Ever since the days of Ray Harryhausen, I’ve been a big fan of stop-motion animation. And although the practice has long fallen out of favor in Hollywood, replaced with computer animation, once in a blue moon a new film shows up that looks to keep the tradition of stop-motion animation alive. Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires is one of these films.
The character Chuck Steel has his roots in a 2015 stop-motion short that was released online, Chuck Steel: Raging Balls of Steel Justice, but the new movie marks his first feature-length outing. The film, which takes place in the 1980s, features Steel — a cop — taking on an army of “Trampires,” which are half bum, half vampire. Here’s the official synopsis, courtesy of Bloody Disgusting:
“It’s no longer 1985 – it’s 1986, and Chuck Steel has work to do if he is to prevent the worst plague ever to hit Los Angeles – a scourge of deadly Trampires, mutant hybrids of vampires and bums.”
The first teaser trailer is out, and it features excellent creature design for the Trampires, gnarly ’80s fashion, glorious old school violence, cheeky humor, and even a ninja. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about it. You can check it out below.
Harryhausen would be proud. The movie, which is written and directed by Mike Mort, will be released somewhere, at some point, later this year. I’d recommend keeping up with their production blog for the latest information.
