Dai
Pokémon Master
Sometimes the people making a movie and the people marketing it just aren't on the same page. Maybe the marketing team didn't understand the film, or maybe the studio wanted to draw in a different viewer demographic, but sometimes you can be left wondering what happened to the movie you thought you'd been sold. What are some examples you can think of? Terrible movies with amazing trailers also count.
Zone Troopers
This trailer was on the original VHS for Ghostbusters. I was about six when I saw it the first time, and this trailer scared the hell out of me. Looking at it now, it's aged badly, but there's no denying that it's pitching a horror movie. Instead, the tone and content of Zone Troopers is closer to a pulpy 1950s comic.
Birdy
I think this trailer was on the same tape, and also creeped out my six-year-old self (that Ghostbusters VHS had a lot to answer for). Based on this trailer, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was some kind of fantasy or body-horror movie, but it's actually a war story about PTSD.
The Grey
The trailers for this movie gear you up to expect an action adventure with Liam Neeson punching wolves with glass knuckle-dusters. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a dark and sombre film about the different ways people face death. Those iconic final shots of this trailer are especially misleading, making you anticipate a scene that we never see, because those are literally the final shots of the movie. To its credit, the film was much deeper and more emotional than I expected, but the viewers who went in wanted to see Neeson in superhero mode were probably disappointed.
Battle: Los Angeles
I love this trailer, not least because of the eerie music from the late Johann Johannsson. It completely misrepresents the film though, making you expect a gritty SF docudrama, but it turns out to be the most blatant recruitment ad for the US Marines since John Wayne's The Green Berets. Though panned by critics and audiences alike, I quite like the movie, though it is difficult to get past the flag-waving oorah side of it.
Fist of the North Star
LOL, okay this doesn't really misrepresent the movie, but I had to include it here. I was so excited to see a live-action Fist of the North Star, and in 1995 this trailer looked awesome to me. Now...not so much.
Zone Troopers
Birdy
The Grey
Battle: Los Angeles
Fist of the North Star