The Godfather

Looking for a last-minute costume is easy these days. In strip malls across the country, temporary Halloween stores have popped up like an orange-spotted rash. But not so long ago, it was a very different holiday.

In 1990's Crazy People, one of the better films about the ad industry, a trailer for a fictitious horror film promises that the flick "Won't just scare you . . . It will f%*k you up for life." Of all the movie's outrageous mock ads, this is the most realistic. Filmmaking techniques have changed a...