From British director Jon Wright, the man behind the underrated 2012 monster flick Grabbers, comes another assault on Britain. This time it’s not from a glut of creepy crawlies, but a load of massive Transformers-inspired ‘bots in Robot Overlords.
Before you immediately resign it to the dustbin of your mind, take a gander at who’s involved: Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsley. Both are respected actors with decorated resumes, so it does strike one as odd that both would take on roles in a low-budget genre romp.
Regardless, the film is gearing up the marketing monster in time for its release next spring with this first trailer, which is strangely compelling. Michael Bay’s “buzzy robot” sounds bray out every few seconds to the sight of the towering behemoths marching across the English countryside. Set in the near-future wherein the planet has been commandeered by robots from another galaxy, the film focuses on the remaining citizens of Earth who are holed up in their homes with house arrest monitors to prevent them from venturing outside. Yikes.
According to the official synopsis, “intimidating sentries patrol the streets” and “snipers are merciless death machines,” which firmly arouses visions of a Terminator-Transformers hybrid. Except its set in a gloomy English seaside town to further pile on insult to injury. It’s not the most original premise, but it certainly brandishes all the hallmarks of a pulpy cult classic.
Robot Overlords hits UK cinemas on March 19th, with a US release date to follow.
Earth has been conquered by robots from a distant galaxy; survivors are confined to their houses and must wear electronic implants, risking incineration by robot sentries if they venture outside.
In robot-occupied Britain, city centres are devastated and a gang of teenagers live in a seaside town constantly under robot threat. Intimidating sentries patrol the streets; snipers are merciless death machines. The Mediator is deceptively childlike but unnervingly coercive. The robot base is The Cube, a massive mother-ship that dominates the horizon.
