Picking trailers of the week is sometimes about patience. We Horror Obsessives try our hardest to find solid content that will excite, entertain, and possibly disturb you… in a good way! There were some good trailers in the running this week with the release of the trailer for No One Gets Out Alive heading to Netflix, but it was another Netflix trailer that got my attention to tell you about. While No One Gets Out Alive looks eerie and atmospheric, it also looks a bit on par with writer Adam Nevill’s similarly disparaging horror novel turned Netflix film, The Ritual. I’m certain I will see the film anyway and encourage you to do the same, but I have to admit I was completely geeking out over the trailer for Train to Busan creator Sang-ho Yeon’s latest undertaking: Hellbound.
The trailer for Hellbound is only a brief scene, but there’s enough curiosity from the one-minute sequence to ignite the imagination. We see a young man sitting at a café, sweating nervously, watching the seconds tick down on his phone like he’s moments away from death. Sure, we’ve seen this now in plenty of films like The Ring or Countdown that it’s becoming a trope, but thanks to the voice-over, we’re told he has been visited by angels, condemned to die through their prophecy, and will spend eternity in hell. I think that may justify any person’s anxiousness. Just then, some vicious-looking Thanos rock-monsters appear, chase him through the street, and burn a light so bright into him it would give the ark of the covenant a run for its money. By the end, all that’s left of the man are ash and bone, and the viewer can finally exhale. Angels? Damnation? Bounty hunters dragging people to hell? The director of Train to Busan? That is intense. Count me all the way in.
Hellbound will mark Sang-ho Yeon’s move away from the zombie fare, or at least for now anyway, as there is no word on any other Train to Busan sequels currently. However, according to Deadline, an American remake of the original is rumored to be stewing around executives of New Line Studios. Nevertheless, I think Hellbound could be a major step in the right direction for the innovative creator who first conceived the project as a web-comic or webtoon illustrated by Choi Kyu-Seok back in 2003.
There’s not a whole lot to go on, other than what’s in the trailer, as to what Hellbound may end up being about, which I kind of enjoy because it leaves the series open for more surprises. We know that the show will star #Alive actor Yoo Ah-in and will likely deal with the over-connectivity of our current reality if the trailer of laptops and phone screens is any indication. However, if you are interested in what the series is going to entail, Yeon had this to say about the project in an online interview on Yoo Ah In Sikseek Land:
“Basically, I’m very interested in vulnerable humans. I’ve been doing many works up until now because I’m very interested in certain humans who can’t stand the uncertainty. It’s not surprising that, if you mention “hell,” there must be some relevant transgressions happen there. It’s a given/natural. Will they go or not, or why should they go [to hell]? It wouldn’t have been that terrifying if there was a clear answer: yes or no, in some uncertainty that humans are suffering from. I thought that a human being placed in an unknown situation was actually terrifying. There’s a genre called Cosmic Horror, but Hellbound is also a comic that causes fear in the Cosmic Horror genre.”
If you’re a fan of seeing some crazy Drag Me to Hell style stories, There is currently no official release date for Hellbound on Netflix. While the show is currently debuting episodes at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), it’s likely the series will either be landing soon in either late September or sometime in October.
So, what do you think of the trailer for Hellbound? Do you agree with Sean that it looks imaginative? Let us know in the comments! And if you’re looking for more trailers, we’ve got you covered!