“Trailers From Hell”: The Most Addictive Kind of “Coming Attractions”

Are you the kind of movie fan who digs Attack of the 50 Foot Woman as much as The Godfather? Need to learn some choice tidbits about Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, From Russia With Love, or The Wild Bunch? Well, I’ve got the perfect movie site for you. It’s Trailers From Hell, co-founded by director Joe Dante, best known for his films Gremlins, The Howling and Matinee. Trailers From Hell features “coming attractions” clips backed with commentaries from filmmakers like Dante, John Sayles, and Guillermo Del Toro. The decades of cinema covered on the site range from the 1920s to the present. There are trailers for pretty much every movie genre, from comedy to horror, and from westerns to crime dramas to sci-fi.

Related: “1980s Cult Movies Worth Another Look”

The wonderful thing about Trailers From Hell is that these movie “gurus” are passionate about sharing their love of movies. It’s clear that they enjoy watching these films and love them just as much as we do. The observations they make often have a personal aspect. Are you a Jerry Lewis fan? Writer-director Allan Arkush gives us a wonderful intro to Lewis’ The Geisha Boy while providing an amusing anecdote about his movie-going childhood. Maybe you love 1950s sci-fi? Director Ernest Dickerson talks about his experience seeing Ray Harryhausen’s It Came From Beneath The Sea. Love film noir? Writer-director Larry Cohen’s got you dead to rights with The Big Sleep. You’ll learn about movies from directors as diverse as Roger Corman, Douglas Sirk, and Orson Welles, and have a lot of fun along the way.

Trailers From Hell is also home for the work of outstanding film writers like Glenn Erickson (aka CineSavant) and Dennis Cozzalio. Their excellent work is thoughtful, informative and incisive. But the site’s best feature is the entertaining companion podcast entitled The Movies That Made Me co-hosted by screenwriter Josh (A History of Violence) Olson and Joe Dante. This cinematic “dynamic duo” sits down for informal chats with a variety of filmmakers, actors, and artists, including William Friedkin, Allison Anders, Gilbert Hernandez, and Ron Perlman. The talks are insightful and revealing. The relaxed and easygoing nature of the conversations ensures that you’ll learn a lot — and have fun, too. The results are surprising and unpredictable.

Trailers From Hell isn’t some stuffy, highbrow library of academic minutiae. The content on the site is fascinating, fanciful and delightful. It’s also completely addictive. You’ll find a lot of your favorites there (especially if you’re a sci-fi, horror and fantasy fan) and you also might find yourself discovering a whole lot of new films to love. By the way, you can also view the trailers without commentary, if you wish. Episodes of The Movies That Made Me podcast are available on the main site, as well as on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play.

Bottom line, Trailers From Hell is a fun movie site for the true fan, a treasure trove of great information, delivered with a lot of heart. I guarantee you’ll find yourself spending more time there than originally planned.  Stock up on the popcorn!

-John Visconti