Welcome back to Trailers
on Trial where we pass judgment on the snippets of film or game footage
released to build up hype. Will the game/movie of today live up to said hype or
do we even care with what we’ve been shown? Today’s defendants are the new Persona 5 trailer AND the remake of Poltergeist (2015).
Having never seen the original Poltergeist, I can safely say that I wasn’t clamoring for a new
remake of the series anytime soon. But, out of the woodwork, it decided to show
up like that unannounced friend of a friend you try to avoid at parties. He
comes in with his inappropriate T-shirt, loud talking, and drinking too much
too fast. His best friend says he’s the life of the party, but most people are
annoyed with his antics because they were trying to have a nice relaxing
evening and then this asshole shows up. Oh, wait, I’m on a tangent.
So for those who don’t know, Poltergeist is a story about a haunted house in which a dead spirit
torments a family and only the little girl seems keenly aware of it at the time
it happens. See also parodies in shows like The
Simpsons because that’s been done to death too. That being said, this
remake comes from people who threw together Evil
Dead (note it didn’t specify which one in the trailer) or The Grudge (the less enthralling
American version). I’m always suspicious when they have to include this like
said pedigree makes a damn bit of difference on the outcome of THIS particular
film. It’d be like if it’s an M. Night Shaymalin film and it said “From the
mind that gave you Unbreakable and Sixth Sense.” Sure, good films, but that
completely ignores the past five to ten years of shit he’s spewed out since
those films.
In this film, it looks genuinely interesting in terms of a
remake. It seems the effect budget has been given ample amounts of funds to
work with and the line that says the spirit already knows their fears has my
attention as well. But I’m also a fan of Batman’s
Scarecrow and the Silent Hill games,
so things that focus on personal fears of individual characters is a
fascinating attempt at character study… if done properly that is. I don’t
expect it will be since I imagine this film has to keep things full of jump
scares and be cut for time. But I can still hope.
Aside from that, the trailer is about as basic and simple as
any other horror-film trailer. Establish setting, show fleshy mortals who will
be tormented, and then show a succession of scary moments from the movie, but
not the best ones and not all of any particular one save for the one involving
a clown. Granted, that’s an interesting view of that scene, but I’m hoping it
was cut for the trailer and its pacing is a bit slower to let tension build up
more. Otherwise it’s a good idea poorly executed.
Verdict here is that… well… it’s a remake of a film that
never needed remaking. It looks like a nice coat of polish to something that
was already sitting on a fairly nice shelf to being with. So I really don’t see
the need for it. Granted, I may check it out if said polish pays off, but I’m
highly skeptical of that. I’m not hype for this yet, but I’m keeping my eye
open for any additional trailers. Or I’ll just go to this on date night if
things keep going the way they are with certain people I’m with.
Next we have Persona
5. I’m going to try and be as civil as possible because I know the Persona fanbase is strong and pretty
defensive of their insane school / hell RPG simulator. That out of the way, to
sum things up, Persona 5 is a sequel
to Persona 4 (surprise) in which you
play generic anime protagonist on an unspecified quest to battle your inner
demons and the inner demons of your school mates / people you know. You spend
half the time in a nightmarish limbo known as high school and the other half in
hell and you have to determine which of the two you’d rather spend your time
with.
Each game has a specific theme to it. I’m not familiar with Persona’s 1-3, but the fourth game’s
theme was all about fear and struggling with acceptance of those fears.
Presumably, from sources I’ve read, the next game’s theme is more about anger,
but I’m not sure. What I am sure of is this game looks to be channeling a
“super-hero” vibe with everyone wearing Batman & Robin style masks. These
are likely replacements for the glasses from Persona 4 to allow characters to see in the hell-world, but it
could also be part of a new game mechanic or system we aren’t fully aware of.
From the trailer, we can already tell who are our new
replacements for the supporting characters of the previous game. We also get a
good look at the inventory menus, some navigating in the hell-world
(presumably), a sneak peak at a few cutscenes, and a glimpse at our possible
enemy/antagonist. The new enemies in general look interesting at this point. At
least more interesting than the enemies we had to fight in the early stages of Persona 4, but maybe I’m of that mindset
because I just finished Dark Souls 2.
Regardless, this at least looks more fun already from the previous game, and Persona 4 was a damn solid game. Have I
mentioned music yet? That’s pretty great too.
Verdict? All-in-all, this trailer helped create awareness
that the game is coming soon… in Japan at least. But, yeah, color me red with
excitement because this game does look like something I’d be down for playing
if the characters to turn out at least half as cool as they look. There are
even bits that look like stealth gameplay and I love stealth gameplay. I’m
hoping that’s a new big feature we get to mess around with because I’d be so
down for that. Hype? Not all the way, because we are only confirming that the
Japanese game is on its way. It’s Atlus, so an American version will be around
soon enough, but I think I can agree with most of us non-Japanese that we’re
excited to see this come out to the west.
That’s all for this week’s Trailers on Trial. Tune in again soon for more trailer-talk and
we’ll be back soon with BulletPoints.
Enjoy! If you liked this and want to see more Trailers on Trial, please be sure to like, share, comment, and
subscribe. See ya next time!
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