'Secret Obsession' may have revealed a lot in the trailer, but you should still watch it to escape your reality
We love watching a bad movie – there is solace in realizing that there are people out there who will invest, monetarily and otherwise, in something that has the potential of being universally disliked. Although you don't immediately dislike the Brenda Song-starrer 'Secret Obsession', you aren't drawn to it as you would to a project that offers substance. One thing that wrung the interest out of the movie was the trailer itself.
For the longest time since the announcement of the release date of the film, Netflix hadn't released a trailer. But when they did, some four-odd days before the movie started streaming, they received a lot of slack. Netflix had revealed everything in the trailer complete with the plot, the antagonist and the final twist leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination!
Watch the trailer for 'Secret Obsession' here:
And here is the official synopsis of the show:
Newlywed Jennifer (played by Brenda Song) is brutally attacked at a dark rest stop. While healing from her injuries, she can’t recall anything from her past, including the ordeal. Her husband, Russell (played by Mike Vogel), is just thankful she’s alive and eager to get her home. As he reintroduces her to their secluded mountain estate, Detective Page (played by Dennis Haysbert) pursues Jennifer’s assailant — his own daughter went missing and was never found. The same fate now awaits Jennifer, unless someone realizes that her loving caretaker is actually her captor.
'Secret Obsession' is not the only one plagued by its trailer diffusing the excitement of the film. 'Creed', 'Jurassic World', and 'Terminator: Genisys' are, to name a few.
This has been something that critics have also pointed out – trailers are ruining the movie experience. In her defense, Brenda Song says that her movie, despite it revealing major pointers in the trailer, isn't one that can't be watched. One way to look at it is that an all-revealing trailer that has more to it than just the twist – that there is more happening in the movie than what is promoted in the trailer. But that doesn't happen in 'Secret Obsession'. "The movie is more concerned with how to get out of that situation. The drilling aspect [of 'Secret Obsession'] is not this crazy twist, but it's the fact that the audience knows well before Jennifer does that the husband is dangerous. So, you're, sort of like, pushing her along, trying to figure it out – 'don't do that, don't do this, how do you escape someone like this [Russell]?'" she tells MEA WorldWide in an exclusive chat.
Song also explains how and why thrillers like these do well. "The reason people are so, sort of, obsessed with this kind of thriller movies is that they're very easy to wash down, they are digestible they take you out of your life. For you know, 90 minutes or whatever and they take you to a crazy situation that I feel like we all would never actually want to be a part of but we all fantasize about it like we love scaring ourselves. So, we think would you know. Putting themselves in this character and, hopefully, we've done a good job enough to draw you in and make you feel like you are in this situation with us in the movie."
The movie is currently streaming on Netflix.