''Trailers from Hell'' (branded as ''Trailers from Hell!'') is a

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

in which filmmakers discuss and promote individual movies through commenting on their trailers. While the series emphasizes horror, science fiction, fantasy, cult, and exploitation cinema, films from a wide variety of genres have been covered. ''Trailers from Hell'' launched as a website in October 2007,JOE DANTE presents Trailers From Hell! - Cinefantastique
/ref> as a collaborative project by film director Joe Dante, new media entrepreneur Jonas Hudson, graphic artist Charlie Largent, web developer Tom Edgar, and producer Elizabeth Stanley. It also premiered at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

in 2009.

Commentary

Each trailer features commentary on the art, craft, and history of filmmaking, regarding both the trailer itself and the film it represents. Regular ''Trailers from Hell'' commentators, referred to as "gurus" on the series website, include (in addition to Joe Dante)

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as '' The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), '' National Lampoon's Animal House'' (19 ...

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films '' Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and '' The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for ...

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

, and Eli Roth. Film editor and critic Glenn Erickson writes, "The host commentaries provide the real added value, cramming a wealth of information, humor and insights into the two- to four- minute trailer running times."DVD Savant Review: The Best of Trailers from Hell volume 1
/ref> Some of the trailers he cut early in his career for low-budget filmmaker

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

have been called the "best trailers for less-than stellar movies you've ever seen". Dante was also able to augment his collection with many additional previews for classic and "not so classic" horror films during his time at Corman's studio. The previously mentioned Erickson has referred to ''Trailers from Hell'' as "one of the brightest web destinations for fantastic film fans...." while the horror and suspense genre journal Cinefantastique called it "fabulous". American Movie Classics has lauded Dante for being "appreciative of and well-versed in the history of the exploitation cinema" through his work on ''Trailers from Hell''.

Home video

There have been two compilations of ''Trailers from Hell'' that have been released on DVD so far. Volume 1 was released in 2010 and Volume 2 was released by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

on July 5, 2011.Full Moon Streaming Partners with Joe Dante’s “TRAILERS FROM HELL”
/ref>

List of commentators

* Fede Álvarez * Allison Anders *

Allan Arkush Allan Arkush (born April 30, 1948) is an American director and producer of films, television and videos. He is a collaborator of Joe Dante. Early life Arkush grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He graduated in 1966 from Fort Lee High School. Hi ...

* John Badham *

Rick Baker Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Mak ...

* Jessica Bendinger *

Darren Bousman Darren Lynn Bousman (; born January 11, 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in horror films. He has directed four of the '' Saw'' films: '' Saw II'', ''Saw III'', ''Saw IV'', and ''Spiral''. He also direc ...

* Axelle Carolyn *

Larry Cohen Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television, best known as an author of horror and science fiction films — often containing police procedural and ...

Julie Corman Julie Ann Corman ( Halloran; born ) is an American film producer. She is married to film producer and director Roger Corman. Career In 1970, Julie Corman married film director/producer, Roger Corman. Corman produced a series of "Night Nurses" f ...

* Don Coscarelli * Joe Dante * Jon Davison * David DeCoteau * David Del Valle * Ernest Dickerson * Illeana Douglas * Bill Duke * Mick Garris * Mark Goldblatt * Stuart Gordon * Dana Gould * Sam Hamm * Marshall Harvey * Mark Helfrich * George Hickenlooper *

Jack Hill Jack Hill (born January 28, 1933) is an American film director in the exploitation film genre. Several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works. Early life Hill was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Mildred (n� ...

* Heidi Honeycutt * Gillian Horvat * Tim Hunter * Dan Ireland *

Kier-La Janisse Kier-La Janisse (born October 3, 1972) is a Canadian film writer, programmer, producer, and founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. Her best-known work as a writer is ''House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Fe ...

* Jonathan Kaplan * Larry Karaszewski * Lloyd Kaufman * Daniel Kremer * Karyn Kusama * Neil Labute * Mary Lambert *

* Max Landis * Quentin Lee *

Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including '' A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted ...

* Michael Lehmann *

J.D. Lifshitz J.D. Lifshitz (born October 13, 1992) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. Biography He is co-founder of the independent Production company BoulderLight Pictures Inc. In 2009 he began to work on his direc ...

* Rod Lurie * William Malone * Neil Marshall * Ib Melchior * Mike Mendez *

Ed Neumeier Edward Neumeier (born August 24, 1957) is an American screenwriter, producer and director best known for his work on the science fiction movies '' RoboCop'' and '' Starship Troopers''. He wrote the latter's sequels '' Starship Troopers 2: Hero ...

Josh Olson Joshua R. Olson is an American screenwriter and podcaster, known for writing the 2005 film '' A History of Violence''. Career Olson wrote and directed the low budget horror film ''Infested'' in 2002. He wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film ...

* Oren Peli * Mark Pellington *

Dan Perri Daniel Richard Perri (born August 11, 1945) is an American film and television title sequence designer. He has worked in film title design since the 1970s, and has been responsible for the main titles of a number of notable films including ''The E ...

* Michael Peyser * Adam Rifkin * Howard Rodman * Eduardo Rodriguez * Eli Roth *

John Sayles John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and '' ...

* Michael Schlesinger * Steve Senski * Katt Shea * Alan Spencer * Michael Tolkin * Brian Trenchard-Smith *

Jesus Trevino Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Robert Weide Robert B. Weide (born June 20, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He has directed a number of documentaries and was the principal director and an executive producer of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' for the show's first five ye ...

* Ti West * Christopher Wilkinson *

Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and ...

David Zeiger David Zeiger is an American film director, writer and producer. He is most well known for the documentary ''Sir! No Sir!'' (2005), which is the only full-length film chronicling the extensive antiwar and resistance activity of U.S. troops durin ...

References

External links

*
''Trailers from Hell'' at IMDb

Official YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trailers From Hell American film websites Internet properties established in 2007 Film and video fandom Cult following Horror fandom Science fiction fandom Fantasy fandom