J. J. Abrams is at it again with another mysterious sci-fi movie, and this one looks to be the most intriguing yet.
Abrams’ Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures have just released the first trailer for Overlord, the upcoming World War II-set supernatural thriller about which very little is known. The trailer doesn’t really answer many of the questions we’ve had about the enigmatic film — like, for instance, what it’s about, exactly — but it does do a pretty great job of piquing our interest in the film.
As near as we can tell, the film follows a small group of U.S. soldiers who land in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. What they find there goes beyond the usual horrors associated with Nazi Germany, as they discover the Nazis have been conducting some experiments. Strange experiments. Experiments that apparently turn people into horrifying monsters. As one Nazi puts it in the trailer: “A thousand year army needs thousand year soldiers.” Spooooky.
The trailer, set to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” (which shouldn’t work against a 1940s backdrop, but totally does), makes the film look like a solid mix of action and horror. There’s some gore, lots of creepy tension-building, and some outright body horror; but that’s counterbalanced with machine guns, explosions, and flamethrowers… glorious flamethrowers.
Overall, this trailer does exactly what a trailer is supposed to do. It makes the film look interesting and shows off some cool set pieces, but it doesn’t give away the plot. So well done, J.J., you’ve got us sold on Overlord — now here’s hoping it doesn’t end up being shoehorned into the Cloverfield universe.
Overlord hits theaters on Oct. 26.
