That was my first reaction, but look at what they've got to work with. It's a cheesy-looking horror movie, with a no-name director and (mostly) no-name aging child actors. Your only hope at advertising it is to do something weird and hope it sticks. For all its cheesiness, this was a novel approach.

Compare the iPhone. The ads were "picture of iPhone ... fade to Apple logo", and people lined up around the block for it. You don't need much from an ad when your product sells itself.

I knew a guy who was a recruiter for some podunk university in the midwest, who was very good at it. One of the top universities tried to hire him, but he turned them down: what skill does it take to convince somebody to go to MIT or Harvard?

Can you give an example of a similar ad you think is better?