Trailer and One Sheet For Evil Kid Thriller 'Joshua'

The trailer for the psychological thriller Joshua has arrived and is posted over at Bloodydisgusting.com. I wrote about this movie a few weeks ago in Trailer Park, and this tale of a creepy little child prodigy with all the earmarks of becoming a full-blown serial killer, looks like it could a pretty solid creep-fest. Sadly, I'm not thrilled by the one sheet. Posters have it even tougher than trailers, having to sell a movie with a single static image, but this one just doesn't work for me. The large portrait of the title character doesn't look so much like an oil painting as it does a Photoshop simulation, which of course it is, but the illusion could have been better executed. The overall look leaves me with a ho-hum feeling.

If it weren't for the quote from Entertainment Weekly at the top, I don't know that I'd even know that this was supposed to be a scary flick. And by they way, is it really necessary to include the magazine's logo? It clashes badly with the design and sticks out like a sore thumb. If you're interested in seeing some earlier takes on the Joshua poster, Coming Soon still has the designs that people were asked to vote on. Personally, I think design number three could have been tweaked into a more effective layout than the one that was ultimately chosen, but what do I know? You can check out the trailer and other info about the film over at Fox Searchlight's Joshua page, and the film opens in U.S. theaters on July 6.