Lisa Guillen

District 9 just blew my mind.

Okay before you read on, watch this first.



okay, was your mind officially blown? Well good.

This trailer is for the movie District 9 which is set to be released August 14th 2009.
Now, the first thing you thought of when you saw this is probably what I thought of - Cloverfield (which I love regardless of what you say!) Although very different upon further inspection, I’ve seemed to gather they’re definitely running with the Cloverfield online marketing ‘scheme.’

The official website for the movie http://d-9.com/ is fashioned to look like its run by the Multi-National United, a company from the film, who seem to be the ones who are dealing with the ‘non-humans.’ Upon entering the website you are prompted to select whether you are a human or non-human and redirected to a new site once you have chosen. The content and feel of both sites is very different and if you play around on both I’m sure you can find interesting things. (For example - I just took a quick look at it but noticed right away that they refer to jobs as “Careers” on the human site and “Labor” on the non-human.)

The website http://mnuspreadslies.com/ is also associated with the movie and it’s basically a site run by non-humans that says “hey the MNU treats us inhuman and it’s bullshit!” well it doesn’t say that but hey. It’s actually a lot more serious in tone and is definitely reminiscent of the civil rights movement of the 60’s. It’s blog based and is run by a non-human named George. The website features a petition you can sign in support of non-human rights and downloadable posters, icons and wallpapers amongst other things.

I’d have to say just knowing a little bit about the story and seeing the websites alone is enough to really make you think this is awesome but there’s more.

The director of the film Neill Blomkamp is also the one who will be directing the Halo film and if that’s not cool enough he’s only 29. (Thanks film nerd friends for keeping me informed!) Apparently he’s done a lot of awesome things already and I’ve been told his Halo shorts are worth a look as well. Long story short District 9 was inspired by a 6 minute short he made titled Alive in Joburg which you are going to watch right now.



Even cooler right?

The whole thought process of this project is just brilliant. I firmly believe this will be the sleeper hit of the summer because although it’s already popular with film junkies it seems to be rather unknown to everyone else. Keep a look out for more clever online promotions from them, I guarantee there will be more.



Edit - The uncensored version of the teaser I posted above has recently been posted online, it’s the same exact thing except now the aliens face isn’t blurred and we’re provided with subtitles so we can understand what he’s saying. Personally, I liked the mysteriousness of the original but this is fun too.
Anyway here it is -