As I said in my “Transformers” review last week, the best thing about seeing the movie was getting a glimpse at the amazing teaser for an as-yet-untitled J.J. Abrams project, due to arrive on January 18, 2008.

Starting as found footage from a going-away party, and rapidly moving into something else entirely, it’s the most exciting two minutes of cinema I’ve seen all year. Apparently, it was created explicitly for the marketing campaign, and won’t even be part of the finished film …

… but man, do I want to see that film.

The teaser is online here; if your computer can handle HD, I really recommend watching one of those versions.

There’s also a website with a rudimentary Flash animation that suggests the story takes place in real time … which would fit in with the camcorder aesthetic, but might also just be another element of the marketing campaign.

It feels good to get excited about a movie without knowing anything at all about it. You sort of get desensitized to that when you do this for a living, and it’s nice to know those buttons are still there to be pushed. This is a great piece of marketing.