TRAILER TRAUMA 3 - 80S HORROR-THON: COMING TO A DVD PLAYER NEAR YOU

If you’re a movie lover like I am then you enjoy and love the entire experience. It doesn’t upset you to find sticky theater floors (a substance termed “cinemuck” by comedian Rich Hall). You prepare for either too hot or too cold temperatures in theaters. Okay, so people talking or on their cell phone makes you mad. But you are content to be transported somewhere else by what is on the screen. And the first thing there (at least in the past) was the trailers.

Trailers, or as some call them previews, were an art form unto themselves. A trailer had the responsibility to draw our attention to an upcoming film in between 30 seconds to 2 minutes. It pulled together the best parts of the movie without revealing too much. They still run today but for some reason trailers today are much like the movies they support, rather bland and similar. But that wasn’t always the case.

For instance trailers for low budget exploitation and horror films had to make you want to see a movie that either had such a low budget it made the trailer better than the film or that you weren’t always sure would actually show you what was coming in the movie. These trailers did their best to draw you in and for most of us they succeeded. The movies they proclaimed didn’t usually play in malls or huge theaters but in drive-ins or what are now called grindhouses. It didn’t matter. They gave us the desire to see the movies they previewed.

If you remember those trailers, and those movies, as fondly as I do then there is a new blu-ray you’ll want to add to your collection. TRAILER TRAUMA 3: 80S HORRORTHON is a collection of 190 trailers from the 80s (according to the box), almost all of them horror films with a few sci-fi titles thrown in for good measure. As I said, a good trailer is an art form. Director Joe Dante, who went on to make GREMLINS and THE HOWLING, cut his creative teeth making trailers for Roger Corman. To think it was his work that got many of us to see Corman’s films is amazing.

While I’ve not seen the first 2 volumes of this series I can say that TRAILER TRAUMA 3 lived up to my expectations. And yes, they were high. The trailers assembles here are placed in alphabetical order by year. We have the entire decade covered this way. And horror films were beginning to rise in popularity at that time. HALLOWEEN and several other films had just come out and created a desire for more horror films. I was surprised and reminded that FRIDAY THE 13^TH didn’t come out until 1980 and it’s included here.

The collection covers titles that were released by small independent companies as well as major studio releases. As I watched each one I was reminded that this decade was a great time to be alive for horror fans. It was the beginning of franchises in horror films. FRIDAY THE 13^TH, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, POLETERGIEST and follow ups to HALLOWEEN came out at the time. But they weren’t alone. There is no way I could list all of the movies that came out at this time but I don’t have to. Instead I suggest you pick up this disc and add it to your collection.

One question comes up when something like this is released on blu-ray. Has it been cleaned up to the point of not looking like it did originally? Don’t worry, the answer is not at all. While it may be on blu each trailer still has that scratched up and used copy look to it just like it did when it played at the drive-in. It was all part of the experience. To polish them up would be ridiculous. Do we really need a pristine version of the trailer for DON’T GO IN THE HOUSE?

These types of collections can be a lot of fun. They bring back some great memories. And they make a great disc to put on during any Halloween party. Or if you have friends like I do for any party. But, as the saying goes, that’s not all! The disc includes a commentary track featuring a number of fans, collectors and those responsible for the series talking about the movies being featured. It also features trailers for films from Garagehouse Pictures, the company putting this out. And last but not least, it is limited to only 1500 copies being produced so if this is your thing get one right away.

I said I wouldn’t list titles here but let me give just a few, a way to remind you of the great movies from the 80s featured on this 2 disc set. THE FOG, MOTEL HELL, PROM NIGHT, TERROR TRAIN, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, GHOST STORY, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, BASKET CASE, SWAMP THING, THE THING, SLEEPAWAY CAMP, DAY OF THE DEAD, RE-ANIMATOR, HOUSE, THE HITCHER, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, CHILD’S PLAY, THEY LIVE and more are all featured here. And that is just a small inkling of what you’ll find.

So if you love movies, if you’re a fan of trailers and if you’re a child of the 80s then by all means make sure you get a copy of this disc. You’ll laugh, you’ll smile, you’ll cringe, you’ll scream and you’ll bring back a ton of memories you thought had disappeared. Yes, it is that much fun.

Click here to order.