All I want for Christmas is a remake of a 1920s German gothic vampire film? The official trailer for Nosferatu opens with the sound of a music box in time with a ticking clock, as we slowly zoom out from a shot of a wide-eyed Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) falling backward in slow motion. As Ellen lands on her back at 0:06 there’s a deep impact sound that also evokes thunder. At 0:08 the melody is picked up by an expressive instrument reminiscent of a theremin.

The trailer for the plainly-titled Moana 2 dropped this past summer, focusing more on dialogue and exposition than any particular musical conceit or foregrounded editing decisions—as a result, it’s a trailer that feels safe, if not entirely memorable. Still, the music here fulfils its task and gives a clear indication of what people can expect from the soundtrack, so there’s something to be said for an edit and music supervision choices that wear a kind of honesty to them.

The remix of Peter Schilling’s 1989 new wave song “Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst)” in last week’s official trailer for the Lucasfilm/Disney+ series Skeleton Crew automatically connects it to the sci-fi action comedy genre, evoking the classic rock aesthetic of films like Borderlands or Thor: Love and Thunder.