Trailer Blitz: Thank You Very Much, McVeigh, Wake Up, Sister Midnight, A Blind Bargain, Silent Zone, and Mr. Burton
Incoming! Here's a round-up of the latest movie previews that might have slipped under the radar from the past few days.
Welcome to Trailer Blitz!
Alright, time for a little game of catch-up! We’re rounding up the latest movie trailers from the past few days that may have slipped through the cracks and flown under our radar. It happens—we try our best to keep our visitors up to date with what’s coming out in the coming months, but sometimes, even we need a second chance to stay on top of the updates.
That’s why we’re calling this a Trailer Blitz—a barrage of movie preview goodness! So, scroll down and take a look at what’s hitting theaters and streaming soon!
"Thank You Very Much" Trailer: New Documentary Explores Andy Kaufman’s Unorthodox Comedy and Lasting Legacy – In Theaters and on VOD March 28th
So, the basic parts of telling a joke are: the Setup, which provides a little background before proceeding into the joke; then comes the Premise, which underlines the situation or foundation of the joke; and finally, the Punchline, the big reveal, twist, or unexpected turn that subverts the audience’s expectations.
Now, legendary comedian Andy Kaufman never used this structure to tell his jokes. In fact, he would argue he never told jokes at all. Yet, somehow, his stand-up act was the funniest thing in the world, leaving entire audiences doubled over in laughter.
So, what made him so damn funny?
Well, the new documentary Thank You Very Much dives into the mechanics of how Andy Kaufman made people laugh, while also showing how special he truly was at a time when most comedians simply delivered punchlines. In fact, Kaufman was the punchline. His unbridled silliness, unpredictability, and complete disregard for conventional comedy brought people together in a shared, awkward experience—one that often elicited laughter, confusion, and sometimes even howls.
Directed by acclaimed documentarian Alex Braverman, Thank You Very Much is being released in select theaters and on VOD beginning March 28th, via Drafthouse Films. Watch the trailer, above.
"McVeigh" Trailer: Alfie Allen Portrays the Oklahoma City Bomber in Chilling Psychological Thriller – In Theaters and on VOD March 21st
Anti-establishment and anti-government sentiment is nothing new in America. At times, it feels like it’s ingrained in U.S. culture—often with dangerous consequences. So, it shouldn’t come as a shock that American history has seen some horrific acts of domestic terrorism. And while we often like to look back at history through rose-colored glasses, it’s important to remind ourselves that these types of pernicious ideologies can fester and boil over into hideous actions.
Alfie Allen (of Game of Thrones fame) takes on one hell of a challenge as he steps into the mind of one of America’s most notorious homegrown terrorists, Timothy McVeigh, in the new psychological thriller McVeigh. Directed and co-written by Mike Ott, the film dramatizes the events leading up to McVeigh’s despicable actions—culminating in one of the deadliest acts of domestic terrorism in U.S. history: the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people and injured 684 others.
Co-starring Tracy Letts, Ashley Benson, Brett Gelman, and Anthony Carrigan, McVeigh explores the psychology of a man who committed an unfathomable crime, attempting to understand how someone could carry out such a reprehensible act.
McVeigh hits theaters and VOD on March 21. Watch the trailer above.
"Wake Up" Trailer: Young Eco-Activists Get More Than They Bargained for in Deadly Superstore Standoff – From RKSS Filmmakers, In Theaters April 4th
Yeah! Let’s stick it to the man! It’s a great idea—until the most righteous intentions lead you down a path of deadly consequences.
Check out the trailer for Wake Up, a new Canadian horror thriller about a group of young environmental activists who set out to vandalize a corporate-run superstore known for violating environmental rights and destroying the Amazon rainforest’s ecosystem. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside the locked store overnight—where an overzealous security guard decides to take matters into his own hands, setting off a chain reaction of deadly repercussions. Now, the young activists must fight for their lives as the night turns into a bloody nightmare.
Starring Turlough Convery, Benny O. Arthur, Alessia Yoko Fontana, Jacqueline Moré, Kyle Scudder, Thomas Gould, Charlotte Stoiber, and Aidan O’Hare, the film hails from the Canadian directing sibling team of Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell—better known as two-thirds of the three-person filmmaking collective RKSS.
The Whissells usually collaborate with frequent partner François Simard as RKSS, the team behind the 2015 post-apocalyptic cult ‘80s-infused action comedy Turbo Kid, as well as the 2018 slasher throwback Summer of 84. They also worked on last year’s horror comedy We Are Zombies.
Wake Up marks the Whissells’ first directing effort without Simard, though still under the RKSS moniker. So, you might notice a slight difference from their previous work, as this leans more into a traditional invasion thriller gone wrong rather than their usual genre-blending 80s throwback comedic style.
Wake Up is coming to theaters in the U.S. and Canada on April 4.
"Sister Midnight" Trailer: Radhika Apte Stars in a Darkly Quirky Indian Comedy About Rebellion, Reinvention, and Regret – In U.S. Theaters This May
In the Western world, we like to think of ourselves as sophisticated enough to grasp the complexities of comedy—that sometimes, the darker the humor, the funnier the situation. Likewise, the quirkier a character, the more subversive the comedy becomes.
However, this isn’t an exclusively Western idea. Indian cinema can be just as quirky and dark with its comedies as, say, a Wes Anderson film. It’s only our ignorance that makes us overlook the possibility of filmmakers outside the English-speaking world mastering this style of humor. So when a film comes along to slap us in the face and say, Yeah, we can make funny, subversive, and dark comedies too, we should simply be grateful for the lesson.
Sister Midnight appears to be such a film. And after winning a number of awards on the festival circuit last year, it’s generating a good amount of buzz. From watching the newly released trailer, posted above, it’s easy to see why this might be one of the breakout comedies of the year.
Featuring a breakthrough performance by Indian actress Radhika Apte (Sacred Games, Ghoul), the film follows a rebellious small-town woman who rejects the life of a typical housewife and sets off to Mumbai in search of happiness and enlightenment—only to find the complete opposite.
London-based Indian artist and filmmaker Karan Kandhari makes his feature debut, bringing his distinct visual style and offbeat humor to the screen. Adding to the film’s unique energy is an original music score composed by Paul Banks, the frontman of the American rock band Interpol. This is Banks’ debut as a film composer.
Sister Midnight will be coming to U.S. theaters in May.
"A Blind Bargain" Trailer: Crispin Glover Resurrects a Lost Lon Chaney Silent Horror Classic in This Campy 1970s-Set Remake
Look, remakes of old films are a dime a dozen these days. And sometimes, the idea of remaking an older film might come off as a quick cash grab—a meaningless piece of commercialism. That being said, A Blind Bargain might be the one remake we can get behind, as it brings awareness to the importance of film preservation.
This film reimagines the lost 1922 Lon Chaney silent film A Blind Bargain, a horror movie that only exists today through several rare lobby cards and production stills. The last surviving print was destroyed in the infamous 1965 MGM vault fire, which also claimed Chaney’s London After Midnight (1927) and Greta Garbo’s The Divine Woman (1928).
The original film featured Lon Chaney—famously known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces"—in a dual role, playing an eccentric scientist who claimed to have discovered a method to prolong life after conducting grotesque experiments on humans, as well as his ape-like assistant, The Ape Man.
In this new remake, shot on color Kodak film, eccentric actor Crispin Glover steps into the shoes of Lon Chaney as the unhinged Dr. Arthur Lamb, a doctor who runs a wellness facility where sick patients come for cures—unaware that the "good doctor" dabbles in dark science.
Set in the 1970s, the film leans into a campy, retro throwback style, evoking the spirit of Ed Wood and Russ Meyer. However, director Paul Bunnell—known for the cult drive-in ’50s-inspired musical The Ghastly Love of Johnny X—has stated that his intention with this remake was to make it feel like an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery.
Also starring Jake Horowitz, Lucy Loken, Annalisa Cochrane, Amy Wright, Sean Whalen, Jed Rowen, and Rob Mayes, A Blind Bargain is set to be released sometime later this year. Watch the trailer, above.
"Silent Zone" Trailer: Elias Koteas Stars as a Prisoner in Solitary Exile on a Remote Planet in This Indie Sci-Fi Psychological Thriller – Coming to VOD on March 7
Hey! Show of hands—who thinks Elias Koteas is one of the most underappreciated and overlooked actors working today? Yes? Okay. Hands down. Can we all agree that Elias Koteas is a great character actor and that we’ve loved him since his days as Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or his performance as the frustrated Captain Staros in Malick’s The Thin Red Line? Hell, any fans of The Prophecy out there?
Look, Koteas has been killing it for decades, so anytime he shows up in a movie—let alone stars in the lead—you can count us in.
In Silent Zone, an indie sci-fi psychological thriller, Koteas stars as a convicted prisoner sent to serve his sentence on a remote planet in total solitude. Tasked with extracting alien minerals for an experimental colonization project, he is shocked to discover that another prisoner (Briana Middleton) has been sent to his planet. But after years of being alone, he’s not quite ready—mentally or emotionally—to share his space with anyone, let alone a young female prisoner who claims she’s innocent. Was she sent here to disturb the peace he fought so long to build? Or has he simply lost his mind?
Written and directed by Jeffrey St. Jules, Silent Zone is coming to VOD and digital platforms on March 7. Watch the trailer above.
"Mr. Burton" Int’l Trailer: Harry Lawtey and Toby Jones Star in This British Biopic About the Legendary Actor’s Early Years – Opening in U.K. on April 4
To be a proper actor—a proper thespian—one must first conquer a few things: a certain degree of decorum, mastery of speech and diction, and most importantly… the ability to scream with the best of them!
Here’s the official international trailer for the upcoming British biopic Mr. Burton, chronicling the origin story of one of Britain’s most celebrated actors: Richard Jenkins—better known to the world as Richard Burton.
Harry Lawtey (from the HBO series Industry) takes on the role of a young Richard Jenkins, the humble son of a working-class miner from a small Welsh town. When he begins to show signs of wanting to become a proper stage actor, he seeks the help of noble schoolteacher Philip Burton (played by Toby Jones), who—against his own instincts—becomes his unlikely mentor. Mr. Burton even goes so far as to adopt Richard and give him his own surname, helping him gain acceptance to Oxford College to advance his schooling in the dramatic arts. It’s an incredible life story that, surprisingly, many of us didn't know much about—until now.
Co-starring Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville and directed by Marc Evans (Hunky Dory, Grav), Mr. Burton is set to open in U.K. cinemas on April 4. As of now, there’s no official U.S. release date, but we imagine an U.S. distributor will pick it up sooner or later.
