Yesterday I was at the New Beverly Cinema to see the double feature of Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead that was being introduced by director Edgar Wright. The films remain great, especially Shaun, which speaks to me in a very personal way, but the unexpected treat of the evening came when Edgar showed some classic trailers picked from the Quentin Tarantino collection. For Fuzz there were cop movies, like 48 Hours and the amazing looking Burt Reynolds film Fuzz (based on Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels), and for Shaun there were horror and zombie trailers.
Of those trailers, one stood out like a shining beacon of amazing: The Uncanny. Starring Peter Cushing, this movie seems to be about the concept that cats are demonic beings in our midst just waiting to rise up and claw the shit out of us. This concept, in the trailer at least, is played deadly straight, with actors being assaulted by house cats flung from just out of camera range and pretending to be mauled by these adorable tabbies. I don’t even know how to explain to you the gut-busting hilarity of terrified cats hanging on to an actress’ back while the soundtrack blares pre-recording hissing and meowing – the whole thing is triumphantly terrible.
This trailer also played during Tarantino’s Grindhouse Festival at the New Beverly*, where it was an equally big hit, but I can’t find the damn thing online. Sure, the best way to experience the trailer for The Uncanny is probably in a big crowd in a theater, but not enough people will ever have that chance. That’s why I am reaching out here, in print (or pixels, anyway), to beg Tarantino to get together with Joe Dante and friends at Trailers From Hell and let the whole of the internet in on this magnificent piece of misguided marketing.
The world is looking to you, QT. Make this happen for all of us.
*By the way, I’m heading back here a lot. Next week they’re showing Rolling Thunder, and the week after John Carpenter’s The Thing! If you’re in LA and you read this site, this theater is like your best friend. Click here for the New Beverly website.