Fake Movie Trailers We Wish Were Real

Constructing an entertaining movie trailer is an art form all its own—in fact, sometimes, filmmakers put them together for movies that don't even exist. Whether they're created by editing different movies together, using various effects to change the tone of existing footage, or actually putting together new footage, these clips are sometimes so entertaining that they leave us wishing we could see the full-length feature. There's a whole world of incredible fake movie trailers out there, and these are some of the very best.

Making a child-friendly movie seem horrific is generally a pretty simple editing trick—enough terrible violence happens in kids' movies already (just rewatch Home Alone if it's been a while) that with a simple change in score, the movies can easily look grotesque. That's why this trailer, which changes Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece The Shining into a feel-good family bonding movie, is such a delight. You'll be surprised by how well Kubrick's carefully placed shots meld with the kind of on-the-nose story that might have shown up on the Disney Channel on lazy afternoons. Plus, considering the way they originally filmed the Danny scenes, maybe this is the type of movie actor Danny Lloyd was told he was filming.

H.P. Lovecraft is a beloved horror writer, but there have been very few excellent film adaptations of his work—most directors either take indirect inspiration from his larger concepts or find themselves too compelled by the lure of making an action-monster movie to really dig into Lovecraft's slow-burning insanity. This trailer pulls double duty, not only by creating a trailer for a Lovecraft movie that genuinely looks great, but also perfectly mimicking the style of mid-budget '70s horror. Like trailers for those films, this fake trailer blatantly telegraphs what seem to be the only action-packed moments of the movie to disguise how many slow moments are in the actual feature. We'd love to see if the actual movie is as slow-paced (glacial even?) as it seems.

If nothing else, this trailer will finally teach you how to play Minsweeper, if, you've somehow reached adulthood without ever bothering to learn the rules for the ubiquitous computer game. Beyond that, the trailer leaves the viewer with more questions than answers— why are they even sweeping for mines? Wouldn't it be better to use metal detectors than shovels? Could a real movie really be made out of just adapting a game with fairly simple rules? Well, the answer to that one is pretty obvious, since Battleship exists—and unlike that movie, this trailer seems to have a good sense of humor about itself.

E.T. is surprisingly scary for a beloved children's movie. From the faceless government goons to the pruny, sack-shaped E.T. himself, there's plenty to be unsettled by in Steven Spielberg's classic film, and an enterprising YouTuber certainly found enough scary stuff in the original to imagine a trailer for a sequel about E.T.'s return. The level of continuity between the original and the hypothetical E.T. Extinction is pretty impressive, but using edits of other sci-fi features—and editing in scenes from movies starring the grown-up kids from E.T.—puts this fake trailer in a league of its own.

While the Halo franchise is beloved for its polished gameplay and multiplayer modes, the actual lore behind it is fairly similar to at least a dozen better-known science fiction properties. This would present a problem for a movie adaptation, since the gameplay elements are the one aspect that wouldn't be replicable on the big screen. Luckily, this trailer offers a brilliant solution to the problem of adapting Halo: turn it into a Bollywood film, with all the cheesy special effects and passionate singing that go with the territory. And hey, it's got more for Cortana to do than the entire game franchise, so it's at least an improvement in one way.

The original The Warriors, directed by Walter Hill, is pure nitroglycerine schlock, with a plot that never stops moving, incredible character designs, and all the violence and sex your parents always worried were in R-rated movies. This trailer looks like the perfect reboot of the original with a gruesome, neon-stained palette, relentless grindhouse appeal, and a low-fi pulp sensibility that looks perfectly at home with the current '80s nostalgia. While every trailer on this list shows a movie we wish existed, it's hard not to feel a pang of resentment that there isn't an actual Warriors remake (yet).

The original Daria animated show was an excellent look at a girl too smart for her own good, eventually coming to terms with her internalized bitterness and her need for people that responded to, and cared for, the real person underneath. She's a great character, but her type isn't entirely unique—as evidenced by the fact that Aubrey Plaza has been playing a variation on it in various shows and movies for over a decade. This trailer finally brings Daria and Plaza together with a note-perfect imagined sequel to the animated show, with jaw-droppingly excellent casting for every character on the original.

This trailer plays out like a perfect piece of stand-up comedy, building off the basic concept of a sequel to Titanic with genuine plot twists and laugh-out loud surprises. You might even be compelled to see if it's actually a real film—just one so embarrassing that the filmmakers destroyed any record of it. When a trailer's concept is this outlandish, yet strangely loyal to its source material, you can't help but wonder what it would look like as a big-budget feature—and the title, revealed at the end, is itself enough to make this worth a watch.