Welcome to the first Trailer Tuesdays where you’re sure to find the best highlights from film trailers released theatrically or virally in the past week.  Plus, we throw in one trailer that’s so ridiculous that it’s awesome.

This week we found two major summer blockbusters that will hopefully prove to be good, not just cool, as well as one indie horror that will hopefully prove to be as scary as it is original.

Cowboys and Aliens

See trailer here

This film is a perfect example of a terrible premise with a cheesy title that is executed so well that it might actually turn out to be good.  The best quote I’ve heard about this film was when director Jon Favreau was being interviewed about why he chose to do this concept, he replied saying that since lots of people believed that aliens visited ancient cultures such as the Mayans and Egyptians, why can it not be believable that aliens visited the Old West?  So as long as he’s sticking by the idea, I’m down.

Certainly the best choices that were made for this film were getting Daniel Craig for the lead and Jon Favreau of Iron Man fame to direct.  This combination is certain to bring some real credibility to this film.  Craig seems to bring an old-school “bad ass-ness” to this part that has been lacking from most modern westerns.

No one could draw an alien side-arm as cool as him.  And Favreau has an uncanny ability to make even the most ridiculous action scenes seem somehow grounded in reality.

Of course you can’t forget Olivia Wilde, who is quickly becoming the hottest female action star; Sam Rockwell, who popped out of nowhere in this newest theatrical trailer but is nothing short of amazing in everything he does; and Harrison Ford, who just goes without saying.

Overall, this trailer is exciting and gets you pumped on some great visuals.  Hopefully this will be even better than Iron Man, as well as the coolest graphics of the summer.

Who doesn’t love a good viral marketing campaign? We sure do. That’s exactly what is going on with Jim Mickle’s upcoming vampire flick, Stake Land. That’s right: vampires and viral videos. Get ready to explode, internet.

The film stars modern horror queen Danielle Harris, and comes from a place where vampires rule the world and are a complete plague on humanity, and not just shiny, shirtless guys with big hair who date high school girls. Here’s the official synopsis.

America is a lost nation. When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. Cities are tombs and survivors cling together in rural pockets, fearful of nightfall. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin (Gossip Girl’s Connor Paolo) is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter (In the Cut’s Nick Damici) whose new prey are the undead.

The film hits theaters on April 22nd, but you can get a taste of what you’re in store for with their viral video after the jump in which a young aspiring filmmaker attempts to shoot a home video with his father, until he notices a change in him, and not for the better.

Jane:  Short Fuse: This collection of horror shorts had a few that really stood out to me among the crowd.

Ninjas (directed by Dennison Ramalho) was anticipated to be one of the best by a lot of people that I spoke with at FF.  It contained a truly disturbing scene and an inventive visual sequence that had me squirming in my seat, though some of the imagery used was remeniscent of J-horror films (which a lot of people like, I think I am just way burned out on it).   

Rosenhill (directed by Johnan Lundborg and Johan Storm) is a clever piece about an elderly woman who has recently moved into a nursing home and believes that the staff have nefarious plans for her.  I really enjoyed it.  

Interview (directed by Sebastian Marka) is a dark, humorous yarn which slowly unravels as a journalist interviews a serial killer – this film was a lot of fun and made great use of it’s short running time.  

Off Season (directed by Jacob Jaffke) a man and his dog break into unused summer homes by an ice covered lake during the winter season and find something disturbing and terrifying while they pilfer for loot.  This piece was so beautifully filmed, the stark winter setting adds a tremendously haunting atmosphere to the story, this was easily my favorite among the short programs.

Stake Land (directed by Jim Mickle and starring Danielle Harris, Connor Paolo and Nick Damici) Set in a kind of post-apocalyptic world in which vampires have infested nearly every part of the globe (save the colder climates, as these vampires are cold-blooded like reptiles), a young boy is rescued by an older man after his family is slaughtered and together they seek refuge in a place called New Eden (Canada) which they believe is free of vampire infestation.

It’s hard not to make comparisons to The Road – and to a lesser extent, to Zombieland – because there are many similarities.  This isn’t to say that the film isn’t good – I enjoyed it quite a bit – but I do think it suffers from the resemblances that it bears to other recent releases covering similar themes.

By Shannon Hood and Jane Almirall

Shannon: It was all interviews, all day. First up was director Jim Mickle from Stake Land, along with actors Nick Damici and Connor Paolo.  What a great group of guys.  The trio were there to promote their post apocalyptic road/vampire movie.  Look for the interview and a review of Stake Land in the next week or so.

Our second interview of the day was with director Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen, and Hatchet 2) along with Danielle Harris and Kane Hodder for Hatchet 2.  This was an exciting interview for me.  I’m a big Adam Green fan, and I’ve been watching Kane Hodder in horror movies since the late eighties.

Press day wrapped up with a chat with the Australian director Josh Reed, actress Qwen Boylan, and actor Wil Traval, who were discussing their IFC featured film Primal. All three interviews and film reviews will be published as soon as we can get them up.

Jane: The Housemaid 1960  Digitally remastered, this film is a slowly-paced, stylized tale of a prosperous family and their mentally unstable housemaid.  Characters manipulate, lie, plot and psychologically torture one another after the father conducts an impulsive affair with the maid, the consequences of which escalate out of control.

I must confess, the overly dramatic acting style made this feature a bit of a slog to get through, but a surprising twist at the end paid off in a big way.

Hatchet 2 (directed by Adam Green starring Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris.) This film plays like a cinematic love letter to the slasher films of the 80’s – the horror movies of my childhood that I grew up loving.  Many horror film icons turn up as characters as Marybeth and Victor Crowley square off for mutual retribution, resulting in the kind of revolting gore and over the top violence that fans of Hatchet have come to expect from Adam Green. Hatchet 2 features some inventive and disgusting kill scenes (FUN!) and in defiance of censorship will be released as an unrated feature.

Jack Chop (directed by Adam Green.) This short film was the bumper preceding Hatchet 2 – which nicely set the tone for the somber exercise in minimalist restraint that was the main feature.  I kid!  This 3 minute, mock-infomercial for a jack ‘o lantern carving kit was a gory, goofy bit of slapstick – in the vernacular of the director, it was wicked awesome.