'm sure there are others, but I didn't want to dig around too much more on this subject. I don't like getting spoilers for movies I haven't seen. Like that time, years ago, when I mentioned that I wanted to see The Sixth Sense to someone else who hadn't seen the movie (thinking I was safe) and he replied, "Oh, is that the movie where Bruce Willis has a big ol' shotgun wound in his back at the end and you find out he's been dead the whole time?". . . . .

Jerk.

Top 5 Re-cut/Mashup Movie Trailers

Movie trailers are a bunch of teases and flirts.

They give you just enough information to peak your interest, but they don't tell you everything you need to know before you get into the relationship. Sometimes movie trailers even lie to the audience. For example, sometimes they'll use a song that isn't to be found anywhere on the actual movie soundtrack. Or, in some cases, editors will put a line or scene next to another, when, in the actual film, those lines/moments are nowhere near each other. This is all to get an emotional response from the audience and hopefully draw them to the theaters, but it is still a form of deception.

When making a movie trailer you can make it look pretty much how you want, so it's no surprise that, five years ago or so, a bunch of re-cut movie trailers flooded the internet. People would take movie trailers we know and love, and edit them with different lines, music, and even scenes to make them look like a different genre of movie. Some say that this is because of the availability of consumer-level digital video editing suites, but I think it's because people were tired of being lied to and they wanted to show movie trailers for the deceptive teases that they are!

And as I was discussing mashup trailers with a friend recently, I realized that, while I have seen many of these re-cut trailers and have enjoyed 16.8% of them, I didn't have any here on Slice of Fried Gold. There are a TON of these trailers out there, but I wanted to make sure that I showed you, my faithful readers, the best ones that are out there.

So without further ado, I present to you the top five re-cut/mashup trailers on the internet:


#5 - West Side Story


Why it's on the list: I love zombie movies and zombie-related things. Plus, with only the addition of some title cards and a few simple special effects, the creators of this mashup made this cheesy musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet look like 28 Days Later. Also, this re-cut trailer proves that creepy sound effects and quick cuts (even of people dancing) makes people feel uneasy. However, I think the actual West Side Story movie makes people uneasy anyway, so. . .



#4 - Toy Story/The Dark Knight


Why it's on the list: This trailer reminds me of when, as a kid, I used to mute Sesame Street and turn on the radio to see if I could make the lips on the TV match up to the music. It didn't always work, but one time I did successfully "make" a Muppet sing the lyrics to "Unskinny Bop" by Poison. The creators of this mashup did a spectacular job of making Buzz Lightyear and Woody look like they were reciting lines from The Dark Knight. And the music and sound effects match up quite well, as well. A lot of work went into this mashup, and it shows.



#3 - Sleepless in Seattle


Why it's on the list: When you ask someone to think of a romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle is one of the first ones they're going to name. It's everything a romantic comedy should be, so it's fun to see it played up as a thriller. Watching Meg Ryan creepily lurk and stalk Tom Hanks and his son is particularly enjoyable. If this was the actual trailer, I probably would have seen this film in theaters. And I must say that the clips of the blue-filtered fire crawling across the ceiling is a touch of genius.



#2 - Mary Poppins (Scary Mary)


Why it's on the list: I always thought that the creepiest part of Mary Poppins is when that old man tries to steal Michael Banks' money and they run away and end up in that back alley, but this trailer proves otherwise. I never realized how supernatural this movie was until I saw this re-cut trailer. Now I realize that Mary Poppins is just as creepy as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.This one comes in ahead of the others because it manages to make the original movie look scary while only using clips from the original movie - only some music, color changes and title cards are added. This one is genuinely creepy.



#1 - The Shining


Why it's on the list: While this wasn't the first re-cut trailer, this was the one that opened the floodgates. In October 2005 a contest was held by the Association of Independent Creative Editors to see who could come up with the best genre-bending trailer and this one won - and I agree with that decision. I applaud Robert Ryang for making this trailer that is completely different from the movie. And while this trailer suffers from sub-par voiceover work (it doesn't sound authentic), the use of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" would cover a multitude of sins.



So there you go. I know there is a slew of other mashups and re-cut trailers out there, but these are the ones that I feel were worth your time. And I'm all about not wasting your time.