There’s been more mystery than usual around Overlord — even for a J.J. Abrams project. Produced by the Force Awakens director in his usual shroud of secrecy, early word had it that this was the fourth Cloverfield movie, once again arriving from an up-and-coming director – this time Julius Avery. But Abrams later denied it, and now we’ve got a first trailer that, true to speculation, shows off a World War II-set action-horror, and doesn’t show any clear connection to the Cloverfield multi-verse.
The tone here is more Grindhouse-inspired creature-feature action rather than creepy slow-burner, with an AC/DC soundtrack and glimpses at possibly vampiric or zombified super-soldiers and creepy cocoons in secret Nazi labs. Leading the human cast is Jovan Adepo as Boyce, a young American man drafted into the war and about to face more than just gunfire. He’s joined by Wyatt Russell, star of Black Mirror’s ‘Playtest’ episode and Everybody Wants Some!!, and Agents of SHIELD’s Iain De Caestecker.
All in all this looks more fun and less Cloverfield-y than anticipated – though the font used in the credits does look rather similar to the one used in the monster movie anthology. Could this be another ‘Benedict Cumberbatch is John Harrison in [Star Trek Into Darkness]](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/star-trek-darkness/review/)’ situation with Abrams double-bluffing us all? We’ll be waiting until 25 October to find out.
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