The first official trailer for Marty Scorsese’s latest, Shutter Island, was unveiled online today and it’s a good ‘un. Tantalisingly creepy, the trailer (watch it below) shows off gorgeously shot snippets of Scorsese’s detour into the stranded-in-a-scary-location genre ala The Shining and 1408. The film is based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Gone, Baby Gone, Mystic River) and is set in the 50s on the titular island where two U.S. marshals (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) are sent to investigate the disappearance of a female prisoner from a high security hospital for the criminally insane. Here they house “only the most dangerous, damaged patients. Ones no other hospital can manage.”

Like most trailers these days it appears to give away way too much of the plot, the marketing department obviously keen to use climactic-looking footage, so viewers sensitive to spoilers should probably stay away. A twist regarding Michelle Williams’s character appears to have been brazenly divulged; let’s hope Scorsese/Lehane have some tricks stuffed up their storytelling sleeves. When I watched The Prestige’s sensational trailer a couple of years ago I was convinced it’d been ruined, though as it turned out the film had more than enough secrets in store. Still, a little more consideration from marketing departments wouldn’t go astray. Actually, make that a lot more. The idea is to sell a film, not spoil it.

Shutter Island marks the fourth consecutive Scorsese feature (excluding documentaries) to star Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s been slated for an October release in Australia.