Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 12, 2017

"Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma" (2017) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Garagehouse Pictures. The supplemental features on the disc include a trailer park for other releases and new audio commentary by Michael Gingold, Grady Hendrix, and Chris Poggiali. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles. Region-Free.

Warren Oates in Cockfighter

In terms of variety, the fourth installment in the Trailer Trauma series is one of the very best produced. There are 268 trailers here for films that represent all major cinematic genres and just about all conventional subgenres that I could think of with the exception of the most extreme ones (the most notable omissions being European naziploitation and the hyper-violent jungle-horror). As far as time periods are concerned, it appears that the bulk of the content comes from the 1970s and 1980s.

I don’t know what the main criteria for the different genre selections were, but it seems like an effort was made to gather bigger classic titles with smaller cult favorites that had plenty of exposure during the drive-in era. For example, in addition to David Cronenberg’s Rabid, Videodrome, and The Brood, as well as Dario Argento’s Suspiria, The Cat o' Nine Tails, and Four Flies on Grey Velvet, there are vintage trailers for much smaller films like Don Barton and Arnold Stevens’ Zaat, Shan Hua’s Infra-Man, and Leon Capetanos’ Dirty O’Neil. Additionally, even though the primary focus is on more violent films, there is still a healthy dose of erotic comedies and even a few softcore pictures that have been basically ignored by Blu-ray distributors. Some good examples are Russ Meyer’s Supervixens, Jonathan’s Kaplan’s Night Call Nurses and The Student Teachers, Fred Torne’s Sixpack Annie, and Jack O’Connell’s Swedish Flygirls. I mention all of this because there is enough diverse content and perhaps the intent was for the collection to be used as a guide to many smaller but interesting films that might have remained in the shadows of the bigger and better promoted over the years classics.

A few words about the quality of the vintage trailers that are gathered here: If you have seen any of the previous three installments in the Trailer Trauma series and understand how they were remastered, I would say that you should expect pretty much the same type of age-related inherited imperfections from this installment. Garagehouse Pictures have transferred the materials that they accessed in 4K, but this does not mean that the end result matches the high-quality of elaborate 4K restoration projects that are being done for big studio films. In other words, quite a few of these trailers have rough spots or exhibit traces of conventional fading, though in a way the roughness actually enhances their drive-in personality.

*You can see the complete list of trailers in screencaptures #30, 31, 32, 33, and 34.

Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Garagehouse Pictures.

All of the content on this disc has been transferred in 4K, but you should not expect the type of high-quality that you get from elaborate 4K restoration projects of big studio films. (Transferred in 4K and restored in 4K are very different things). Also, the vintage trailers in the collection are actually conventional TV spots, so as you can probably guess many have most certainly been tested by time. This being said, the overall quality is actually pretty good. There are various damage marks, scratches, flecks, stains, and traces of fading, but all trailers actually fit in or around what I would consider to be decent quality for this type of content. Think of the entire collection as one big drive-in trailer park and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed. Basic image stability is good, though occasionally there could be some shaky transitions. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided.

The quality of the audio really depends on the condition of the materials that have been used. Occasionally there could be some unevenness in terms of dynamic movement and clarity could less than optimal, but there are no audio dropouts or sever distortions that would make some of the content unwatchable. What you get here is 'vintage quality' with the type of limitations that are common for it.

Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Garagehouse Pictures Trailer Park - a collection of trailers for other Garagehouse Pictures releases. (9 min).

• Audio Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by Michael Gingold, Grady Hendrix, and Chris Poggiali. I liked it a lot. It is very enthusiastic and there are excellent observations about the many films that are highlighted in the collection. It is well worth spending a couple of hours with it.

Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are a couple of boutique labels that have done very unique trailer collections on Blu-ray, and I have picked up all of them because I find them hugely entertaining. A few have reminded me of films that I had not revisited in a long time, and a few have actually inspired me to purchase smaller films that I had not seen before. (Check Severin Films and Umbrella Entertainment's catalogs as some of the best trailer collections are there). This new release from Garagehouse Pictures has one of the most diverse selections that I have seen to date, though it is probably worth pointing out that many of the trailers are actually vintage TV spots. Regardless, there is some fantastic content here, and once again I will likely end up picking up a couple of extra titles that I discovered while viewing the collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.