The Movie:

For those unfamiliar with the whole Trailers From Hell concept, listen up - what it is, in a nutshell, is basically a website where a few times a week they'll post a trailer with an introduction and commentary from a 'guru.' More often than not, said guru is a filmmaker, so we tend to get some insight into the filmmaking process, maybe a bit of talk as to why this trailer is interesting or some trivia about the movie that it was originally made to promote in the first place, stuff like that. The concept works and it works well and generally things are done with a bit of a sense of humor as well, meaning the content is interesting and funny rather than dull and overly academic. Joe Dante spearheaded the idea a few years ago and it's been going strong ever since.

Trailers From Hell Volume 2 features the following participants giving commentary for the following trailers:

-Brian Trenchard-Smith: Devil Ship Pirates, Stranglers of Bombay
-Joe Dante: Donovan's Brain, The Invisible Ghost
-Guillermo Del Toro: Deep Red, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
-Ernest Dickerson: The Creeping Unknown
-Mick Garris: Fire Maidens From Outer Space, Flesh Gordon
-Jack Hill: Pit Stop
-Larry Karaszewski: Last Summer, The Tenant
-Lloyd Kaufman: Terror Firmer
-Mary Lambert: Godzilla Vs. Mothra
-John Landis: Gorgo
-Josh Olson: Jaws, The Lineup
-Michael Peyser: Seven Days In May
-Roger Corman: Ski Troop Attack, The Premature Burial

So what we wind up with is roughly forty-five minutes worth of trailers for films from different genres but with an emphasis on horror and action movies available to watch with or without commentary from various filmmakers. This is a pretty fun combination, as you can enjoy the trailers au natural or with insight from industry professionals (and in the case of Corman and Kaufman, the men who made the movies in the first place!). The commentaries are obviously only as in depth as the frequently short running time of the trailers will allow for but all involved do a good job of cramming in as many facts and witty observations as time will allow and as such we get some fun insight here.

Highlights include Brian Trenchard-Smith's take on two of Hammer Films' adventure films, his sense of humor shines through and makes these two in particular a lot of fun. Lloyd Kaufman is also in fine form, hyping up his own Terror Firmer as best he can while Landis' take on the importance of British monster movie Gorgo is also quite fun. Corman's memory is still as sharp as ever and so of course listening to his thoughts on both Ski Troop Attack and The Premature Burial should be considered mandatory for anyone with an interest in his work. All in all, while it would have been nice to see more trailers included here (and with those more commentary tracks), what we get is quality stuff and there's not a stinker in the bunch.

Video:

The aspect ratio for Trailers From Hell Volume 2 changes depending on which trailer we're watching, but generally the overall quality of the image is fine. There is a Trailers From Hell logo in the bottom left corner during playback, which is annoying, but the picture quality here is fine.