10. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
THE. FEEL. BAD. MOVIE. OF. CHRISTMAS. Must anything more be said? The teaser for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is as explosive and bold as trailers come. All that plays on the soundtrack is Karen O’s cover of “Immigrant Song,” with her howls serving as an anguished wail or a battle cry. Could be either; could be both. All that’s clear is this a punk-rock, visceral thriller that’s prepared to throw tradition out the window and embrace indulgence. David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo spelled out its unapologetic intentions from the get-go and told us that those without a healthy curiosity for cinematic sadomasochism need not apply. (Anna Swanson)
9. Dunkirk (Trailer #2)
If I’ve learned anything about trailers over the past ten years, it’s that Christopher Nolan isn’t afraid of ramping up the intensity dial to about an eleven. From the Inception trailer that nearly burst both of my eardrums, to the Interstellar trailer which gave me a week-long existential crisis, this trailer is no exception in the suspense department. From the literal ticking time-bomb of a soundtrack to the zooming Spitfires (side-note: Tom Hardy in that uniform? Wow), this trailer is by far one of the best of the decade. I’ve never been sky-diving, but I’m convinced the adrenaline rush I get from watching this has it beat. (Aurora Amidon)
8. Mad Max: Fury Road (Trailer #1)
Considering we ranked George Miller’s masterpiece on steroids our #1 film of the decade, the trailer editor here had prime content to work with—and absolutely delivered, putting together a tantalizing taste of the film’s gorgeous visuals, jaw-dropping stunts, and rollercoaster-like pacing that swaggers with the same panache as the film itself. Fury Road has so much going for it that this effective trailer leaves some of the actual film’s greatest accomplishments on the cutting room floor—namely, any indication that all this eye-candy is strung together with decent character arcs and a damn fine plot. Instead, these revelations are left as a wonderful surprise to be discovered upon viewing the feature film. The best trailers know that when you’ve got a whole lot of great stuff to work with, you don’t have to bring the full arsenal to the table. (Ciara Wardlow)
7. Logan (“Hurt” Trailer)
Johnny Cash’s melancholic cover of Nine Inch Nails’ song “Hurt” was released not long before his death; it was an unusual choice to overlay the trailer for an X-Men film, which were usually known for being bombastic and showy. Riding the success of Deadpool as the first commercially successful R-Rated superhero film, this gritty, dark trailer showed a bitter, Western-esque send-off to Wolverine and Professor X, roles they had been playing for 17 years and 6 films (not counting the First Class reboots). Fans had been calling for an Old Man Logan film for years, and the higher rating was needed to plumb the true depths of the violence and trauma associated with the iconic X-Man. The trailer also introduced Daphne Keen as X-23/Laura (though filmmakers were reluctant to confirm that at the time), as a point of hope for the hopeless mutants, last in a world that had left them behind. Quick shots match the strum of Johnny Cash’s guitar in a combination of violence and vulnerability that was the perfect choice for the final installment of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart’s tenure in the X-franchise. (Sam Olthof)
6. Hereditary
Even for easier scares like myself, it’s hard to look away from the Hereditary trailer. From that first zoom into the Graham’s diorama house to that now-iconic silent scream from Toni Colette, it’s chock full of unsettling imagery that’s so tightly edited you can’t help but get sucked into it all. Sure, you nearly see a pigeon get decapitated with child scissors. And there’s just so many ants. But combined with that shot of the A24 logo embedded in the dirt? That cool score of strings plucked a million different ways? All of those transitions built around the tongue click? Totally worth the nightmares, if that’s ever a concern. (Christina Smith)
5. Hail, Caesar! (Trailer #2)
Let me start off by saying that I love the Coen brothers. That said, Hail, Caesar! is not exactly my favorite of their films. But while I might not be rushing to rewatch the whole thing any time soon, the film’s delightful second trailer is one I find myself returning to every once in a while for a quick pick-me-up. It holds the pretense of stuffy drama flick complete with lofty orchestral swells just long enough to sweeten the pay-off of the punchline—”would that it t’were so simple,” in a hilariously mangled sort of twang—without dragging out the joke unnecessarily. The scene-as-trailer approach is still a relatively rare breed, but when done well it’s a force to be reckoned with. The way the intertitles interact with well-meaning TV cowboy Hobie Doyle’s hopeless attempts to fit in with European auteur Laurence Laurentz’s prestige picture (“Coming Sooner or Later”… “Coming Later”) is a delightful touch, and the grand finale of star-studded montage cut to the tune of their “would that it t’were so simple”-ing back and forth wraps the whole package in a delightful bow. (Ciara Wardlow)
4. The Wolf of Wall Street
MORE. MORE. MORE. The intertitles in the trailer for Martin Scorscese’s rip-roaring tale of greed and gluttony are reflective of the outlook of the characters at the heart of its story, but also accurately describes how you feel after watching this veritable sports car of a trailer—fast, loud, luxurious, and alluringly shiny. “More!” is precisely what I want to demand of the screen like a bratty toddler. The fact that Scorsese absolutely succeeds in delivering all this trailer promises in the film itself is just the cherry on top. (Ciara Wardlow)
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Theatrical Trailer)
If you ever need a dose of pure joy, let me recommend watching John Boyega’s reaction to the trailer for The Force Awakens. He squeals. He jumps over a couch. It’s pretty adorable. It also captures what was so smart about the marketing campaign around The Force Awakens. For one, it targeted that pent up excitement built over years of waiting, of craving something new and good in this universe. It also gave fans a chance to see some fresh faces mixed in with the familiar, introducing us to a new generation of force-users and rebels without giving too much away about them just yet. As a result, every new image and sound byte from the film merited dissection, and watching, and rewatching, with this final trailer serving as the culmination of all of that strategy. And by all accounts it pays off; it’s still one of the most viewed trailers of all time, and it balances that mix of old and new to great effect, from that nostalgic shot of Rey and BB-8 walking into a desert sunset to that killer variation on the force theme playing throughout. In short, this is a Star Wars trailer for an age of reaction videos and shot-by-shot breakdowns, and it does its job perfectly: it brings out hype of the couch-vaulting kind. (Christina Smith)
2. Inception
When it comes to movie trailers we can divide recent history into two periods, before Inception and after Inception. It BRAAM!’d its way into our brains like a bona fide dream thief. The rest of the film industry took note and proceeded to BRAAM at us until the BRAAMs lost all power to incite any emotion besides annoyance. But putting aside the 1,001 imitations that came later, Inception‘s theatrical trailer, which followed on the utterly opaque but effectively buzz-stirring teaser (a Christopher Nolan specialty) is an absolute masterwork of cinematic promotion. It offers up nuggets of tantalizing information to sink your teeth into—dream sharing! dream stealing!! post-collegiate employment!—while giving almost nothing away. The ever-so-slightly flirtatious post-title card punchline (“you mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling”) even managed to launch one of the biggest ‘ships a single-film fandom has ever seen. Watching this trailer for the first time blew my adolescent mind. It was arguably the gateway drug that led me to where I am today, and looking at the bigger picture, made a significant impact on trailer-making for years afterward. If this list was being ranked solely based on influence, Inception would be ranked first by a mile, and even as-is is a very, very close second. (Ciara Wardlow)
1. The Social Network
When I first saw the trailer for The Social Network, I was twelve years old. Not to be dramatic, but sitting there and watching an entire Shakespearean tragedy unfold before my eyes over the span of two minutes and twenty-two seconds was on par with hearing “Bohemian Rhapsody” or eating tacos for the first time. I’m not even sure how they did it, but the masterminds behind this trailer managed to pack every single Fincher-ism into a fast-paced trailer that’s essentially over before you can say “chicken cannibalism,” (impossibly-cool color palettes, bad-ass tracking shots, anarchy, sociopathy, to name a few). Not to mention, the Scala & Kolacny cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” offers the perfect building of tension for the fleeting masterpiece, while its lyrics give us a sneaky, subtle commentary on the Zuck himself (notice the first time we actually catch a glimpse of him is over the lyrics “I wish I was special.” God, this movie really does stand the test of time, doesn’t it?) In short, the 2010s saw the first-ever face-transplant, President Obama’s re-election… and this trailer. As the decade comes to a close, I’ve heard a few people say that The Social Network is a movie that defines it. And, today, it seems that that couldn’t be truer. Aaron Sorkin’s snappy dialogue perfectly encapsulates the narcissism of the ivy-league inventors of Facebook, while Fincher’s thrilling directing style brings it to its boiling point with stakes of epic proportions. Yes, it seems, in retrospect, that Facebook was probably a bad thing, and maybe the world is crumbling around us, but if it wasn’t for Mark Zuckerburg, we wouldn’t have this trailer. So, thank you, Mark, for being responsible for exactly one non-terrible thing. (Aurora Amidon)
Related Topics: Ava DuVernay, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Decade Rewind, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Paul Thomas Anderson
