By Travis Johnson
One of the great things the internet has done for film fandom is making the rare and esoteric ephemera of cinema culture instantly accessible. Some complain that they’ve lost the thrill of the hunt, that easy pickings reduces the value of those obscure gems we all crave, but really: would you rather pay $40 for a dodgy tape-to-tape dub of something at a swap meet, or just watch the thing for free on YouTube?
And new artifacts are being unearthed all the time, like this: the micro-budget fake trailer that Joel and Ethan Coen made to prove to investors they had the chops to make their first film, Blood Simple. Roping in old mate Sam Raimi to help behind the camera, and putting the soon-to-be-legendary Bruce Campbell in front of it, they put together something that would help them raise the $750K they needed to make their dark and stylish Texas noir. Even here, their command of language and genre is clearly evident, making this an invaluable piece of film history. It’ll be included in the upcoming Criterion Collection release of Blood Simple – until then, enjoy it here.
