Here is the IMDB plot description:
"Two criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in an establishment populated by vampires, with chaotic results."

That is the premise of the film summed up in one sentence. Just because you don't know there's vampires until it happens doesn't make it a spoiler. All films unfold their plots as they go on. Even the title is a hint that it's about vampires. The Exorcist is about a possessed girl. Is it a spoiler because we don't find that out until a little while into the film? No, of course not. There's a difference between spoiler avoidance and being so obsessive that you don't even want to know the premise of a film. I'm sure you get more surprised enjoyment that way, but it is impractical. It's like taking the labels off all the food in your cupboard and making every meal a surprise. Sure, it might be fun, but I happen to want to know if I'm eating tuna, or cat food.

Never mind the fact that the trailers, TV commercials, posters, interviews, video and DVD covers, etc. all labeled it as a vampire film. Really the fact that half of the movie is about a kidnapping was the surprise.

lol you idiot!

Make sure you use spoiler tags. I haven't seen it yet.

well if your watching that I do believe your fucked

Don't have the dvd, and can't for the life of me remember any of the advertising for it. It came out over ten years ago, and barely made it's budget back theatrically. Like many others, I caught FDTD on VHS by positive word of mouth.

This is getting ridiculous.

So should I consider Transformers 'spoiled' because I knew Michael Bay was directing?

Just from that I knew it would have irritating, smartass, human cardboard protaganists, irritating 'comic relief' characters, multiple sunset shots, excessive product placement, a jingoistic sense of righteousness, ridiculously cheap attempts at sentimentality, a lazy, insulting script and stunning special effects setpieces kept few and far between because of a stultifying insistance on displaying the 'human element'.

If I hadn't known it was a Bay picture, that all would have been a surprise and would have distracted me from how bad the picture actually was. (not really)

Still, I knew what it would be and I saw it in the theater (now, THAT is a mystery to me).

Re: From Dusk Till Dawn: What Rennervision stated was an extreme position and one that is not realistic in practice. While it is lamentable that films aren't marketed without revealing twists, I just don't think it is fair to expect a studio to spend multi-millions of dollars and not even give up the premise of a film. From Dusk Till Dawn is about the kidnappers in the bar filled with Vampires. That's not a twist it's the premise and it's fair game. Now, there have been films released with minimal information disclosed, but that in itself is a gimmick and you aren't going to release however many 100s of movies a year without giving the audience a clue as to what they are going to see.

As an individual, if you can manage to avoid spoilers then more power to you. I just don't think it's reasonable to expect to not know the Godfather is about gangsters until you've paid your admission and are watching it unfold. The surprise is in the story that unfolds, not the capsule description of the premise.

that's probably the best summary of transformers i've read yet.

I think this one issue is rather moot considering it is based on a cartoon that was created simply to sell toys.

You're missing my point. That's my generalization of EVERY Michael Bay picture.

My point is that I know exactly what to expect in practically every regard when I see one of his movies, so technically they are all 'spoiled' for me. And if I had the chance to see it without those preconceptions I might have enjoyed it (no fucking way).

As for why I see his movies, that's not for this thread... but I do believe it involves some insidious masochistic streak of mine.

I never watched the Rosie O'Donnell show when it was on, but happened to stop on it one day when she was complaining about how terrible a movie Fight Club was. She then compared the twist to Fight Club with the twist to The Sixth Sense, and even though she didn't say the twists directly, the gave away enough detail that I figured out the twists to both movies. So the bitch spoiled two movies in the same minute!

Then you have trailers like Arlington Road, Office Space, Snake Eyes, etc. that spell out the entire movie from start to finish.

I was scarred for life way back in 8th grade when a girl in my oceanography class said in a loud voice "Everybody knows Darth Vader is Luke's father". Empire had only been out for a few days and I hadn't had a chance to see it yet.

Seriously, scarred for life. You should see the lengths I will go through to avoid spoilers over the past 27 years. I think I've physically threatened people over spoiling movies for me. I read the last Harry Potter book in about a day, staying away from the net, tv, radio, and people in general just to avoid a single spoiler (it worked, for the first time ever I didn't hear one single spoiler before I finished something I was interested in).

My biggest two...

The Sixth Sense (which I've still never seen). The week after it was released to theaters, I had to go to a wedding with my then-girlfriend. She was in the wedding party. I was not. In fact, I didn't know anyone there, so they stuck me at a random table of the groom's friends. I was speaking to this guy who I already thought was a total asshole when we got to talking about movies. He was raving about this movie that he and his girl had just seen the night before but couldn't remember the name of. Eventually, without any warning, he asks his girl I answered him for her - "The Sixth Sense?" Him: "Oh hell, yes. Wasn't that ending awesome!" Me: "I have no idea. I've never seen it."

And the biggest...Usual Suspects. I was a junior in college. I rented the film the day it came out and bought a music magazine at the same time. When I got back to my place, I decided to wait to start the film until my roommates got back from class. So, I read the music magazine. Dave Grohl was a guest movie reviewer in the mag. He reviewed...the Ususal Suspects, promising that he would not spoil anything about this "amazing film" for anyone. He gave an intelligent review of the film that made me very excited to see it. The last line of Dickhead's (sorry, Grohl's) review of the film was Minutes later I was watching the movie cursing the asshole that is Dave Grohl. Love the movie. Still can't listen to the Foo Fighters without wanting to hurt the man.

I'm glad someone mentioned films that are spoiled by mongoloid trailers and tank at the box office for that reason, the worst example of which is, in my opinion, the trailer for What Lies Beneath. This level of idiocy is difficult to even conceive unless you realize that the film industry is run by over-medicated retards who only know about accounting and don't know and/or care about the films they market and therefore proceed regularly to shoot themselves in the foot, commercially speaking.

I liked the film a lot and I like to re-watch it but I'll never know what an unspoiled viewing of it is like...

On the other hand, let's not forget the excesses of spoilerophobia... I take it everyone is familiar with this urban legend:

Young girls are discussing Leonardo DiCaprio and Titanic in the schoolyard when one of them says: and one of the other girls starts screaming hysterically: "No! No! Why did you have to spoil the film for me?!" Only in America...

Or was that a sketch on "Saturday Night Live"?

Before Matrix Revolutions came out, some jerk on a usenet group that had nothing to do with movies put major spoilers in a thread title.

I went to a (non-Terminator) Schwarzenegger movie and one of the people I was with saw someone he knew coming out of the theater. He asked us which movie we were going to see, and the first thing he said in his response was "Schwarzenegger dies."

Director Robert Zemeckis actually wants his movies to be spoiled with the trailers. He actually compared it to McDonald's and how everyone that goes to McDonald's knows exactly what they're getting. That's why so much was revealed in the trailers for Cast Away and What Lies Beneath. Hell, the only thing missing in the Cast Away trailer was Chris Noth's character.

Very bad comparison... Who knows what we're getting at McDonald's?

I can't think of what movie this might be, any hints?

Such an odd thing to say for such a talented director.

I do think it helps to be familiar with a certain director's work to avoid spoilers. For example, What Lies Beneath wasn't spoiled for me. As soon as I heard Zemeckis' name was attached to it I knew to avoid any trailers because I would want to check it out.

There's so many people I know who couldn't care less as to who directed a movie. It's all about who is starring in it for them. But just because Harrison Ford is in something, doesn't mean I'm going to rush out and see it. (Unless I hear Indy's theme playing when the trailer begins. )

Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to look away during the Castaway trailer.

Here's the Zemeckis quote: "We know from studying the marketing of movies, people really want to know exactly every thing that they are going to see before they go see the movie. It's just one of those things. To me, being a movie lover and film student and a film scholar and a director, I don't. What I relate it to is McDonald's. The reason McDonald's is a tremendous success is that you don't have any surprises. You know exactly what it is going to taste like. Everybody knows the menu."

Maybe it was a comment about his acting career?

The only thing I remember about that movie is chatting with a guy (online) who claimed to be the kid hit by the bus. Normally I'd be suspicious, but I think the guy told me that before the movie hit theaters.

A few years ago my freind told me "The Sixth Sense" big surprise. He saw it before me and I was planning on seeing it a few days later. Anyway he wanted to tell me a about a certain scene and I said over and over I hope its not a spoiler and he said it wont ruin the movie at all. The idiot went on to basially tell me what everyone went on raving about for years and whats disturbing is that he genuinely didn't feel that would ruin the movie for anyone. I didn't even bother seeing the movie until years later because I just could not get it out of my head no matter how hard I tried. I watched it last year all I kept anticipating was the scene because I kept thinking about. It still bothers me to this day.