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- Everyone has experienced watching a movie that proved to be completely different from what they were expecting. Not because of the quality or because of a plot twist, but because the genre of the movie proved to totally different from what was presented in the trailers. Whether it was a horror movie that turned out to be more of a comedy, or a comedy that proved to be far darker than what was presented, some movies caught audiences completely off-guard when it came to their actual genre.
Marketing a movie is an art form in its own right. Whether it's posters, trailers, TV spots, or press events, marketing professionals have to constantly strike the right balance between showing audiences enough about a movie to garner interest, without spoiling too much of the plot. Companies even release trailers for trailers now, while YouTube channels dissect every frame of a trailer to try and find hidden details.
Sometimes trailers will try to trick audiences, deliberately framing scenes to present a moment differently from how it occurs in the final film. Others will even mislead viewers with their titles. While these methods can sometimes pay off with happy viewers who revel in the surprise, other times audiences feel betrayed by what they consider lying. The following movies went one step further and presented themselves as different genres, before revealing themselves to be something else entirely.
Updated on April 26, 2023, by Ty Weinert:
Everyone has experienced watching a movie that proved to be completely different from what they were expecting. Not because of the quality or because of a plot twist, but because the genre of the movie proved to totally different from what was presented in the trailers. Whether it was a horror movie that turned out to be more of a comedy, or a comedy that proved to be far darker than what was presented, some movies caught audiences completely off-guard when it came to their actual genre.
14 'Kangaroo Jack' (2003)
When Charlie (Jerry O'Connell), the stepson of a mob boss, is sent to the Australian outback to deliver $50,000, he loses the money after a kangaroo runs off with the jacket it is hidden in. Together with his best friend Louis (Anthony Anderson), Charlie must navigate both the dangers of the outback and the mobsters on their tail.
Marketed as a family comedy film featuring the titular talking kangaroo, audiences were disappointed that Kangaroo Jack only featured one scene where the kangaroo talked, and it was a dream sequence. That is because the movie was originally a mobster comedy called Down and Under, but they completely re-edited the movie after poor test screenings to try and salvage it as a family movie. Hence, why it contains more than a few violent scenes and sex jokes.
13 'Jennifer's Body' (2009)
When teenager Jennifer (Megan Fox) gets the chance to hang out with her favorite band, she is thrilled. Things take a dark turn, however, when the band sacrifices her to Satan, in order to achieve fame. Revived as a succubus, Jennifer begins munching on the boys at school, forcing her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to try and stop her.
While trailers were straight up about Jennifer's Body being a horror movie, the marketing presented the film as a sex comedy, objectifying Fox in her first leading role. Instead, the movie is a feminist look at female friendship and how those seeking power will happily exploit women in order to achieve their goals.
12 'Lady in the Water' (2006)
Superintendent Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) finds a mysterious young woman swimming in his building's pool at night. Discovering her name is Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), Heep learns that she is a Narf, a fantasy creature. Along with the other residents, Heep aids Story in her quest to save humanity.
Not one of M. Night Shyamalan's best movies, Lady in the Water is packed full of too many ideas that are not properly explained. The marketing did not help, as it suffered a similar fate to Unbreakable, where trailers made it seem like a horror movie similar to his classic The Sixth Sense, when in reality it is a dark fairy tale.
11 'Observe and Report' (2009)
Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is a mall security guard who takes his job very seriously, so when a flasher begins tormenting shoppers, he makes it his mission to stop him. While in Ronnie's head he is a hero crusading for justice, his erratic actions expose his unstable personality to those around him.
Releasing when Rogen was famous for his stoner comedies Pineapple Express and Superbad, Observe and Report was expected to be in a similar vein. Instead, it is a black comedy that is more concerned with exploring the dark mind of its protagonist and comes closer to being a comedic take on Taxi Driver.
10 'Sucker Punch' (2011)
When a young girl named Baby Doll (Emily Browning) is committed to an asylum by her abusive stepfather, she plots to escape alongside her new friends. As they begin to put their plan into motion, Baby Doll fantasizes about several dream scenarios where the girls are warriors fighting against an onslaught of soldiers.
It is easy to take pity on Sucker Punch's marketing team as the movie is hard enough to describe to a friend. Zack Snyder creates a live-action anime in what is a melding together of dark drama and fantasy action. Trailers leaned heavily into the action side, despite the fact that the core of the film is the girls in the asylum.
9 'It Comes at Night' (2017)
Set during the aftermath of an apocalypse, It Comes at Night follows a family living securely within a house in a desolate wasteland. As another family arrives seeking shelter, the first decides to do the right thing and lets them in. But as the situation becomes increasingly desperate, paranoia may push both families over the edge.
Another movie that rode on misleading marketing, It Comes at Night presented itself as a straight-up horror movie in trailers, even giving hints that it may feature zombie-like creatures. Instead, audiences got a slow-burn thriller, more focused on building tension within the house than exploring the nightmares that exist outside of it.
8 'Red Eye' (2005)
Hotel manager Lisa (Rachel McAdams) is flying home after attending her grandmother's funeral, happily conversing with the charming Jackson (Cillian Murphy), who is seated next to her. When Jackson reveals himself to be a terrorist, Lisa is trapped in the air with him as she becomes a crucial piece in his terror plot.
Whenever Wes Craven's name is attached to a film, it is easy to assume it will be a slasher movie. Red Eye is instead a single-location thriller, as Lisa tries to escape from her tormentor. Marketing did their best to publicize the movie as a horror, but instead, Red Eye is an example of Craven's flexibility as a director.
7 'Catfish' (2010)
The movie that coined the phrase for deceiving people online, Catfish is a documentary that follows Nev Schulman as he engages in an online relationship with a woman he has never met. As doubts grow about his partner, Nev and the film crew travel to meet her and uncover her true identity in the process.
Catfish had a strange marketing campaign, as it was seemingly marketed as a horror movie before the truth was revealed. Early teasers used review quotes that referenced the work of Alfred Hitchcock, while its indie documentary feel gave the trailers a Blair Witch Project vibe. The end result is just a simple documentary far removed from the darker material the marketing hinted at.
6 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)
A coming-of-age comedy movie about growing up in the 1980s, Fast Times at Ridgemont High stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stacy Hamilton, a freshman interested in dating for the first time. As she navigates the potential suitors that come into her life, her friends and classmates each deal with their own problems, often with hilarious results.
Another movie that fell victim to being marketed as a high school sex comedy, some trailers for Fast Times do not even feature Stacy at all. Most people who have not seen the film would assume that comic relief Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is the star, as the character is plastered over most of the marketing materials for the movie.
5 'Bridge to Terabithia' (2007)
When lonely 11-year-old Jess (Josh Hutcherson) befriends new kid Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb), they spend their days playing in the woods together. Imagining a fantasy world that they can shape at will, Bridge to Terabithia creates this magical realm around them as the two children create their new surroundings.
Marketing for Bridge to Terabithia really lent into this fantasy aspect, so much so that viewers would be forgiven for thinking it is a fantasy movie. What those viewers and their children did not expect is a movie about everlasting friendship and childhood loneliness, as the film becomes a feel trip about all-consuming grief.
4 'From Dusk Till Dawn' (1996)
Brothers Seth (George Clooney) and Richie Gecko (Quentin Tarantino) are on the run from the law after committing a crime spree in Texas. Needing to cross the border to Mexico to achieve safety, they take Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) and his two children hostage, intent on using them to get there.
Directed by Robert Rodriquez and written by Tarantino, From Dusk till Dawn appears to resemble the crime movies Tarantino cut his teeth on. That is until halfway through the film when it pivots into a vampire gore fest, with the criminals and their captives forced to work together to survive one hell of a night.
3 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
The horror musical from Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd stars Johnny Depp as the titular character, a criminal who returns to his hometown for revenge against those who framed him. Wielding a straight razor, Todd takes up trade as a barber, but it is merely a facade as he uses that same razor to murder those that wronged him.
While everyone knows what kind of kooky antics to expect from a Burton movie, the trailers for Sweeney Todd left out the fact that it is a musical. So you can imagine the shock on viewers' faces when they arrived at the cinema only to discover Depp and Helena Bonham Carter singing together as they kill their enemies.
2 'Drive' (2011)
The movie that helped Ryan Gosling break away from his The Notebook persona, Drive sees the actor playing Driver, a getaway specialist who lends his services to criminals in need. Normally a consummate professional, Driver finds himself wrapped up in a deadly plot after falling for his new neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan).
The trailers for Drive presented the film as an action movie, but it is instead a noir film, more focused on its title character than building suspenseful sequences. This bait and switch was not appreciated by some, as an American woman filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers due to what she dubbed "misleading marketing."
1 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (2004)
When Joel (Jim Carrey) discovers that his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has undergone a procedure to remove all memories of him from her brain, he signs up for the same operation out of spite. But as Joel goes under, he relives his memories of his lost love and tries desperately to save them before it is too late.
One of the best romance movies of all time, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a devastating look at the fallout of a relationship ending and the impact it has on those involved. It is a far cry from the marketing, which made the movie look much more like a comedy than it really is.