Blu-ray Review – The Cult of AGFA Trailer Show

Movie trailers. They used to be a special thing. While I risk coming off as a grumpy old man by criticizing the state of film marketing these days, it's hard to ignore the past, when studios would often go to great effort to craft a preview that successfully sold the title to the public, but also delivered its own magic. We're talking idiosyncratic clips, wildly entertaining "special shoot" announcements, and epic overviews of sometimes disappointing pictures. It's not all gone now, but movie trailers have mostly lost their edge, diminished by annoying trends and suits who are terrified to put a feature out in the wild that maintains the slightest bit of mystery. Perhaps I'm ready for my ice floe, but the folks at the American Genre Film Archive aren't going down without a fight, assembling "The Cult of AGFA Trailer Show," which offers a "mixtape" presentation of previews and theater commercials that have been lost to time. Some of the viewing experience is devoted to deep dive titles few are probably even aware of, while the rest is an entertaining reminder of marketing oddity and enthusiasm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com