Special Series · The Art of the Tease(rs)
Total Recall (1990)
I have a serious problem with movie trailers lately. It seems like nearly every preview that’s released is about 2:30 minutes long and gives away almost every aspect of the movie, acting more like a CliffsNotes version of the movie being advertised rather than something to entice an audience into coming back and seeing the full product.
In this day and age where all aspects of a movie are fairly well known before an inch of footage is seen, the subtlety of a well-crafted “teaser” trailer is totally gone…and I miss it…I miss it a lot. So I decided to go back to some of the teaser trailers I fondly remember and, in a way, reintroduce them. Whether the actual movie was good or bad is neither here nor there…but pay attention to how each of these teasers work in their own special way to grab the attention of movie-goers.
The One-Sheet
Lobby Card
Plot: Construction worker Douglas Quaid keeps dreaming about Mars, so he pays for a memory implant of a vacation there. The procedure goes wrong, and suddenly everyone in his life seems to want him dead, sending him to the red planet to find out who he really is.
Released: June 1, 1990
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox
Studio: Tri-Star Pictures
Box office: $119.4 million domestic, $261.3 million worldwide
Trivia:
- Tri-Star’s first teaser skipped the action and effects and tested poorly. Schwarzenegger felt it made the movie look cheap, so Sony brought in trailer house Cimarron/Bacon/O’Brien to cut a new trailer just weeks before release.
- Tri-Star moved the release up two weeks, from June 15 to June 1, 1990, to get ahead of summer rivals like Dick Tracy and Die Hard 2, and rushed post-production to make the new date.
The Taglines
They stole his mind, now he wants it back.
Also on the campaign: “Get ready for the ride of your life.”
Why It Works
Arriving right at the true peak of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (The Last Stand) popularity, Total Recall was a sci-fi action pic through and through that wound up being a highly profitable snazzy summer blockbuster. It’s also the movie that really introduced Sharon Stone (Lovelace) to audiences as well as cementing director Paul Verhoeven as someone to keep your eye on (Stone and Verhoeven would team up again 2 years later for the controversial hit Basic Instinct). A remake was released in 2012 but it couldn’t hold a candle to the original which had a style and star that couldn’t be replaced. This teaser trailer featuring a red-tinged Schwarzenegger ominously staring at the camera was a perfect way to let everyone know that a trip to Mars was in their future.
Written by Joe Botten
Joe Botten is The MN Movie Man, a Twin Cities film critic writing spoiler-free reviews since 2012. He also writes for Loud and Clear Reviews, a Rotten Tomatoes approved site. Find him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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