Horror Movie Trailer Reviews

By Anna Sgarbi

As someone who hates horror movies, I feel the need to review the trailers of the new and intriguing ones. Now, I am in no way qualified to review these trailers as I have only watched one horror movie in my entire 15 years of life. I believe it was the Black Phone and I don’t remember much from it as I was holding my eyes closed for the majority of the film. While I can’t deal with watching entire horror movies, I am sure I’ll be able to deal with the trailers. At least I hope…

Smile

This movie is not for the faint of heart. The trailer alone left me terrified. Released on September 30, 2022, the movie has received quite some attention. Smile currently holds a 78% Rotten Tomatoes score, which is not far from competitors such as the Black Phone holding about 82%. However, if I had to rate the trailer out of 10 I would have to give it a 5/10. Half of the points are gained because the storyline seems well-structured and rather interesting. However, half of the points are deducted because it is just too weird and freaky. Smiling is meant to have a positive connotation, and in no way do I want it to have a negative connotation. Now, every time someone smiles, it throws me back to this trailer.  

Don’t Worry Darling

Some of you may know this film from the famous actor/singer in it known as Harry Styles. After having watched the trailer, I felt less terrified than the one for Smile. During the trailer for Smile, my heart was pounding the entire time. However, for Don’t Worry Darling, I would say my heart was at a steady beat. Released on September 23, 2022, the movie only has a 38% Rotten Tomatoes score. A fake world love story is not the classic storyline of the horror movies most people gravitate towards. Aside from that, I would give Don’t Worry Darling an 8/10 on my horror movie rating scale. The movie just does not seem that scary, which is why I took off two points. A horror movie should contain horror, after all!

The Invitation

The final horror movie trailer I will be reviewing is The Invitation. Released on August 26, 2022, the movie holds a 28% Rotten Tomatoes score. Considering this movie has been out the longest, I would expect a higher score for it. However, as I watched the trailer, I understood why it received such a low score. The Invitation seemed like a classic, forced love story/horror film, in which one person is tricked into following a random stranger she meets and then is later forced into marrying him. The storyline seemed quite interesting as it did not look like a classic horror movie you would see being played on Halloween night. However, at least from what I hear, classic horror movies usually tend to be the best ones. This is why movies like this one tend to not be as popular. In the end, I give this horror movie trailer a 6/10.

In conclusion, I have learned that horror movies are and will never be to my liking. This challenge was fun, but will never happen again. However, if you are the opposite of me and love horror movies, I would take some time to check out new trailers for movies that have already been released. You could potentially end up finding your new favorite movie to watch on Halloween nights by yourself, with family, or with friends.