I know what you mean on the hard rock music accompanying the trailer, that annoyed me, too. Every action flick and even some of the new horror flicks have heavy metal/rock/techno that doesn't fit the movie. I actually think that choral/orchestral music has a bigger effect on action than rock. Like "Duel of the Fates" during the Star Wars lightsaber battles, and the shootings in Godfather to the baptism music, or the operatic song during the Super Burly Brawl of Matrix Revolutions. That heightens the drama. I also like when they use an oldie during action or a horrifying moment. Like when they played "Brick House" during a torture scene in House of 1000 Corpses. The best example of this, of course, is 'Stuck in the Middle With You" during the ear chopping by Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, that scene practically invented this technique. Hard rock and metal has its appropriate places, but there's not too many of them in movies.

Saw this trailer last night. Hmmm....

Well, it definitely looks pretty lightweight, but has the possibility of being a decent brainless kind of action flick. That rock soundtrack for the trailer really turned me off more than anything. Why does everyone think a hard pounding guitar track has to symbolize visceral action nowadays? Dunno. I think it takes some of the heft from the trailer and makes it all look like a video game.

Loved that "Sacrificial chamber" line, though!

Sean (...I watched The Chamber...thought I might have to sacrifice myself on that one!...)

Unfortunately it's advertising executives that are usually in charge of what music to use to "promote" the movie. While I agree with you TGP, that hard guitar licks, techno, and the lot have been overused, keep in mind that AVP is "action based". When you're talking about the "advertising world" and keeping people's attention in the 30 second span of a commercial... soft, orchestral, or the like music isn't really appropriate for a 30 second trailer that needs to get people's attention, and keep it for such a short amount of time. Hard hitting guitar, techno and such will. They do LOTS of market research on this subject, and is the reason why it's so successful. Also keep in mind that with little exception, the sound track to promote a movie in the "teaser" or trailer, will very rarely be the soundtrack that's in the film itself. There's also a difference in the type of film you're talking about. While the "final brawl" scene in the Matrix between Neo and Smith, was meant to be sort of artsy and dramatic, the chanting and or orchestral pieces work very well for that type of situation. When you're talking about a pure xenophobic frightmare type of movie as both the "Aliens" and "Predator" series are, and then pit the two against eachother, you've got a whole different ballgame at that point. I think you'd be hard pressed to find the right orchestral music to fit such a movie. Putting music in a film that "doesn't fit" can go both ways with both fast paced, or slower orchestra music. In my opinion putting "Rage Against The Machine" in the Matrix films was a spot-on fit! And as John pointed out, in the movie "Alien" Ridley Scott put orchestral scores in, as well as some VERY unique and completely terrifying sounds from orchestral instruments in a lot of the scenes! If you tried that in AVP however, I don't think it would work. We'll have to wait and see what Paul Anderson and his crew pull out of their hats as far as musical score goes.

- Josh

While some hard rock could be used to emphasize the Alien vs. Predator fight, think of the end of Aliens, when the Queen is chasing Ripley and Newt. They used orchestra music WITH hard-hitting percussion and creepy string glissandos (For the musically uneducated, a glissando is when a note is played and then is bent upwards/downwards to make a smooth slide effect with many notes). The music was heavy and exciting but still orchestral, which was nice. As said before, The Matrix effectively mixed techno and orchestra, as do many other films. Another example was the teaser trailer for Kill Bill. It was an electric guitar song with bass and drums but it had a brass band in the background and no vocals, and what a great song it was. It immediatly perked my interest in the film and I bought the soundtracks for Vol. 1 and 2. Another example is the new Spider-man 2 teaser. It starts all soft and calm when Peter is speaking to Mary Jane, but it gets heavier and more exciting as the car breaks through the window. I consider that to be one of the better trailers I've ever seen, and it proves that you don't need to start with or even have heavy music all the time to promote a film, even an action movie. However, one movie that greatly utilized metal music was Freddy Vs. Jason. It was so badass to see those two duke it out, and since badass is a word associated with heavy rock, it was used to full effect. Orchestra music would not have been appropriate when watching two cheesy 80's horror icons fight (I'm sorry to admit this, but I love F vs J by the way). Also think of Lord of the Rings. It had a wide range of orchestral pieces- thoughtful, reflective musings, hard and exciting battle music, heroic themes, mysterious tunes of foreshadowing importance, etc. A great film soundtrack always has a variety of tunes that fit every scene (Kill Bill soundtracks, along with any other Tarantino soundtrack. Scorsese has good ones, too) and sometimes, heavy metal or hard rock is annoying or just inappropriate. You don't use metal during a tender love scene or romantic conversation. Imagine The Godfather, when Michael Corleone marries and consumates with Appolonia. Would metal music have fit there? Absolutely not.
Whoa, I'm sorry. I've gotten way off track. Forgive me for ranting, but i love music and I don't like to see it wasted.

TGP,

I know what you mean. All of your points were well made, and I agree with them. Maybe the "ad exec(s)" they hired for the AVP trailer were inexperienced? Who knows. I too am a music lover, and pay close attention to music scoring in both theater, and advertisement. I guess I didn't have a problem with the "bad ass" rock in the trailer. The way I look at it is as I said in my previous post. It's a trailer, meant to get your attention. They accomplished their goal. The trailer may have different music by the time they start advertising on tv. Personally I would have gone for more of a mysterious lure in the trailers. Spooky. Ominous. Things that have been used in the past trailers for both franchises. Maybe interspersed with a few frames of action sequences, but kept so short, you weren't sure what you saw. To coin the old show business phrase "always leave them wanting more". That's one of the things that's really disappointed me in theatrical trailers, as well as TV spot's is that they show far too much of the important parts of the movie! I've figured out entire plots of movies from a trailer. Things that are supposed to be "surprise endings" or "twists" are no longer possible. It seems that the advertisement exec's feel they have to show you as much as they possibly can in the trailer, or you won't see the movie. I've only ever had one movie going experience where I didn't know a thing about it. I happened to be living in Germany, looked up at the movie marquee to see the title "Jurasic Park". I only knew of the book at the time, and had no idea it was being made into a movie, and then suddenly there it was. It was a great experience not knowing a thing about it, and seeing all of the images for the first time, versus something that you recognize from the bombardment of commercials up to a month and a half before the movie even hits theaters. To this day Jurasic Park is still one of my favorite films, and I still love the sound track.

I'm with you though TGP, I'd much rather see AVP adopt glissando's, and use other orchestral incorporation. To me it just lends far more quality to the film. Your example of the LOTR series is a perfect example of what a great musical score can do for a movie. Any of the movies John Williams scored has been extremely popular. All orchestral.

We'll just have to wait and see.

- Josh

"Personally I would have gone for more of a mysterious lure in the trailers. Spooky. Ominous. Things that have been used in the past trailers for both franchises. Maybe interspersed with a few frames of action sequences, but kept so short, you weren't sure what you saw." -Nachtkriechen

YES! My favorite trailers are the ones with cool music and fast images with little or no dialogue so that you are interested in the movie but you don't really know what it's about. The trailer for Eternal Sunshine was PERFECT! Also, the trailer for the original Alien, where it just had alarm sounds and quick images was great as well. I went to films like Eternal Sunshine and Mystic River even though I knew almost nothing about them and they were great! I hate it when I already know what's going to happen because thet trailer showed too much. Luckily, AVP's trailer didn't show to much and I'm ready to see it...

Yep... me too! I think in the following months, if I see even a hint that a AVP trailer is going to be shown, I'm going to change the channel as quickly as possible, or pull a Jim Carey and run out of the room with my hands cupped over my ears yelling "la la la la la la la!!". Ok, so maybe I won't do that exactly, but you get the idea. I think it's completely cool that I can go back and watch the "Alien" trailer (as you mentioned) and still be scared by it! It just goes to show what can be done with the right people at the helm. Eternal Sunshine looked completely wierd to me, but that's half the reason I saw it. I loved that you didn't get a clue really as to what the movie was really about in the trailers. Eternal Sunshine is another that's going on my "all time favorites" list.

I wish we could get Henning to allow for at least 8, 10, or maybe even 12 movies in your "my highest rated DVD's" section of "my town". I've said this before, but I'd like to be able to post at least one favorite movie per genre. Or for that matter, have an area where there are blank spaces available for "Western" "Sci-fi" "horror" "Action" "Thriller" etc. And just add a movie in each section.

- Josh :)

Well... again, because I waited a while before I saw "Chronicals Of Riddick" (6/21/04), at the theater I saw it at, they had a NEW AVP trailer that had even more footage than the "exclusive" internet trailer released this month. You've all probably seen it, but on the short chance that some of you may not have, I thought it pertinant.

I stated earlier, that I would make all efforts not to watch the trailers for this movie, as the tv spots came out, as it "spoils" the experience for me when I actually see it in the theater. When I saw the new trailer in the theater however, I just couldn't help myself... I COULDN'T LOOK AWAY!! :.(

It looks as though there's probably still enough in the movie to keep the hair on the back of your neck standing up however.

- Josh :)

Ive been reading a lot of the recent test screening review of this movie and they are mostly all bad. I want this movie to be good, but I have hard accepting the possibility that Paul Anderson can make a good movie. I remember awhile back I read an interview with James Cameron where he went to Fox and said I want to make "Alien vs. Predator," but the only catch is I get to make another Alien. We could have gotten two new James Cameron movies, let alone two Alien movies, but instead we get a new Paul "Mortal Kombat" Anderson. From a strictly business point of view, Paul does have experience with Sci-fi and can do wonders with a lower budget. The guy recently had to insure people that this movie didnt have a hard rock soundtrack, what kind of director has to tell audiences that, so they will go see his films. Now, all this may seem premature, but seriously every time I see the trailer it's incredibly unsettling to me that this franchise was handed to this man. Ridley Scott, John McTiernan, James Cameron, David Fincher, Paul Anderson, something there aint right. Sorry Josh, I know your excited about this one, but Anderson scares me. Ultimately, I really cant judge until I see it, but I had to get it off my chest.

TWill,

I completely understand your view point. I actually agree with you in that I'm a little nervous about Paul Anderson directing this one as well. I too want it to be a VERY good movie, and don't want to be disappointed. However I'm going to reserve judgement until it comes out as well. I was just thinking about the soundtrack for AVP tonight before I looked at the message board. One thing that's lended volumes of "scare factor" to the "Alien" series, is the musical score. The opening credits have traditionally had very earie, spine tingleing orchestral scores, as well as a complimenting score throughout the movies. If Paul Anderson screws up my favorite sci-fi movie series ever, I will never see another of his movies! I want very badly to give Paul Anderson the benefit of the doubt, but the more trailers I see for AVP, the more it looks like it will have the "cool action" feel to it, versus, the "scare you so bad you soil yourself" feel.

Hopefully we both will be eating our words.;)
- Josh