Trailers That Gave Away Way Too Much Of The Movie

There's nothing worse than watching a trailer for an upcoming movie you're excited about—only to realize halfway through that the trailer is going to give away the entire plot. It used to be that you only saw these spoilery trailers if you spotted them during theater previews or television commercials, but the internet has changed all of that. With trailer releases now a major part of the movie marketing cycle, millions of people might watch a trailer on YouTube within hours of its release—which makes these spoiler-filled clips an even bigger problem. Let's take a look at some of the worst offenders over the years.

The trailer for 2009's Last House on the Left leaves no surprise unspoiled as it bounces through the entire script, set to a "creepy" cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine." In the space of two minutes and thirty seconds, we learn that two young women have an unfortunate run-in with fugitives, who then murder one and shoot the other, leaving her for dead. As they look for a place to hide overnight, the gang ends up at the lake house of the girl they shot. If the trailer had stopped there, it would have been pretty good—unfortunately, it goes on to show the surviving girl making it home, and her parents exacting their revenge on the criminals...including the literal final scene of the movie. There's really no point in even watching it now. You know everything that happens.

To be fair, if you've read the Stephen King supernatural horror novel Carrie's based on, or you've seen the original 1976 version of the film, it's likely nothing about the 2013 remake was going to surprise you. However, for a new generation of horror fans or for oldsters with rusty memories, watching the trailer for the new Carrie was probably enough to give away the entire plot. 

It's immediately evident that Carrie is an outcast at school, with a religious and abusive mom, and she discovers she has strange powers. If they had stopped at the prom invitation and being shoved back into the closet, it would have been a great teaser. Instead, the studio decided to spoil the rest of the movie, setting up the prank and showing several clips from the infamous prom scene (and aftermath). Believe it or not, the 2013 trailer is at least better than the 1976 version, which is just as spoilery—and includes an annoying voiceover narrating every second of the action.

One thing we don't miss about vintage movie trailers: the annoying voiceovers. The trailer for 1985's Rocky IV is chock-full of dramatic narration that promptly spoils the death of Apollo Creed, along with Rocky's motivations to challenge Drago. It then goes on to spoil the early conflict between Rocky and Adrian, as well as the de rigueur training montage. 

While the trailer manages not to spoil the outcome of the fight between Drago and Rocky, that's the best thing that can be said for this spoilerific preview. Pour one out for Apollo Creed, because the trailer editors decided to reveal the death of a fan favorite character in the first 30 seconds of the preview. It'd be like putting the result of the showdown between Han Solo and Kylo Ren at the start of the trailer for The Force Awakens. These editors are just lucky that Twitter didn't exist back then, or they'd probably be out of a job.

When the first trailer for Shutter Island was released, Paramount Pictures didn't bother to hide much of the plot. For fans of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name, it was immediately obvious that the movie followed the book closely. For those who never read the book, they essentially now no longer needed to; the trailer pretty much neatly summarized the entire thing. It becomes evident early on that the disappearance of Rachel Solando is not the real mystery here, but the existence of a unknown 67th patient at the mental institution and the quickly accelerating deterioration of the main character's grip on reality.

Most critics and viewers seem to agree that Dream House was awful; the film was widely panned and stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz didn't even promote the movie. So even if you saw this completely spoilery trailer, it probably didn't much matter that it ruins the entire film. 

The trailer reveals that Craig's happy family was murdered, and what's more, that Craig was suspected of being the killer and was in a mental institution for years. It also shows him returning home to find his house condemned, before revealing his conversation with a neighbor (Naomi Watts) and the house burning down in the final confrontation. If you're curious about the movie, just watch the trailer and save yourself 92 minutes of "suspense."

The trailer for Ben Affleck's debut as Jack Ryan in 2002's The Sum of All Fears is a lesson in how NOT to do a trailer for a spy film. This clip sets up the main threat early on: will Affleck and Morgan Freeman be able to track down the missing Russian scientists before they can build a nuclear bomb and use it on behalf of their neo-Nazi employer? If you haven't read the Tom Clancy novel it was based on, that sounds like an intriguing plot, and might have drawn a casual viewer to see the movie. 

Unfortunately, the trailer then destroys all the suspenseful build-up a little over a minute in, showing the bomb's detonation. The rest of the premise—can Ryan keep the President from wrongly retaliating against Russia?—seems like a major letdown after such a big reveal.

Okay, we lied. The trailer for The Sum of All Fears isn't the worst offender in the "spoilery spy trailers" category. That dubious honor goes to the promo for 2011's The Double, starring Topher Grace and Richard Gere. The trailer sets up the mystery: is the notorious assassin Cassius actually dead, or is he back and taking out more CIA targets on behalf of his Russian handlers? Richard Gere and Topher Grace take the case, and things quickly start to go sideways as they get too close. 

That would have been a perfect place to end the trailer, but of course, they don't. Instead, they go through a laundry list of who Cassius could be: is it Martin Sheen? Is it Toper Grace? Is it the Russian dude in prison with creative facial scarring? No! It's actually been Richard Gere all along, and look—here are some pivotal scenes of him attacking people willy-nilly. Now that you know the big reveal, you don't have to waste a moment of your life watching the rest.

In many action films, one of the formulas used to keep suspense high involves hiding the true identity of the main villain. In 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, they use this strategy, with much of the first two acts of the movie spent without the main characters knowing who the bad guy actually is. Too bad they didn't watch the trailer, because then they could have had this wrapped up in time for dinner. The trailer lets us know just a little over one minute in that former Angel Madison (Demi Moore) is the bad girl this time, which pretty much defeats the purpose of watching the movie. As if that weren't enough, a later promo also spoils the totally-not-cheesy "helicopter-escape-from-falling-truck" gambit from the beginning of the film, which, sadly,  is probably the coolest scene in the entire movie.

We've saved this one for last because it's one of the biggest offenders—spoiling the entire plot of an otherwise great film and using a hilariously corny voiceover in the process. This is another one that you shouldn't read if you haven't seen the movie yet, because it's truly worth watching. 

By the end of the trailer, we know Martin (John Cusack) is a professional hitman, heading home for his high school reunion. While there, he reconnects with friends and an old flame, Debi. He's got some problems, though—his rival is in town, he's being chased by the feds, and his latest contract is actually for Debi's father. His rival decides to execute Debi's dad himself, sending Martin scrambling both to save him and make amends with his high school sweetheart before it's too late. Well, thanks for ruining the entire movie, Buena Vista. Thankfully, Grosse Pointe Blank is so good, it's worth seeing despite the trailer spoilers.

In the 2016 supernatural horror film The Forest, Natalie Dormer (of Game of Thrones fame) stars as Sara Price, an American woman who travels to Japan to search for her missing twin sister, Jess (also played by Dormer). Much of the plot revolves around the legendary Aokigahara forest, a real forest located on the flank of Japan's Mount Fuji. Aokigahara has become infamous over the years for its haunted reputation, and it's known as the "suicide forest" because of the number of people who travel there in order to commit suicide within the solitude of the "Sea of Trees."

When Sara learns that Jess may have traveled to Aokigahara in order to commit suicide, she goes to Japan to track her sister down, convinced that Jess is still alive. After she finds a guide to take her into the forest (against the advice of the locals), Sara is beset with terrifying experiences and visions—many of which may not be real. Unfortunately, most of the biggest scares of the film are ruined by the trailer, along with the climax of the film (spoilers ahead!), where Sara is dragged beneath the soil of the forest by the spirits.

Not to be confused with the 2011 satirical horror film of the same name starring Josh Hutcherson, the 2010 horror/slasher movie Detention starred David Carradine in one of his final roles, as well as Robin Williams' daughter Zelda Williams. Both movies had a similar premise: a group of high school students are stuck in detention, and a mysterious serial killer is on the loose, stalking the hallways of their school. While the 2011 spoof managed to poke fun at common horror tropes along the way, the 2010 Detention took itself much too seriously.

Neither film did particularly well at the box office, but the one Carradine starred in truly bombed, earning only $190, according to IMDb. If you're curious to see David Carradine in one of his final roles, good luck tracking down Detention—your best bet is probably to look for the DVD on Amazon or eBay. That being said, if you'd like to save yourself the time (and pain) of sitting through it, just watch the massive four-minute-long trailer—which manages to neatly spoil every major plot point along the way.