Adults only: The red band trailer

The red band trailer isn’t new, but you used to only see them in front of seriously rated-R movies. Basically, it’s a trailer that is intended only for audiences 17 and up. One thing that’s happened recently, though, is that the studios are cutting more red-band trailers—named so for the red “restricted” band that appears before the trailer itself—and putting them online. We started to see the phenomenon earlier in the year, mostly with comedies—Knocked Up had a red-band trailer, and so did Superbad, both for language, naturally. But in recent months, the trailers are getting the band for the violence in them. Here are a few of the trailers I’ve bumped into in recent months (Beowulf has an intense one I haven’t seen yet). You may need to verify your age before viewing, and I should say at the outset that none of them are for the squeamish.

30 Days of Night: This trailer is totally indicative of the movie, which opens on Friday and which has reinvigorated the vampire genre. It’s a true bloodletting of a movie, set in the deep Alaskan winters, where one night can last 30 days—perfect for a crew of feral Slavic vampires looking for a late-night snack. We’ll be reviewing the film on Wednesday, but seriously, if you’re a fan of horror films, your vampire-laden ghost ship has come in. Opens October 19

No Country for Old Men: I haven’t been very happy with the Coen brothers recent movies—I feel as though they’ve lost their way a bit in recent years. But this neo-western, adapted from an Elmore Leonard a Cormac McCarthy story, might be what puts them back on the Fargo/Blood Simple track. Josh Brolin stumbles upon a deserted crime scene, and staggers off with a big wad of cash. On his trail is the terrific actor Javier Bardem, more angel of death than hitman. Tommy Lee Jones is the lawman trying to sort it all out. This trailer is brutal. This movie will be brutal. I can’t wait. Opens November 16

Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem: If you’re like me, you think that the first Aliens Versus Predator movie was the suckiest suck that ever sucked. It sucked. Man, that movie was crappy. But the second film in the series, scheduled for a very Christmas-y opening, looks like it might, actually, be everything the first one wasn’t. Look, if you set those two violent species of film baddies against each other (something that’s been done many times in comic book form), there’s bound to be serious collateral damage. Most movies that get the hard R-rating for violence suck, but check this trailer. I watched it with friends recently, and one guy said, “Yeah, but that could still suck.” He’s right, but the trailer makes you hope it doesn’t. Opens December 25

John Rambo: I know, another Rambo movie. Stallone directed this one, too, and plays the aging vet who goes in-country to pull some Christian aid workers out of the fire. Or something like that. But check out this trailer. And remember that Rambo was, in many ways, the film that started up the ultraviolence movement of the 80s. That’s not necessarily respectable, but it made for an insane action movie. The moment to look for in this trailer is when Stallone jumps onto the back of a jeep, takes the .50 caliber machine gun and aims it at the driver. Ew. Opens January 25, 2008

* This post originally listed the author of No Country for Old Men as Elmore Leonard. Now it’s fixed.