Before they made their 1984 directorial debut Blood Simple, the Coen brothers had to convince investors it would be worth their money. The sample trailer they made for their take on film noir was enough to do the trick—and now, thanks to Janus Films, it’s available to watch online.
Joel Coen explained in an interview for the new Criterion edition of the film that the idea for a proof-of-concept trailer came from Sam Raimi, director of Evil Dead—as did their connection to Bruce Campbell, who appears in the fake trailer. Campbell didn’t appear in the final film, but the stylish, suspenseful preview offers a sample of the brothers’ early vision for the movie, about a man who hires a hitman to kill his wife and her lover. Check out the trailer for the final version of the film below for comparison:
Janus and Criterion’s restoration of Blood Simple will appear in theaters after an opening at the Film Forum in New York City on July 1. It will then be released on DVD on Sept. 20.
