Here is a list of "Top 10 most deceiving trailers"(in random order). By deceiving, I mean the trailers don't do justice to the movies i.e. trailers (good) but movies (bad) or trailers (bad) but movies (good). By the way, the list was published in the Cinema Online magazine September 2004 issue.

1. Jaws
Who would have thought that the trailer for this classic hit was so boring and documentary-like? If there were remakes on trailers, this should definitely be one of them.

2. Van Helsing
After watching the trailer, this felt like a must-see summer movie. The story was ok, but something about the sound effect. It was so annoyingly loud. Overall, wouldn't really mind if I had missed it on the big screen.

3. Hulk
This reluctant superhero could have been another succesful comics-to-movies adaptation. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. Probably because everything fell flat (after being stomped by the overly-sized Hulk) from start to finish.

4. Murder By Numbers
The title and trailer suggested that a random murder was committed, new serial killer(s) might be on the loose here. Initially thought the movie was a reminiscent of Seven or Silence of the Lambs but sadly, this could well be just another episode of CSI.

5. The Day After Tomorrow
The special effects were nothing great. They were pretty much what we saw on the trailers. The director's work was also a bit streotyped if you compare it to his previous films. And enough with depicting the US as saving the world already!

6. Shrek2
The trailer introduced us to a plenty of new human characters instead of talking animals/monsters. Thus, I figured the sequel would no longer be interesting, but I was wrong. The movie was as great as the first one and luckily I didn't roll on the floor laughing.

7. Secret Window
Sadly for Stephen King, most of his hit books have not been successfully adapted into movies, with the exception of very few. And this was just another one. Despite good performance by Johnny Depp and an interesting trailer, one cannot deny the fact that the movie sucks! It was so dreadful that if 'secret window' did exist, I wouldn't mind jumping off that window and broke a leg afterwards.

8. LOTR, Fellowship of the Rings
Although a fan of fantasy genre, but those movies tend to bomb due to 'weak' characters and unreal special effects. The trailer seemed to convince my initial fear over LOTR. But after watching the movie, obviously this first installment had provided the much needed support for the two sequels to rise. And the rest, as they said, was history.

9. MIB2
The movie seemed to have scarier and sexier aliens. But after watching the ridiculous sequence when the big-teethed alien chewed off the train, I knew I'd be wasting the next two hours of my life in the cinema.

10. Master & Commander (M&C)
When I saw the trailer that showed a fight between two battle ships at sea within close range, it reminded me of "Cutthroat Island", another movie of similar genre that sunked so deep, it forced a production company to file for bankruptcy. But it turned out M&C floated just fine, thanks to superb acting and directing.

� Copyright Abdun Nizar Ahmad