These horror trailers took the saying, "show, don't tell" way too literally.
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00:00Cutting together a film trailer is a very difficult job. Essentially, you need to cut
00:04down an entire film into a one- or two-minute trailer that encourages viewers to see it.
00:09However, executing the perfect teaser is extra difficult when the genre is horror.
00:14So what do most horror trailers do? They show everything! Every jump scare is revealed,
00:20every gory scene is on full display, every twist is spoiled, and sometimes even the ending is
00:26ruined. Before you ask, of course, major spoilers are ahead, so beware if any of these are on your
00:32to-watch list. Also, I apologize for my voice, I am a little bit sick, but so are these horror
00:38movie trailers that went and spoiled the plots of their movies. So yeah, that hangs together,
00:43let's go! I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 horror movie trailers that gave away
00:47the entire plot. Number 10, What Lies Beneath. In Robert Zemeckis' supernatural thriller What
00:53Lies Beneath, Norman and Claire Spencer are a happily married couple until their life is turned
00:59upside down after a ghostly encounter. For the first half of the movie, Claire suspects that her
01:04neighbor murdered his wife and the spirit is seeking vengeance, although this turns out to
01:09be a red herring. In reality, the ghost belongs to a college student called Madison who had an
01:14affair with Norman. When Madison was about to make the affair public, Norman murdered her.
01:20Now that Claire knows the truth, Norman is forced to kill her too. Because the film spends so much
01:25time setting up the neighbor as the killer, the big reveal is made far more shocking,
01:30at least it would have been if you hadn't seen the trailer. The teaser makes it so abundantly
01:34clear that Norman is the murderer, it doesn't even feel like it's meant to be a plot twist.
01:38In fact, most of the promos don't even mention the neighbors. Although the film has a lot of
01:42great jump scares and clever misdirection, all of this was pretty much ruined for anybody who
01:47saw the trailer. Number nine, Get Out. In Get Out, a black man called Chris is anxious about
01:53meeting the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage. When he arrives at their family estate,
01:58the Armitages appear friendly on the surface, but Chris suspects that they're hiding a terrible
02:03secret. Get Out was critically acclaimed, smashed it at the box office, and even snagged an Oscar
02:08for Best Original Screenplay, which is a massive rarity in the horror genre. But if you watched
02:13the trailer, you'd assume Get Out was horror schlock, instead of an unnerving psychological
02:18thriller. Not only does the teaser make the film look generic, it gives away way too much.
02:23In several shots, we see Rose's father Dean donning a surgical mask and prepping his medical
02:28tools, while Chris is tied up. Although the viewer couldn't guess what sort of procedure
02:33Dean is going to perform on Chris, it's disappointing the trailer felt like including
02:37these clips. Even though first-time viewers might assume that the Armitage family holds
02:41ill will towards Chris, you'd still assume that Rose has genuine feelings for him. That is,
02:47unless you saw the trailer where she has a rifle train on his head, so that one's out of the bag.
02:528. Morgan
02:54In Luke Scott's film debut, a bunch of scientists make an artificial human called Morgan from
02:59scratch. When her intelligence and abilities grow exponentially, the team worry they won't
03:04be able to stop her if she decides to turn against them. The first trailer is a perfect
03:08example of how to sell a horror film. The premise is clear, the titular character comes
03:12across as intriguing without giving too much away. There is mention of Morgan causing a
03:17dangerous incident, but we aren't told or shown the exact details. More importantly,
03:23the trailer makes it sound like Morgan is really a force to be reckoned with without
03:27actually showing us what she looks like. Unfortunately, the second trailer shows
03:31everything the story has to offer, discarding all intrigue and subtlety. We see Morgan's face,
03:37causing the character to lose her mystique. The incident which was hinted at in the initial
03:41promo was revealed in the second trailer clear as day. And not only does it show
03:45Morgan attacking and killing people, it reveals that the character has psychic powers.
03:50Unfortunately, if you've seen this preview,
03:52you can probably work out everything that's going to happen in the film beat for beat.
03:567. Hereditary
03:58Hereditary begins with Annie dealing with the death of her estranged mother.
04:02As she tries to pick up the pieces, she suffers another personal tragedy that turns her entire
04:07life upside down. As scary as Ari Aster's film is, Hereditary is far more terrifying if you watch
04:12the whole thing not knowing what's coming around every subsequent corner. It's a long movie,
04:17and the scares are spread out, but each one is totally worth it since this is one of the
04:22few horror dramas that takes its time developing the story and characters. Unfortunately,
04:27the trailer was cut in a way so the film looks like a jump scare frenzy. On top of that,
04:32it showed the most unnerving moments, including one of the main characters being burnt to death.
04:38You also see Censored smacking their head off the attic door,
04:41spoiling one of the most terrifying shots in the entire movie.
04:44Fortunately, most of these shots, but not all of them, are at least revealed in jump cuts,
04:48so maybe you won't understand what's happening without context. That said,
04:52it's still way better to go in cult.
04:546. The Devil's Advocate
04:56In The Devil's Advocate, ruthless lawyer Kevin Lomax wins a seemingly unwinnable case,
05:02inspiring the world's biggest law firm to accept him into their ranks. In his new job,
05:06he's tutored by the firm head, John Milton, who promises to change Lomax's life for the better.
05:12Although he earns more money than he can spend,
05:14Lomax becomes wary of Milton's hedonistic lifestyle. Over time,
05:18Lomax realizes he has to get away from the law firm before it destroys him body and soul.
05:24Even though there are hints Milton is more than he lets on,
05:27it's not revealed until the final act that he is the devil himself.
05:31But in the trailer, this fact is made unmistakably clear.
05:34We see him cursing God, talking about how he's had so many names over the ages,
05:39and how he's been around, quote, since the whole thing began.
05:43Just to ensure the viewer doesn't misinterpret Milton of being poetic with his words,
05:47we see him boiling holy water with his finger.
05:50It's a solid film, but if you've seen the trailer, there's no surprises to be seen.
05:545. From Dusk Till Dawn
05:56From Dusk Till Dawn follows a pair of bank robbers who go on the run
06:00after one of them kills a bank clerk. To evade the police, the duo take a family hostage and
06:05force the father to drive them all across the Mexican border. After passing through,
06:09they hide out in a strip club, only to learn the residents are vampires.
06:14What makes this discovery all the more mind-blowing is that the first half of the movie
06:18plays out like a straight action drama. There's no hint whatsoever the movie's
06:22going to take a supernatural turn, but at the 50-minute mark, vampires pop up,
06:27and the rest of the movie turns into an undead gore-fest.
06:30Of course, anybody who caught clips of the movie beforehand knew what was coming.
06:34Not only does the teaser show all sorts of vampiric monsters,
06:38it spoils the best shots, kills, and one-liners.
06:42If you keep your eyes peeled, you can see one shot depicting several characters
06:46escaping from the strip club during the day, proving that they survived the night.
06:51So not only does the trailer spoil the big surprise, it spoils who makes it out alive!
06:564. Quarantine
06:58Wreck was a Spanish fan footage horror released in 2007. It was a smash hit,
07:02which inspired an American remake only one year later called Quarantine.
07:07The film follows a TV reporter called Angela and her camera operator getting trapped in a
07:12building that's been quarantined by the CDC. After a bit of exploring, they discover the
07:16residents have been turned into murderous mutants after being infected by a virus.
07:22The trailer shows many shots you'd expect,
07:24like Angela being chased and attacked by the infected.
07:27The very last shot shows Angela desperately trying to crawl to safety
07:31before being dragged into the darkness by one of the creatures.
07:35This shot became so iconic it was used for the movie's poster.
07:39What people may not have realized upon seeing this shot in the trailer is that it's actually
07:43the shot from the very end of the movie. Once Angela is dragged away, that's it. Credits roll.
07:49It's completely understandable that a trailer highlights the most exciting moments in a movie
07:53to sell tickets, but that's no excuse why the preview for Quarantine spoiled the very last frame.
08:003. Retreat
08:01In Carl Tibbetts' thriller Retreat, Martin and Kate are a couple who's grown distant from one
08:06another after suffering a miscarriage. Hoping to rekindle their marriage, the pair journey to an
08:11island and settle in a remote cottage. While there, they discover a mysterious man who reveals
08:17a terrifying secret that may well change the world forever. On paper, Retreat sounds like
08:22it ticks all the right boxes. It has an intriguing premise and a wonderful cast,
08:27but if you were thinking about checking the film out, you have to avoid the teaser at all costs.
08:32Not only does this movie spoil the ending and the twist, it just spoils the whole thing straight
08:37from start to finish. The absolute worst kind of trailer. Retreat's trailer is so good at
08:42covering every facet of the story, it feels like it was strategically designed to ruin the movie.
08:47If you watch it, congratulations, you've basically seen the whole thing. Retreat isn't great,
08:53but if you're curious what happens, check out the preview and save yourself two hours.
08:572. Dreamhouse
08:59In Dreamhouse, Will Atterton moves into his new home with his wife and two daughters.
09:03Everything seems hunky-dory at first, and then Will discovers that a man called Peter Ward
09:08supposedly killed his family in the house five years prior. Not ideal. Because Ward was recently
09:14released from a mental hospital, Will becomes worried that he may return to the house to kill
09:19again. When Will visits the institution that Ward stayed at, he discovers a horrifying truth. He
09:25IS Peter Ward. Worse still, the family he's been living with is nothing more than a well-constructed
09:31delusion that he conjured in his mind. Sadly, plenty of people who saw the film were not as
09:36surprised by this revelation, because the trailer told them about it. Even though the premise alone
09:40was intriguing enough to fill a trailer, the two-and-a-half-minute-long teaser spent a good
09:4575 seconds repeatedly telling the viewers about Will's true identity. The trailer doesn't spoil
09:52every twist, but a lot of potential viewers were turned off by it, believing the entire
09:57film had been ruined for them. 1. Carrie
10:00In this Stephen King adaptation, a teenager called Carrie is bullied relentlessly by her
10:05overzealously religious mother and mean classmates. As she grows increasingly frustrated, Carrie
10:11discovers she can harness her emotions to move objects with her mind. When a popular student
10:16Tommy invites Carrie to the prom, she believes things are finally starting to look up. However,
10:21Carrie doesn't realize Tommy and his colleagues have rigged the ceremony ballot to ensure she's
10:26elected the prom queen. When she's on the ceremonial podium to collect her crown,
10:30the students drop a bucket of pig blood on her, humiliating the poor girl.
10:35This prank causes Carrie to snap, using her telekinetic powers to kill everyone in the room.
10:40Of course, whoever cut the trailer together couldn't help but ruin this iconic climax.
10:45Not only does the preview show Carrie's murdering everyone at the prom,
10:49we also see her use her telekinesis to kill John Travolta's character, crucify her mother,
10:54and burn her house down. Just to prove Hollywood never learned anything, or just assumed everyone
10:59knows the plot to Carrie by now, the 2013 remake spoils everything with its poster and trailer as
11:05well. That's the end of our list, but do let me know down in the comments if you can think of
11:09any other horror movies that spoiled the entire plot in the trailer. As always,
11:14I'm Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so much for hanging out with me.
11:17As always, you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account, where I'm
11:20at jessmcdonnell if you want to, but make sure you stay tuned to us here for plenty more great lists.