Promotion of a new film is not an easy task. We have to surround the viewer informationally from all sides with the help of a massive advertising campaign, interesting trailers, attracting celebrities and other techniques.
But some producers go even further, and use witty or intimidating practical jokes to attract a wide audience.
We present you the top 10 most interesting and memorable pranks used to promote various films.
10. Calls
When you come to a home appliance store to choose a new TV, you hardly expect the image on the screen to come to life. In the literal sense of the word.
But this is exactly what the authors of this cinema-prank did, dressing one of the actresses as the terrible heroine of the film “Calls” of 2017. And if in itself this horror movie about the damned cassette of Samara Morgan was lowly rated by the audience, becoming the worst in the trilogy, then the rally was much more successful.
9. Geostorm
This 2017 film did not become a sensation of the year, but several scenes in it are truly amazing. These include boulder-sized gradients, skyscrapers tipping over like dominos, the terrible tsunami that struck Dubai and people frozen in the desert.
And so that people in reality feel the echoes of the same horror as the characters of "Geostorm", creators from Warner Bros. Pictures came up with an original move. They froze the whole street of New York (of course, not really), setting mannequins of frozen people and animals on it.
And it was on this street that a fake taxi drove passengers. At this time, fake news about natural disasters that unexpectedly crashed onto the Earth was spinning in the car’s cabin, and supposedly icy birds fell on top of the car.
8. Carrie
To promote the remake of the classic 2013 horror movie Carrie, a film crew scared visitors at a cafe in New York.
With the help of props and a remote control, the advertisers furnished everything as if the girl, with the help of mental abilities, took revenge on the guy who spilled her coffee. She allegedly threw it into the wall by the power of telekinesis, and then began to smash the cafe, moving tables and chairs without the help of her hands and screaming to tear things off the walls. Can you imagine how the people present at this scene felt?
7. One less
But this joke could have ended very badly for both the actors and the audience, if one of them had a weak heart.
To promote the release of the 2012 box-office thriller “One Less” on Blu-Ray, the team equipped the New York elevator with hidden cameras and asked the male actor to pretend that he was strangling another guy. Some victims of this prank screamed in horror, some tried to help, while others pretended not to notice anything before leaving.
If you really want to lose faith in humanity, please look at the guy at 1:35 minutes. He calmly takes out his camera phone to take a picture.
6. The Curse of Chucky
As if the story about the killer doll is not terrible enough in itself, so the PR people decided to tickle the nerves of the potential audience with the help of a rally to promote the film.
The team hid a guy in a suit of Chucky behind a movie poster at a bus stop in Brazil. While people were waiting for their transport, the false Chucky broke through the glass and chased unsuspecting victims with a knife in his hand. This is quite extreme in terms of jokes, but a very catchy sight.
5. Shark Tornado
This is a 5-film franchise that everyone loves to hate because of horrible special effects, disgusting dialogs and strange looking sharks in an incredibly fake tornado.
Fortunately, there is an interesting rally that at least partially compensates for the extreme wretchedness of this movie.
For the second part of Shark Tornado, the English television channel Syfy decided to put an animatronic shark in a fish store. And hidden cameras capture the reaction of customers when a shark comes to life right next to them.
4. The coming of the devil
Although this 2014 horror film about a woman pregnant with the Antichrist failed in viewer ratings, it served as the basis for a diabolical joke.
Imagine a situation: you are walking along the street when you suddenly notice a stroller that rolls by itself and hear a baby cry. Motivated by a sense of excitement for an unattended baby, you go up to the stroller, fold back its sun visor and see ... something like a Gollum cub, with a distorted face and eyes without proteins.
And at the same time, it can also cover you with vomit (more precisely, with the composition that its creators wanted to give out for vomiting). I don’t know about you, dear readers, but my heart would have gone to heels.
3. Spell 2
In many horror films, a scene is widespread in which the protagonist, "to wake himself up from a nightmare," sprinkles water on his face and then looks in the mirror. Sometimes the hero opens the cabinet in the bathroom, and when he closes it again, a different face appears in the mirror on the door, or a figure is located directly behind the character.
To promote "Spell 2" a rally was invented in which a two-way mirror was used. In it, an unsuspecting bathroom user was shown the image of a creepy nun. And then another actress depicted an otherworldly being already emerging from the mirror.
2. Paranormal: Ghosts in 3D
The success of the first “Paranormal Phenomenon” spawned many sequels, including “Ghosts in 3D” 2015 release.
To create hype before its release, a hidden camera was installed in the original house used for the first film. The house was supposedly put up for sale, and during the “open door” session, potential buyers received much more impressions than they expected. Let's just say: welcome to the ghostly dimension!
1. It
The list of the best pranks for movie advertising would not be complete without mentioning one of the worst horror films of all time.
When the film “It” was released at the Prime Cinemas cinema in Bolivia, the managers of the establishment decided that it would be fun to advertise the film, instructing one employee to change into a terrible clown and scare people.
Although this make-up clown is no longer like the creepy Pennywise, but like Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise, he still managed to tickle the nerves of several people.
