About a month or so ago I reviewed Kung Fu Trailers of Fury from Severin Films. I loved it, it’s a wonderful set of kung fu trailers but I talked about how it’s strange to review trailer sets. I never know where to begin or what to talk about exactly. I ended up making it through that review ok, so I’m going to give it another go with Trailer Trauma, the second Blu-ray release from Garagehouse Pictures.

When Garagehouse Pictures sent out their press release for Trailer Trauma they did so by offering up quite the promise. Here’s the synopsis they give:

Unlike other collections which often recycle the same old previews for the same old genre titles, Trailer Trauma features rare theatrical trailers that have not been previously released on DVD. See over two hours of previously unavailable trailers for some of the most ridiculous films in history: thrill to the action of BLACK FIST, IRON MASTER, and KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! Quiver in horror as you face the DAWN OF THE MUMMY, the REVENGE OF THE LIVING ZOMBIES, and the INCREDIBLE TORTURE SHOW! Scratch your head at the utter absurdity of DEATH BED, MUTANT WAR, and NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER! For fans and connoisseurs of psychotronic cinema, TRAILER TRAUMA is an essential addition to any collection.

Advertising trailers that have not been previously released on DVD (or Blu-ray for that matter) is quite the selling point. Now I can’t 100% confirm their claim, but I have a number of DVD trailer sets and I can say what Garagehouse delivered with Trailer Trauma is definitely not a duplicate of anything else I own. So yes, it is possible that some of these trailers have appeared elsewhere, but I think it’s safe to take their word when they say they haven’t.

This set is jam packed with trailer goodness. Coming in at over 2 hours (2 hours and 17 minutes to be exact) Garagehouse Pictures managed to squeeze in 65 trailers. At least 65 trailers is what they have listed, although the first one is the animated cat for the old restricted feature warning that you see on some older grindhouse films (or newer films going for that old grindhouse vibe). So if you don’t count that, there’s only 64, however, some trailers are for double bills, essentially giving you trailers for two movies in one. If I remember correctly there are two of these such trailers, so that would give us a final tally of 66 trailers plus the restricted cat trailer. That’s a lot of stuff!

Unlike Severin’s Kung Fu Trailers of Fury, there is no specific theme for Trailer Trauma. The majority of the trailers are horror of course, but not all. A few other varieties are tossed in like a trailer for the martial arts film No Retreat, No Surrender, which I believe was Jean-Claude Van Damme’s debut feature. A few other action-y/ninja trailers make appearances throughout.

Choosing a favorite trailer on this one is not easy. There’s plenty to choose for and a lot of it I had never seen before. Umberto Lenzi’s Sacrifice!, also known as Deep River Savages, makes an appearance. That one is most definitely memorable and maybe the most graphic trailer of the bunch. Mean Frank and Crazy Tony is another one that really jumped out at me. This looks to be a buddy cop film with a more violent edge. It stars Lee Van Cleef and Tony Lo Bianco. I’ve never seen it, but after watching the trailer it’s most certainly high on my list of must-see movies.

If I had one complaint about Trailer Trauma is that there aren’t any special features of any kind included. Not a huge deal but I would have loved to hear more about these trailers. Per the specs the trailers were digitally mastered in 4k (and they do look great) from various 35mm release prints. It would have been really cool to hear about these prints and where they found them. I know Garagehouse Pictures has a very interesting story about how they stumbled upon the print for Ninja Busters, their first feature film release, so I’m curious if something similar happened with these.

The package is really nice for the Blu-ray. Garagehouse uses clear cases which I appreciate because it allows you to show off more art. And the artwork here is spectacular. The incredibly talented Stephen Romano is responsible for this all-new original art and he did a wonderful job. It makes for a nice movie to show off on your shelf with the rest of your collection.

Trailer Trauma is really awesome. If you love movie trailers, especially for older cult/horror movies, you’ll most definitely love this. And better yet, this is just the start for Garagehouse, Trailer Trauma 2 is coming out next month!

Trailer Trauma is now available on Blu-ray from Garagehouse Pictures.