A look inside Hollywood and the movies : Thrills! Chills! Laffs! And These Are Just the Previews!

A common sentiment among moviegoers is that coming attractions are often better than the movies they’re plugging. It’s perhaps an unfair comparison--it’s easier to jolt or amuse audiences for two minutes than engage their hearts and minds for two hours.

But sometimes it’s true. Most coming attractions are routine compressions of a film, using every violent, sexy or startling moment for bald effect, and they can be curiously seductive, even poetic in their salesmanship. The stronger movie previews “have a vitality and immediacy that work on a different playing field than movies,” says producer Steve Roth (“Last Action Hero”). “They have their own aesthetic.”

We asked roughly 35 marketing executives, advertising agency heads, producers and other industry observers which trailers for summer movies they admired most--that is, among the films they themselves had nothing to do with, either by effort or association.

The following list ranks two kinds of trailers--”teasers,” the brief, suggestive or impressionistic pieces that are shown in the early stages of a campaign, and the longer trailers that tend to show more plot and dialogue and are used closer to a film’s release date.

Best All-Around Teaser/Trailer: “Cliffhanger” (TriStar Pictures / Seinegger Advertising). The overwhelming favorite, by far. Seamlessly edited to the strains of Mozart’s “Requiem,” the teaser is a two-minute, 84-image montage of Sylvester Stallone and co-stars running, jumping and climbing over cloud-shrouded mountain vistas. Primarily the result of a collaboration between advertising executive Tony Seinegger and TriStar’s senior advertising vice president Bill Loper, the teaser was edited by Michael Kahane. Since it began playing in theaters last December, two variations using Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”’ (popularized by “Apocalypse Now”) instead of Mozart have also appeared.

“I would put it at the top of my list,” says Warner Bros. senior advertising vice president Michael Smith.

“A work of art,” enthuses Roth.

“It’s absolutely gripping on an emotional level,” says director Rocky Morton (“Super Mario Bros.”).

One anonymous note: The lack of any dialogue in the “Cliffhanger” spots has persuaded a co-owner of an advertising company, among others, that “the movie might have something to hide.”

Most Creative Teaser, Given Limited Materials: “The Fugitive” (Warner Bros. / Seinegger Advertising). Quickly slapped together during shooting of the film last February in order to play at the ShoWest exhibitors’ convention in early March, the spot skillfully conveys the basic “Fugitive” drill--Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) escapes after being wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder, with Lt. Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) in hot pursuit--along with strong currents of suspense. Produced under the aegis of Warner Bros. senior advertising vice president Joel Wayne and Seinegger’s Scott Bramlett, it uses specially shot footage of Jones giving a pep talk to a group of police officers and a just-escaped Ford running through a moonlit forest.

“It’s an excellent teaser,” says Cimarron-Bacon-O’Brien vice president Joe Nimziki. “Simple but very effective.” Having earned high marks from Joe Farrell’s National Research Group, the spot has been showing in theaters in recent weeks and “getting a really good response,” says an exhibition source.

Best Laugh-Out-Loud Trailer: “Hot Shots! Part Deux” (20th Century Fox / Aspect Ratio). A rapid-fire assembly of the film’s more flamboyant gags (including the widely seen machine-gunning of an Energizer-bunny take-off), the spot summarizes the nonsensical, Rambo-spoofing adventures of Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) caught up in a battle against terrorists.

“I think it’s simply the funniest thing out there,” says Warners’ Joel Wayne.

“It’s hysterical,” agrees Columbia advertising vice president Josh Goldstein, “especially when you see it with an audience.”

“It was never tested,” boasts Aspect Ratio co-owner Bob Israel. “It was cut from the seat of our pants. We actually used our own instincts.”

Runner Up: 20th Century Fox’s teaser for Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” a drop-dead hilarious spoof of the whizzing arrow trailer for “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Produced by Cimarron-Bacon-O’Brien, the spot hits theaters this weekend.

Most Ingenious Visual Device in a Teaser: The rotating “6” that turns into a “9” in the opening seconds of the trailer for “In the Line of Fire” (Columbia Pictures / J&G; Productions). As a narrator explains the haunted background of Secret Service agent Clint Eastwood, a visual of the J.F.K. assassination date (Nov. 22, 1963) gradually ticks forward 30 years and becomes “July, 1993.” With the idea of a second presidential murder in our minds, the teaser ends with Eastwood shoving a clip into his handgun and sneering, “That’s not gonna happen!”

The number motif was thought up by Liz Beloff, a graphic designer for J&G;, Columbia’s in-house firm.

“It’s so clever and so beautifully executed,” says Tony Seinegger. “I wish we had done it.”

The “Fire” spot was a major standout among the dozens of trailers screened at ShoWest confab, according to general buzz.

Most Likable, Emotionally Involving Trailer for What Looks Like a Likable, Emotionally Involving Film: “Sleepless in Seattle” (TriStar Pictures / Aspect Ratio). In plain, straightforward fashion, the trailer relates the basic set-up--frustrated single woman (Meg Ryan) in Baltimore becomes fixated on a lonely Seattle widower (Tom Hanks) whom she’s never met, after hearing him on a radio talk show that his son persuaded him to go on--and adds punctuation with writer-director Nora Ephron’s acerbic dialogue.

“You can tell right away that it’s a romantic comedy that works,” Warner Bros.’ Michael Smith says about the spot.

“The characters are seen in a very human light,” adds Columbia’s Josh Goldstein.

“I didn’t want to impose a narration,” says Aspect Ratio co-owner and president Ron Moler, who produced the spot last December. “I believe in letting the footage speak for itself.” The trailer began playing in March to plug the film’s once-scheduled April debut. “Sleepless” is now set to open on June 25.

Best Insinuation of Fear and Suspense: “Sliver” (Paramount Pictures / Frankfurt, Gips & Balkind). Fairly standard in its approach, it starts with a general outline--Sharon Stone falls into jeopardy after moving into a slick high-rise--but builds into an emphasis upon the murder and voyeurism angles of the story instead of the sex scenes. A studio source confides that “they didn’t want to risk putting audiences off by suggesting that this is ‘Basic Instinct’ all over again.”

“I think it’s one of the best pieces I’ve seen in a long time,” says Greg Koetchel of BLT, a print advertising firm. For all the reports of last-minute re-shoots and intimations of difficulty during filming, the theatrical trailer (as opposed to the now-running TV spots) wipes away doubts in 2 minutes and 38 seconds.