Line #28 Main/ScreamerTrailer


1	So you're sitting in a movie theater, [[InnocentBystander minding your own business,]] when all of a sudden a trailer for a scary movie comes on! It looks cool and the plot is abo--[[spoiler: [[TheScream blooD hatE deatH!]]]]-- what the hell?!
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3	Wow! That hidden frame/half a second flash cut with the scream sure was scary, more so than a CatScare, and [[StringyHairedGhostGirl the pale stringy haired girl]] was frea-- [[spoiler:[[ScareChord PAIN EVIL KUMQUAT]]]] gyah! Okay, a little less scary, but still surprising.
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5	So anyway. Trailers, films, and VideoGames that [[NothingIsScarier can't rely on time to build suspense]] will use the ScreamerTrailer to scare and shock with glimpses of the movies' monst-- [[spoiler: [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Zuul]]!]] ...mayhem, or even random things, often paired with a scream or other scary and loud sound to catch the viewer by surpri-- [[spoiler:[=pIstAcHiO AVocADo iCecrEAm!=]]] Okay, you can cut it out now, it's not scary anymore.
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7	In fact, this technique is quickly moving towards becoming a DiscreditedTrope from overuse. This still shows up played straight in several Internet videos premised precisely on this kind of scare. Some moviegoers have even become desensitized to the strobe light scare, and come to expect the last half second of every such movie trailer to contain one fina-- [[spoiler: Boo!]] Oh go fuck yourself. (exits)
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9	Contrast SubliminalAdvertising. Compare LastNoteNightmare.
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11	'''''Troper General's Warning:'' Strobe light effects can be hazardous to the health of small children, epileptics, or the overly cute. We recommend using JustForFun/{{Rickroll}}s instead.'''
12	----
13	!!Examples:
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15	[[foldercontrol]]
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17	[[folder: Anime ]]
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19	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' (and by extension, Creator/HideakiAnno) loves this, though it is more frequently used to suggest the thoughts and feelings of characters than to outright freak out the viewer. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay174Yvnx7s Which is not to suggest that it doesn't do that as well.]]
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21	[[/folder]]
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24	[[folder: Films -- Animation]]
25	* Used At the beginning of the trailer for ''WesternAnimation/MetalocalypseArmyOfTheDoomstar'' to illustrate Nathan Explosion's state of mind following the events of ''Doomstar Requiem''. Although because the film is still a comedy, it's followed by some MoodWhiplash
26	-->'''Nathan''': Ummmm....hi...[[FlatWhat What?]]
27	[[/folder]]
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29	[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]
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31	* The classic example is ''Film/Suspiria1977'', which told you nothing about the movie except that the word "Suspiria" [[SayMyNameTrailer was highly relevant]].
32	-->"You can run... from ''Suspiria''..."
33	* ''Film/Thir13enGhosts'' and ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1999'' use the Screamer Trailer effect in-movie, as new ghosts are revealed or about to do something nasty to the heroes.
34	* Most Asian horror movies with a StringyHairedGhostGirl, such as ''Film/TheRing.''
35	** Although the trailers for the American version of ''Film/TheRing'' were standard fare (and later ones even spoiled the infamous Well scene), the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkWhFa6LCTU teaser trailer]] for ''Film/TheRingTwo'' is basically a full-fledged [[ScreamerPrank Screamer]].
36	* ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'':
37	** Subverted in a sequence in which the main cast's wandering through a [[spoiler:seemingly]] abandoned spaceship is intercut with flashing images which, at first, look like closeups of human faces with far too much red...and are revealed immediately afterwards to be from a photo of the crew celebrating a birthday party against a red backdrop.
38	** Played straight with [[spoiler:Captain "I've melted my skin off and can still live despite my blood bleeding blood from my blood"]].
39	* No sound, but this happens several times in ''Film/FightClub'', three or four times with Tyler Durden, and once at the end of the movie with a... male body part. (It was earlier mentioned that editing single frames of porn into movies was just one of Tyler's weird hobbies.)
40	* One trailer for ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' involves evil, resurrected Voldemort flashing on top of his younger FlashBack self in Albus' memories.
41	* Parodied in ''Don't,'' a faux trailer in the ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'' double-feature. It was filmed by Edgar Wright and stars Jason Isaacs, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, all of whom are British, but none of them get to speak, as a parody of [[NeverTrustATrailer those trailers]] that keep the movie's country of origin a secret.
42	* The teaser trailer for ''Film/TheFlyII'' consists of nothing but a heart monitor beating normally which gets progressively faster with only the sounds of screaming when it reaches its breaking point. Surprisingly effective for a low-budget approach with no film footage.
43	* In August 2018, an infamous [=YouTube=] ad for ''Film/TheNun'' centered around a fake Apple volume bar going all the way down, inciting the viewer to turn it up, only to be greeted with the film's villain's NightmareFace filling the screen and screaming. Oh, and did we mention it was ''unskippable''? The ad was promptly removed--as it violated [=YouTube=]'s policies--and was replaced with another jump scare-less ad.
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45	[[/folder]]
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47	[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
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49	* These happen just before the cut to commercials in ''Series/GhostAdventures''. They are definitely quite cre[[spoiler: GAAGHH]]epy. It [[NightmareFuel DOES NOT HELP]] that they are usually accompanied by a split-second shot of a DemonicDummy with empty black eye sockets, standing on a [[BuffySpeak static-y]] background.
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51	[[/folder]]
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53	[[folder: Theme Parks ]]
54	* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfW7WY64yH8 2008 commercial]] for [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights features a man attempting to summon Bloody Mary. The results...are as you would expect (Mary blasts through the mirror screaming bloody murder). Although you can see the scare coming from a mile away, it still somehow manages to be quite frightening regardless.
55	[[/folder]]
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57	[[folder: Video Games ]]
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59	* The trailer for ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' (a science-fiction horror game) starts out with shots of a spacecraft and its dead crew, accompanied with a [[IronicNurseryTune creepy lullaby]]. About thirty seconds in, screamer scenes from the game start appearing. The trailer eventually fades more and more into the screamers, and eventually just plain features the gory scary bits.
60	** The sequel's trailer is even worse, as it's just scary bits with the rhyme playing over them.
61	%%* ''VideoGame/{{Exmortis}}''
62	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'''s trailer. Though it doesn't have the distorted sound effects and the transition happens at medium speed (except for the end where the whole trailer rewinds), it did a great job at getting the sinister implications and the [[DarkerAndEdgier tone of the plot]] through.
63	* ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'' sometimes flashes images such as [[NightmareFace horribly disfigured faces]].
64	* The trailers for ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'', ''[[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3 3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4 4]]'' end in jumpscares from Foxy, Springtrap, and Nightmare Bonnie respectively.
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66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder: Western Animation ]]
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70	* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' had the episode "Mysterious Mysteries", where the host of the eponymous ShowWithinAShow has frequent flashes of a somewhat overenthusiastic-looking Dib, complete with sound bite.
71	** There's also a silent example that appears for a single frame in afew of the episodes involving Gir in "Duty mode" coated in blood. This was put in to spite the network when, due to ExecutiveMeddling, the scene featuring the frame was cut.
72	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' used this for the trailer for "The Lich" that aired directly after "I Remember You". Seeing The Lich's face [[JumpScare zoom in at you]] [[MoodWhiplash directly]] after [[spoiler:Simon Petrikov-era Ice King gives a young Marceline a toy during the Mushroom War]] is unsettling.
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74	[[/folder]]
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76	----
77	[[spoiler: [[WebOriginal/{{Zalgo}} he comes]]]] [[BrickJoke WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!]]

Context Main / ScreamerTrailer