Fan Rant: 'The Crazies' Trailer is Not a Melancholy 'Mad World'
Filed under: Horror, Movie Marketing, Fan Rant, Trailers and Clips
It all started out so well. Timothy Olyphant is the man of the law, the local townsfolk are enjoying the start of the baseball season, and everything is sunny. When one of their own hits the field with a gun, however, he has no choice but to shoot the guy and save the rest. And then more folks start acting strange, things get eerie, people die, the government flies in, and the fight for life begins. It's the classic horror setup.Then there's a quick cut and the music starts with f minor. Softly but surely, the '80s song that was slowed down and made infamous through a montage of tears plays as people run through burning streets, as the military moves in, as people are strapped to gurneys, as they all fight to stay alive. Yes, it might be a "Mad World," but Gary Jules is not suited for it. In Donnie Darko, the song was beautiful, gut-wrenching, and perfect for the tone at hand.
Taking a cue from the song: I find it kinda funny that they decided to go with the recent hit rather than going back to the original. Why? It actually fits. The low, electronic notes that carry the Tears for Fears version are eerie, and if you watch this trailer for The Crazies over at Apple, and start the original song at roughly 1:40, it lines up. Suddenly the increasing chills of the beginning are made creepier. Even some of the action is perfectly synched.
The town fighting The Crazies might be a "Mad World," but there's no room for somber melancholia in a horror trailer -- especially when it's a song already made famous with a perfect cinematic fit.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-02-2009 @ 11:12AM
ML said...
I agree, very weird choice. The movie looks pretty good. I'm assuming it's some guy in the marketing department who doesn't get horror.
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10-02-2009 @ 12:51PM
Patrick R said...
I can sort of see what they were going for, but my biggest complaint is that the song is just becoming played out. I agree with you that it's time people are exposed to the Tears for Fears original again. It's a great song.
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10-02-2009 @ 5:01PM
billy said...
You want a trailer just like every other trailer you've seen. It was cool. You are a needy douche.
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10-02-2009 @ 5:19PM
cubitfox said...
its the opposite, by using mad world in the trailer its becoming just like every other trailer. it was good up until that point. its like using You Make My Dreams in a trailer, way overdone.
10-02-2009 @ 5:15PM
cubitfox said...
Very strange, i just watched the trailer, thought how horrendously they used the song and how it was a disgrace to Donnie Darko, and then came straight here and saw this article.
Its so overplayed its becoming nauseating. The Jules version was made just for the film and it was perfect in every way. Now trailer-makers like those for The Crazies and even the show Flash Forward are flat out ripping off DD. The one used for flash forward is a cover of the jules version, so its a cover of a cover. thats like three levels of unoriginality.
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11-19-2009 @ 12:48PM
Holly said...
Well, that song in that trailer scared the hell out of me. I think somber melacholia made for a great counterpoint to all the crazy. I'm actually freaked out right now thinking about it.
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