New direct-to-video Doom movie gets first trailer and it…doesn't look great
Diabolical.
As if one god-awful Doom movie wasn't enough for a single lifetime, Universal has flexed fingers, delved into its unfathomable depths and proffered up a new direct-to-video film inspired by id's legendary FPS franchise. It's called Doom: Annihilation and, I dunno, it could be good?
Written and directed by Tony Giglio (Death Race 2, Death Race 3, Soccer Dog: The Movie), Doom: Annihilation is a reboot of the franchise's live-action form, meaning you probably won't need to rush out and catch up on the plot intricacies of the first Doom film to understand it.
Doom: Annihilation, as you might well imagine, follows a group of space marines as they respond to a distress call from a Martian moon base. As you might also imagine, things do not go as planned, and the team discovers the base has been overrun by demonic creatures "who threaten to create Hell on Earth". And here they are now:
Not that we should be particularly concerned about this new version sounding familiar; it's a plot that's managed to carry four Doom games so far (as well as the 2005 live-action movie, although, in that instance, "drag" might be a more appropriate word than "carry"), and this latest cinematic iteration promises to be an "intense action-packed" instalment.
Whether or not it's intentional, I quite like that the trailer makes Doom: Annihilation seem as if it's tumbled straight out of 80s B-movie purgatory. I'm a little more concerned, however, that rather than giving us iconic Doom monsters like the Hell Knights and Cacodemon, the trailer opts to showcase Lumpy Thing and Shouty Person With Dirty Teeth.
Doom: Annihilation stars Amy Manson as Joan Dark (I sincerely hope there's a character in there called Captain Jon Bon Kazooie), alongside Dominic Mafham, Luke Allen-Gale, and Nina Bergman. It's scheduled to release "direct-to-video" this "fall" - coincidentally enough, a time when other once-beautiful things shrivel up and die.