This week we Trailer Talk about paedophilic house chores, terrifying home renovations and famished competitions.

MICHAEL

Michael has caused a bit of a stir since it hit the festival circuit with a decidedly mixed critical reception, ranging from praise to examples such as our own Ian Loring’s delightfully over-spilling bucket of hate. Based on this trailer I still have no idea which way I will sway, all I can say is that it’s a great trailer.

If you saw this, completely oblivious to the films controversial subject matter, I have no doubts this trailer would knock you for six. Things start out mundane and calm, following an unremarkable looking middle-aged man as he goes about his daily routine and, gradually, we begin to notice how strange some of his actions are becoming. The entire thing slowly builds towards a deeply creepy conclusion and, based purely on the reaction this trailer got out of me, this has become priority viewing for me.

SILENT HOUSE

I have often wondered why we don’t see more people trying this idea, the single take horror movie, aside from being a logistical nightmare to pull off. Extended takes are a great way to immerse the audience in a situation, there’s no safety in a sequence told without editing, you are stuck in that moment with nowhere to go. It’s perfect for the horror genre, turning a movie into an ordeal.

Spain’s Kidnapped did something similar, being composed of a handful of extended takes, but it told a story that required jumping from one location to another and so could never commit to a continuous experience. Chris Kentis and Laura Lau’s adaptation of Gustavo Hernández’s Uruguan chiller The Silent House, while obviously not an original idea, still looks like a polished and finely executed attempt at doing just that.

The trailer smacks more than a little of someone having just seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre immediately prior to cutting this promo, but if you’re going to steal then you reach for the top shelf or you just don’t bother.

I have yet to see either version but seeing Elizabeth Olsen, the prettiest and most talented of the Olsen sisters, headlining a single take horror movie holds far more appeal to me. Sorry, Remakephobes.

THE HUNGER GAMES

Another Hunger Games trailer? Lionsgate are either extremely confident in their product or they are extremely desperate to tell audiences that this is THE NEXT BIG THING. The cast is certainly a massive cut above Twilight (it’s no Harry Potter though) and the premise has the potential to appeal to male audience members more than dewy-eyed teenagers pining over immortal date rapists and lycanthropic paedophiles.

However, does it have a love story sufficient enough to grab the Twilight demographic who are soon to become disenfranchised? They will need a place to go once Breaking Dawn Part 2 wraps up and society is not prepared for the eventuality that these people may turn feral.

As a trailer, this is more detailed than the teaser but it’s not as attention grabbing as the original trailer which reveals first act information and ramps up towards the starting pistol of the titular Games. That was a trailer that convinced me to see this movie and it’s a good thing because this trailer would not seal the deal.