Five Great Modern Horror Movie Trailers

May 11th 2017, 11:51am

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

When I am not writing for AITH one of my side jobs is as an editor, and let me tell you, I have edited more than my fair share of trailers. Also, being that we just got the awesome trailers for STEPHEN KING'S IT, THE DARK TOWER, and BLADE RUNNER 2049 within the last few weeks, I thought now might be a good time to look back on the best trailers our genre has to offer. That said, these are more modern trailers because do we really need yet another list telling us how cool and effective and evocative the trailers for THE SHINING and ALIEN were/are? Nope. No need for that at all. I tried to keep these trailers as recent as possible so let us know what you consider to be the best recent horror movie trailers!

5. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003)

The film nobody wanted became the film everyone couldn't wait to see in all but an instant thanks to this beautiful/horrific trailer. I'm a fan of the remake and have spent my fair share of time defending it, but I have yet to spend so much as a coffee break defending the film's trailer. That's because whenever some pretentious d*ck is giving my guff about the remake, I always smooth the eventual fist-fight by adding, "but how about that trailer?" and it always works. Before long we're sharing a drink and fighting about whether or not THE WITCH is horror or not. Which it is. 100%. Wanna fight about it? I'll bring the coffee you bring your bullsh*t "psychological horror-thriller drama" debate. But, hey, isn't the trailer for THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake cool as hell? Amen, brother.

4. THE GALLOWS (2015)

As is (sadly) most often the case, this is a prime example of a trailer that is f*cking leaps and infinite bounds better than the full film we were eventual given. Too bad. That said, the trailer's amazing use of Thinking Up Anger's cover of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' puts it into classic horror trailer territory. Tag to that the trailer gets extra points for its tagline: Every school has its spirit. Get it? Ah-yuck. Wish I would have thought of that.

3. THE WOODS (2016)

Let's just get this out of the way right now, THE WOODS ended up being BLAIR WITCH in disguise. Also, this teaser trailer gets extra points for featuring a quote from out very own Jimmy O! Pretty damn cool. But that alone would by no means earn this trailer a spot on the countdown, let alone the third spot. No way. What earns it this ranking is not only its super use of a f*cking unfindable cover of The Police's 'Every Breath You Take', but also for not giving away its plot (the reason for this became obvious a few months later). Add to that some truly epic drone-shots (which aren't in the f*cking finished film), quick glimpses of some truly scary images, and Callie Hernadez, and the teaser for THE WOODS ends up topping the film BLAIR WITCH. Other than the final 20 minutes. This teaser cannot touch those final 20 minutes. Brr.

2. A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE (2010)

I swear this was never meant to be an Adam Wingard/Simon Barrett love-fest here. That said, I may or may not have left the amazing trailer for YOU'RE NEXT off this top five because three Wingard/Barrett flicks out of five may have been a bit much (but, seriously, the trailer for YOU'RE NEXT is top-notch). Anyhow, considering I was resigned to only including two Wingard/Barrett flicks in the list, the choices became obvious. One was the above-mentioned THE WOODS teaser and now I bring you the stunning trailer for A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE. This trailer gets extra points for being edited by Wingard himself and not some trailer cutting company. Good job, brother! You made a small, indie romance-horror serial-killer-thriller look god*amn epic. Slow clap.

1. PROMETHEUS (2012)

I'm willing to bet you knew this one was coming. Why? Because this is the best horror movie trailer since the original ALIEN. It starts a bit – if not slow – standard, let's say, but by the time Shaw is standing in front of the mirror (not in the movie) and grasps her hands together in a last ditch effort to pray to whatever God may be listening, we were all there with her. Add in that classic ALIEN shriek-siren howl-thing blaring over and over as more and more sh*t hits more and more fans, and the trailer for PROMETHEUS is nothing short of a masterpiece of trailer editing. No wonder everyone was underwhelmed by the actual movie. This trailer was the most harrowing thing any of us had seen in a movie theater in years. That is,until the trailer for MAD MAX: FURY ROAD hit. The earth shook that day.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

You're Next, The Last House on the Left (2009), A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), High Tension, Stephen King's IT, The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Shortwave.