Worst description on back of case?
 

I was just reading the back of the case for Taxi Driver, and it describes the film as an "all-too-real story of a psychotic New York cabby who is driven to violence in an attempt to rescue a teenage prostitute." Bleh, what an awful description of this movie. Off the top of my head, I also hate the description on Vertigo since it gives away most of the movie.

Anyway, what are some of the worst descriptions of a movie you've seen?

Years ago I picked up a VHS copy of a Humphrey Bogart movie called Knock On Any Door, on which a synopsis of the entire movie was printed. I didn't realize I was having the whole movie spoiled for me till I got to the line "...and then in a shocking revelation, it turns out..."

The back of the Sleepaway Camp box set totally gives away the ending of the first movie. For someone like me who had never seen it, but had heard it had such a great ending, it really pissed me off.

I purchased Season one and two of 24 at about the same time (both were blind buys based off reviews), and the back of the box of the second season COMPLETELY spoils the ending of the first. Truly annoying.

The back of Battlefield Earth was pretty good... Just read it and tell me that is not a hoot? Talk about False Advertising...

Loaded with edge-of-your-seat action and extremely cool special effects, Battlefield Earth creates a totally new style of science fiction filmmaking.

Earth: It is the year 3000. Man is an endangered species. This original and innovative saga of alien conquest and ihuman rebellion is filled with humor, adventure and jeopardy, mixed with special effects that are completely real, combined together for an explosive and highly entertaining movie that will leave you exhausted!

In a role as you've never seen him, John Travolta stars as the cruelly destructive Terl (Alien Security Chief Of Earth); Barry Pepper is Earth's Fiery Rebel Leader, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, and Forest Whitaker as Terl's hilarious and deceptive assistant, Ker.

And, another funny side note, check out DVDempires page...
http://www.dvdempire.com/exec/v4_ite...&item_id=22798

Notice the other films the recommend for BFE? Gigli, Glitter and House of the Dead... ;) Classic.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Three!

" Great Thing about being a Slayer, Kiciking Ass is Comfort Food"

That is the entire description.

Friday the 13th part 3 says that "a group of naive counselors go into Jason's woods". There isn't a single counselor in that entire movie.

The synopsis that Lucasfilm came up with for the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set give away the entire plot and huge spoilers for the three movies.

Is the funny part that 'Kicking' is spelt totally wrong?

On bootlegs in china they will often have descriptions of different movies.

Well, though it's not quite the same thing, I think special recognition has to go to Dark Shadows volume 12. The picture on the front reveals a major plot twist.

ahh yes, i saw one of those once. It was a Harry Potter movie and i think it had the description for "Mission Impossible 2"

and not necessarily all in English!



The True Romance box doesn't tell you anything about the film at all.

Sweet Sixteen by Ken Loach. I think it was described as "heartwarming."

If you haven't seen The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ; don't read the back cover.

If you don't know what the show is about by the time you get to the third season, the back of the box isn't going to help you.

My vote is for Ghost World. I doubt the person who wrote the blurb ever saw the movie.

On the Big Lebowski there's a part where they reference his rug that really made the room "hang together"

But the run is a really important part of the movie, it's what sets everything in motion.

I've also noted that Angel Season 2-4 DVD sets on the back give away MAJOR plot spoilers...

I learned that the hard way when Season 3 came out. You can bet I won't make the mistake of even turning the box around when I get Season 4 tonight.

I always liked the plot synopsis on the back of the Remember the Titans DVD. It conveniently leaves out any mention of race. Not that that topic had ANYTHING to do with the movie, of course.

I dislike how the back cover of the Inherit The WInd DVD uses the real names of the people the characters were based on, and not the fictionalized names...

That is odd... I never noticed that before.


True, what's funny though is that The Dude used the term 'tied the room together', not 'hung together'.

its not nearly as bad as some have mentioned, but one of the special features listed on the back gives away the second season finale twist.

Wow, I just read the back of my copy. It is really bad.

D'oh, I had forgotten the phrasing.

And even the legit releases are often unintentially funny or even incomprehensible because of the translation. Some of these are real head-scratchers. Here's an example from Raped by an Angel 2:

Philip is a registered dentist also he is rapist. He has an evil hobby conquering all female in uniforms, such as girl guides and killing all those who resist him. One day, Philip tries to rape Jenny. When she resists, he kills her and frames Peter. Po Wan suspects this case, then she keeps tracking on Philip and how to catch Philip?

a LOT of back covers have major spoilers in.

I would say 1 out of 5 even give away the ending of the film you are about to watch!

I blame Zemeckis...

I think a lot of the writers of these DVD covers don't take into account that a lot of people reading the boxes won't have already seen the film.

One of my biggest complaints isn't about the blurbs on the boxes, because I almost never read those. What I hate is when they include things in the DVD's opening menus that give away major parts of the story! I sat down to watch Barton Fink with my sister who had never seen the film, and the opening menu has a huge spoiler about the true nature of one of the characters! Annoying!

Well I can't see what that gives away other than it is a western directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart!! To say "one gets the girl and the other the gunman" is not giving away any major plot elements or the twist toward the end. If you want to buy a film but know nothing about it, then the packaging has to say SOMETHING about what the film is about!

Beautiful Girls:

The morons at Miramax try to push this wonderfully thoughtful film about relationships and growing up as a brain dead joke fest. 'Hilarious!', and 'A Great Comedy!' are two quotes and they go on to describe it as:

'An all-star cast sparks this captivating comedy about a group of old friends whose 10-year high school creates some hilariously unexpected surprises.'

The UK disc however, has a different view - 'the reunion sparks a shocking turn of events'.

Hilarious or shocking? In reality it's neither.

Really? How about giving some examples. I have over 500 discs and as far as I can see none of them give away the ending.

The description for Good Girl makes it sound like a zany comedy or at least a comedy of some sort, when actually it's pretty dramatic and depressing. Same with Lost in Translation. I don't understand why dramas with some comic relief get stamped with the "comedy' lable on their cases. I guess people don't want to see Jennifer Aniston in a drama or Bill Murray for that matter? I have no idea. But the movies are not funny.

How about Planet of the Apes showing the ending on the front cover. You don't even need to get to the synopsis to ruin that movie!

About Schmidt has a pretty misleading cover with all the comedy blurbs on the front.