Horror movie trailers can become creatively hollow endeavors, but some movies feature teasers that are made up of entirely original footage that does something different!
It’s so easy for a movie’s marketing to feel like exactly that — corporate advertising that’s designed to move a product. There is certainly no shortage of trailers that proceed to reveal the entire movie’s events and posters that are filled with floating heads and generic Photoshop. This may be the norm, but it doesn’t have to be, and there are plenty of directors who view teasers and trailers as short films in and of themselves. Teasers and trailers are a unique art form that can result in something really beautiful and special that sticks with the audience just as much as the movie itself. A good, creative trailer can truly be magic.
Accordingly, it’s always exciting when a teaser seeks to subvert and raise more questions than answers. In fact, there are some teasers and trailers that don’t feature any footage from their respective films. Now it’s not uncommon to shoot new footage for trailers in order to preserve secrets and obscure plot points (just don’t remove Ana de Armas from your finished film). However, these older examples shot footage specifically for teasers or trailers — sometimes even with large budgets, in the case of Terminator 2 — in order to deliver something a little different that allows the movie to speak for itself.
There are some interesting hybrid trailers that take an approach that’s similar to When A Stranger Calls, where the teaser footage is largely made up of real audiences’ frightened reactions to what they’re witnessing. Alternatively, George Romero’s Martin is a trailer where the titular character addresses the camera, explaining who he is and society’s preconceived notions on vampirism, while footage of his depraved actions accompanies his narration.
Collected below are ten of the most striking and impressive examples of teasers and trailers that are made up of completely original footage.
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise turned out seven films in ten years. The success of these movies — and perhaps, more accurately, Freddy Krueger’s cache — was enough to get people in seats. New Line knew that they would be making a third Nightmare on Elm Street movie before they had a story for what it would be about. Accordingly, it’s the perfect franchise to feature an original teaser that’s truly meant to generate anticipation. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’ teaser is more about celebrating Freddy’s return than the specifics of the movie. Director Chuck Russell orchestrates a teaser that doubles as an eerie, effective short film. It’s all original material, yet iconography that still manages to tease some of the movie’s ideas and setpieces. The teaser powerfully weaponizes the “Freddy’s Coming For You” nursery rhyme. It’s played like a macabre jack-in-the-box song that grows more twisted until it reaches its breaking point. The way in which the music crescendoes at the end is seriously so powerful. It’s the perfect way to get the audience amped for more Freddy.
Magic (1978)
The killer ventriloquist dummy trope can be incredibly effective when the right tone and theme are found. 1978’s Magic, directed by Richard Attenborough and written by William Goldman, is in a league of its own and delivers an eerie psychological character study that’s anchored by strong performances by Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margaret. Magic’s teaser is short, sweet, and infinitely effective. Fats, the dummy, fills the screen and delivers a foreboding nursery rhyme that’s a metaphor for the film. Fats’ delivery, plus the unnerving eye shift that concludes the ad, make this one an all-time classic and perfect proof of concept. In fact, so many children were scared by this ad airing on TV that it was pulled from some broadcasts after numerous complaints from parents. It’s rare for a teaser to be so effective that it gets banned from certain markets.
Child’s Play 2 (1990)
Don Mancini’s Child’s Play franchise deserves infinite respect for becoming an enduring horror IP that’s spanned seven films, a remake, and a three-season TV show. Child’s Play’s Chucky is a horror icon who naturally lends himself to meta experimentation and unconventional advertising. 2019’s Child’s Play remake, while a misfire, did at least feature clever posters where Chucky was killing the cast of Toy Story. Child’s Play 2 does a lot in terms of helping the franchise – and Chucky – establish their personalities. This is even present in the movie’s teaser trailer, which delivers short simplicity. The teaser is under a minute long and basically extends the gag and concept that’s depicted in the movie’s posters, in which Chucky beheads a frightened Jack from a jack-in-the-box. It’s a teaser that does a lot with a little and reinforces the “toy warfare“ angle that’s become a staple in Chucky’s marketing.
Visiting Hours (1982)
Visiting Hours is a Canadian slasher from the early ’80s that slips through the cracks for many. Visiting Hours certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s a decent psychological slasher that’s set in a hospital and pits a crazed killer against a TV journalist who survived their first encounter. Visiting Hours isn’t necessarily mandatory viewing (despite fun performances from William Shatner and Michael Ironside), but its original teaser trailer is. The concept for this teaser is so straightforward, yet brilliant, and it’s easy to see why the same idea was echoed in Visiting Hours’ poster. It’s the type of visual that’s enough of a “pitch” to sell a movie. A wide shot of a hospital is seen, with all of its many windows illuminated. One by one, the windows begin to dim until the remaining lights form the visual of a skull. Several variations of this ad were produced, some with footage of the film also cut in, but there are also several that exclusively feature this intelligent, original concept.
Poltergeist (1982)
Poltergeist set new standards for haunted house movies and still stands tall as one of the formative titles in this spooky subgenre. Poltergeist’s creative teaser trailer is exactly the sort of unconventional brilliance that one would expect from a Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg collaboration. Rather than show anything from the movie, Poltergeist’s teaser features interview snippets with paranormal experts and investigators who provide their opinions on supernatural phenomena. Photos of the film’s central Freeling family are seen, but it’s as if this is a segment from an Unsolved Mysteries episode. The teaser does a great job at creating both anticipation and terror over what the Freeling family experiences, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, fact and fiction.
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 certainly pushed the franchise into broader and more satirical territory. The same energy is present in the gonzo teaser that was put together for the franchise’s third film. It’s appreciated when a trailer just goes on vibes, rather than worrying if any of this makes sense – which it doesn’t. The teaser’s tongue-in-cheek nature indicates that production was aware of Leatherface’s notoriety at this point. The teaser begins in nature while serene music plays. Leatherface stands by a peaceful stream, with his back to the camera. Suddenly, an arm with elegant jeweled rings reaches out of the water, lifting an enormous chainsaw, which proceeds to be hurled into the air and grabbed by Leatherface. Then lightning strikes it because wouldn’t that also look pretty cool? All this has the energy of a Zord sequence from Power Rangers. The teaser tells us, “A legend lives forever,“ as if Leatherface is some eternal figure. It’s a bizarre spectacle that doesn’t show anything from Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, but it does celebrate Leatherface and his legacy.
It’s also worth pointing out that 2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake also made waves with an inventive teaser made up of original footage. The screen is pitch black for the majority of the short teaser, while terrifying sound design and pained screams echo through the darkness until it’s slashed through by a chainsaw. Both of these trailers are effective minimalist exercises.
Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
The Friday the 13th series is very hit and miss when it comes to consistency. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is an interesting inflection point for the franchise, and director Tom McLoughlin brings a hefty dose of comedy into the series. Jason Lives is the Friday the 13th movie that begins with Jason recreating James Bond’s signature gun barrel intro. It’s a very unserious film. This playful desire to experiment is also present in the movie’s teaser, which didn’t have much to tell its audience other than the fact that Jason would be back and for real this time. Accordingly, the teaser trailer for Jason Lives is a 90-second tone poem that travels through a cemetery, with the classic Harry Manfredini score, until Jason’s tombstone explodes and an empty casket opens. Jason Lives begins in a cemetery and resurrects Jason, but the teaser does its own thing when it comes to the specifics.
Alien 3 (1992)
It’s nothing new for a studio to rush out a sequel and put more value on reaching an arbitrary release date than on whether the film is actually finished and in its best shape. A lot of different ideas were pitched for Alien 3 before David Fincher’s film went into production. Alien 3 was greenlit with Sigourney Weaver set to return, but that was really all that had been solidified in 1991. Nevertheless, a teaser to create hype was released before a script was even finished. This leads to a teaser that doesn’t just feature completely original footage, but it teases a premise that has nothing at all to do with the finished film. Alien 3’s teaser intentionally references the original movie’s marketing materials with both its visuals and voiceover narration. A giant Xenomorph egg begins to look like a planet – perhaps Earth. The teaser boasts, “In 1979, we discovered that in space, no one can hear you scream. In 1992, we will discover on Earth, everyone can hear you scream.” This suggests that an early version of Alien 3 would have taken Ripley and the Xenomorphs to Earth, but none of that is present in the finished movie.
Psycho (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock directed more than 50 feature films and is responsible for some foundational suspense, thriller, and horror movies, with Psycho being chief among them. Norman Bates and the Psycho series continue to live on and find ways to reinvent themselves. The original Psycho remains an undeniable classic, and its trailer is a rather bewildering sales pitch. Psycho’s trailer is six-and-a-half minutes long, and it features Hitchcock himself as he walks the audience through the Bates Motel, as if he’s teasing the horrors that have happened at this crime scene. It’s a trailer that’s very in line with Hitchcock’s other ambitious trailers, but not something that would necessarily work nowadays, especially at that length. That being said, a Conjuring movie that adopted this approach for a teaser would definitely get people’s attention.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
With a third Avatar film ready to set 2025’s box office on fire, many people have remembered that it’s never smart to bet against James Cameron. The Avatar movies are redefining cinematic storytelling in remarkable ways, and it’s incredible to see how Cameron’s innovative desire to disrupt was still in full force in the ‘90s. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was a pivotal turning point in Cameron’s career, and he knew this going into production. Cameron wanted to create as much spectacle and anticipation for his sequel as possible. This led to a remarkable teaser trailer that was shot for $150,000 and allowed visionary Stan Winston to go for broke here. The teaser looks remarkably quaint in retrospect – it depicts a Terminator assembly line that showcases their unnerving metallic exoskeletons before one receives the T-800 Arnold Schwarzenegger makeover. Judgment Day is one of Cameron’s greatest achievements, and this teaser is nearly as significant, highlighting how he’s always willing to invest in himself.
Honorable Mentions: Jurassic Park, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Return to Horror High
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