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Mysterious Neill Blomkamp Viral Video Found in 'Wired' for iPad

by Alex Billington
November 23, 2010
Source: SlashFilm

That new Apollo 18 poster isn't the only mysterious thing out there today. Last night, Peter from SlashFilm called me and told me he found an odd video randomly linked in-between pages of the latest issue of Wired magazine on the iPad (the digital app version of it). The page plays a video (embedded below from YouTube) that has no description or title. Our only hint is a "Video By: Neill Blomkamp" tag in the magazine. So this is some new video by Blomkamp, director of District 9, involving a creepy mutated creature? Is it a viral for a new movie or some other web project? Watch the video below and read on for hints at what this might be.

The video shows two guys finding some weird, disgusting mutated creature in a puddle. If you look closely, you'll see it has a stamp on it: "18.12 AGM Heartland." Well, SlashFilm did some research and found out that AGM Heartland was filed as a trademark for an "online website with video, audio and textual content and images featuring characters and storylines about a fictional genetic engineering company that produces genetically engineered and altered organisms." So, as I first thought, it looks like it's just a disgusting start to an online web series that Blomkamp is behind called "AGM Heartland" about weird creatures like this.

We're not really sure what this weird creature and video mean yet, but it definitely has caught the interest of the movie community online, mostly because of the name involved. Blomkamp hasn't officially announced a follow-up to District 9, but has been working on another sci-fi project called Elysium, but that seems like it's a long ways out. Based on all the evidence, I have a feeling the video is just a very odd way to start some viral buzz for a new web series that Blomkamp is behind. Either way, bravo, as this definitely has me interested!

Explore tags: Discussion, Movie News, Viral News

Micah

Wait...what!?
Jeff Spicoli

Thats how the Navi looks like in real life 3d
Nick

kept waiting for that things eyes to open
DoomCanoe

ITS NOT A TUMOR!
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

^ Hahah that makes me wish this viral was for a serious-tone, contemporary reboot of Kindergarten Cop with creepy genetically mis-engineered mutant creatures plot elements.
crangy

it's female cos it has shit loads of nipples on it lol before all those little legs creepy vid
http://www.coregeek.net coregeek

There's a full page photo of the creature in the print version too. It has no caption or explanation as to why it is there.
lego

ewwww. that is all.
http://www.coregeek.net coregeek

Just looked at it again. There's a very small credit on the bottom left of the page that reads: "video still by: Neill Blomkamp."
http://www.modernamericanman.net ModernAmericanMan

I threw up in my mouth a little.
LINKFX

Nice. Doubt the series will be called AGM Heartland.
sleepykid

Isn't this all a bit tired now? As a friend of mine said, another term for viral marketing is 'marketing'.
AC

sleepykid, exactly, they marketed something to you, and now you are talking about it...it did its job
Shelby

WHY WOULD YOU TOUCH IT WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!
http://currentconfig.com/ chris r

Makes me think of 'Oryx and Crake' for some reason. I think it's the combination of mutated animals with a cheery agribusiness brand. Though that book takes place in a distant future, whereas this feels more present day.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

#14 Because how else are they going to contract some awesome mutagenic disease that's going to lead to the creation of horrid, violent mutant peoples ahhhhh!!
Micah

My mind is still blown at the randomness of this!
f

@11 or just ... HEARTLAND dun duunn duuunnnn.
beavis

maybe he's doing the long rumored movie conversion of the book - "freaks of the heartland"? i can't believe i'm the only one who has heard of this.
beavis

alex - check out the book i mention above - if this IS the movie of that book, then you aren't far off.
Robbie

Them actually touching the creature freaks me out! This is genius.
bob

thanks for Firstshowing.net for this diamond material.this is amazing to see another movie from Neill.he is a genius. cant wait ...
Lesley

I hope it's about a food company that use genetically mutated animals to cheapen their production costs and things start going wrong. It's never been done before, right?
Louis

I think we can all assume that the "GM" in "AGM" stands for Genetically Modified, no?
beavis

#23 - that'd sounds awesome!
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

@ Beavis. Freaks of the Heartland is a graphic novel too? I read it and it was pretty weird and very slow story wise, the script has already been written for 'Freaks of the Heartland apparently: http://www.slashfilm.com/david-gordon-green-to-direct-steve-niles-freaks-of-the-heartland/ I just hope this film, whatever it turns out to be, isn't filmed on a mobile phone.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

Also they should totally have sex with that thing, like in Splice.
beavis

#26 - not sure about it being a graphic novel. over the past year, i've read stories on several sites saying that a movie adaptation for the book would start production late this year or early next. but i've never gotten any more info than that. however - what do you think about #23s idea? i think that sounds like an interesting idea for a movie.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

Hey Beavis, was the story about these mutant kids that were kind of hidden away? Then one normal kid a brother of giant mutant boy decides to set him free? Here's a link to the first issue synopsis: http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/12-747/Freaks-of-the-Heartland-1 I like the sound of lesley(23's) story, we eat so much GM food already,some which isn't even labelled, I really hope my burgers didn't start out like that! Although to be honest if it tasted okay I'd eat it. There must be quite a few things like that weird pigfish out there in labs already, just hopefully not on the slaughterhouse floor. Alan Partridge has a similar theory on farming here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtURTBLuNtg Wait til 1.52 til the chicken talk, it's pretty funny.
beavis

crapola - yea, that was the short synopsis i had heard. except i didn't hear the brother set them free - only that they got loose. that sounds kind of creepy to me.............thanks for the link. yea - we COULD be eating stuff everyday that is one wrong genetic strain away from zombifying us! LOL and i will check out the chicken talking!
jah p

Wouldn't it be funny if Neill was doing the US remake of The Host and this was just a sample of what the giant creature would look like?lol
Maggie

I saw an ad on the back of a comic for some movie called Monsters just the other day... it doesn't appear to have much to do with District 9, but they mentioned it in the ad?
filmguy

Okayyyyyy. I'm not sure where Blomkamp is going with this. It has to be a prelude to something bigger because otherwise what would be the point. Hopefully some light will be shed on this some time in the near future. In the mean time though, as a short, I think it definitely has flaws. Their reaction to the creature is a bit unrealistic. I'm pretty sure even the most stoned alcoholic would be spooked by something like that. Anything that is unexplained and that we don't understand tends to freak us out. The part where they are playing with it's mouth like a puppet is especially over the top. Poking it with a stick would have been more realistic. I don't think they would want to touch it.
Maggie

To clarify on my earlier post - The ad I saw was for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with District 9, except for D9 being mentioned in the advertisement. So disregard any comparison between the two movies... they're absolutely different.