These Scary-ass Super Bowl Trailers Say, “To Hell with Sleep”
We’re barely into February, but there’s no doubt that Super Bowl LIII will go down as one of 2019’s biggest television events. As more people get their TV fix from Netflix, Amazon, and other on-demand services, live must-see programming is going the way of the Blackberry. Live sports are one of the last remaining examples of TV viewers must experience live. And when it comes to event television, nothing pulls in viewers like the Super Bowl.
With tens of millions of eyeballs on Super Bowl LIII, movie studios and TV networks released some of 2019’s most anticipated ads. If you’re a horror fan, many of last night’s trailers will make you squeal with delight. If scary movies freak you out, then last night’s ads delivered about a year’s supply of nightmare fuel. To much delight, Jordan Peele pulled double duty with a pair of unsettling ads. And we also received a sneak peek at a new offering from the wonderfully twisted mind of Guillermo del Toro.
Last night’s scariest Super Bowl trailers:
The Twilight Zone – April 01, 2019
This ad doesn’t show us a glimpse of the actual show, but it delivers something just as important: the deliciously creepy Twilight Zone vibe. In a clever twist, the commercial acts like part of the Super Bowl broadcast and cuts out as if there is a state of emergency. This meta mind-f#<k shows us that this new series is bringing the heat. Whether The Twilight Zone can take the horror anthology series crown back from Black Mirror remains to be seen, but watching Jordan Peele as Rod Serling 2.0 and hearing that creepy theme music gave me chills. The good kind.
Us – March 22, 2019
Key and Peele star Keegan-Michael Key refers to his collaborator Jordan Peele as “The black Stanley Kubrick.” And after the disturbing new Us trailer, you can see why. This nerve-wracking glimpse at Us is enough to make your skin crawl and makes a strong case for Peele as the next great horror film auteur.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – August 09, 2019
Looking back at my childhood, I can’t believe that my primary school teachers got away with reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark to their classes. Sure, the stories themselves gave me night sweats, but those macabre illustrations on the series’ covers haunted me. Guillermo del Toro forged his career by bringing people’s nightmares to life, and his latest work carries on that tradition.
Although GDT isn’t directing this picture, he is on board as a producer and co-wrote the script. But fear not horror fans, this movie is in good hands. The movie’s director André Øvredal is a horror master on the rise. If you’re a horror fan and haven’t seen his film The Autopsy of Jane Doe you really need to. Judging by these two ads, Øvredal nails these “children’s stories’” terrifying vibe. Come August 2019, an entire generation of moviegoers will start sleeping with the lights on.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 03 – 2019
While The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t about aliens, serial killers, or supernatural beings, it’s the series that scares me the most. Viral outbreak movies freak me out because I can envision a scenario where they come true. The Handmaid’s Tale gnaws away at those same anxieties. I don’t mind watching Jason slaughter a dozen camp counselors, but the religious zealotry and degree of brutality on display in The Handmaid’s Tale leaves my stomachs in knots. And to be honest, I may not have even made it through this trailer.
