TRAILERS
Indie Trailer Sunday: Clay Liford's Indie Sci-Fi Film Earthling
by Alex Billington
February 14, 2010
Source: YouTube
As a big fan of the sci-fi genre, I usually hunt for every indie sci-fi film I can find, and today we have a new one to introduce to you. CHUD premiered a teaser trailer for a film called Earthling, written and directed by Clay Liford, about a group of people aboard the international space station who discover that the lives they have been living are all a lie. They're not human, they're aliens and now they must decide whether to keep on living as men or find a way back home. Just like Duncan Jones' Moon, I love seeing how much they can accomplish on a limited budget, and this looks great. Looking forward to seeing this as soon as I can.
Watch the first teaser trailer for Clay Liford's Earthling from YouTube:
After a mysterious atmospheric occurrence aboard the international space station causes a tragic event, a small group of people wake up to realize that their entire lives have been a lie. They are in fact aliens disguised as humans. Now they have to make a choice: Live amongst men, or try to find a way back home.
Earthling is both written and directed by New York City-born filmmaker Clay Liford, who directed a few comedic short films and was a cinematographer before making his feature directorial debut with this. The film is premiering at the SXSW Film Festival next month, which is where we'll see some of the first reviews as well. There is also an official website that you can check out by clicking right here. Anyone interested?
44 Comments
1
I have to be honest, I wanted to see this movie just until I saw the trailer.
Tristan on Feb 14, 2010
2
Interesting premise, kinda dull trailer. I'm still curious enough to want to see it.
FancyMonocle on Feb 14, 2010
3
Good trailer. Interesting enough for a low budget sci-fi film. Nice photography, art direction and light. I'm in.
Christ on Feb 14, 2010
4
that trailer killed it, but I still want to see the film. If anything I'll see it for Peter Greene, the guy to me is very underrated.
Xerxex on Feb 14, 2010
5
Easily the worst trailer Ive ever seen holy shit.
Cody on Feb 14, 2010
6
wow way too much action and they practicley showed the whole movie **sarcasm**
Sonny on Feb 14, 2010
7
story looked good, trailer looked horrible.
history repeats on Feb 14, 2010
8
pretty much the same as everyone else has said, moon is a high standard to compare this to
matt on Feb 14, 2010
9
I can't believe that synopsis and that trailer are for the same movie! The story sounds good but the trailer makes absolutely no sense! That is bad advertising right there!
Ron on Feb 14, 2010
10
Terrible. I'd rather have Michael Bay take a dump on my chest, than be forced to sit through this.
kLO on Feb 14, 2010
11
I loved the trailer. And this premise sounds amazing. Why do we judge films by the trailer? Honestly, I do it too. But why? I try to keep an open mind, and when a trailer is strange, it intrigues me even more to want to see the film. This trailer does it for me. I'm in for this film.
Ian Kuah on Feb 14, 2010
12
the story premise and teaser seem to be completely unrelated...............uh, i don't think that's how it's supposed to work.
beavis on Feb 14, 2010
13
I'm always interested in anything sci-fi but the trailer makes you think it's more of a drama than anything else. Horrible trailer imo.
mike on Feb 14, 2010
14
One of the worst trailers i have ever seen in my life. It doesn't show you ANYTHING and it's not related at all with the premise of the movie...
leinergroove on Feb 14, 2010
15
It looks really well filmed and the characters seemed good, so I'll wait to see more.
Crapola on Feb 14, 2010
16
You've all lost your minds. The whole purpose of a trailer is to SPARK YOUR INTEREST, not show you the whole movie in two minutes! I loved this trailer because of the fact that it doesn't "show you ANYTHING." (#14)
Phil on Feb 14, 2010
17
Science fiction and action are so often confused with each other. A sad thing. I bet 99% of the American Scifi movie fans would die out of boredom watching the original Russian version of Solaris, which is way better than the cheap American version. Most of you guys are just not used to use the ol' grey matter when watching movies, ey? You just see scifi movies as a distraction and nothing else, right. No wonder Blade Runner was a flop in the States when it was originally released. Oh well, maybe one day you'll wake up realising that your brain can be used for more than your primal functions and making money. Thumbs up for that. I'll be looking forward to see more of this movie.
peter T'Sas on Feb 14, 2010
18
I'm going to agree with those who are saying this teaser isn't good, but I'm going to disagree with those that then think neither must be the film. The film and its premise actually look great. I'm thinking this might a case of watch the trailer with the sound off for a better experience.
Darren Albert on Feb 14, 2010
19
@ peter T'Sas chill dude, you are judging an entire sub culture of American Cinephiles. Blade Runner was way ahead of its time, but now it has the strongest and most loyal fanbase ever. This trailer was not that good, but it has piqued the majority of interest on this forum.
Xerxex on Feb 14, 2010
20
hmmmmm i dnt know for some reason it reminds me of Dreamcatcher
Said on Feb 14, 2010
21
zzzzzz, I'd rather watch QVC.
Black Dynamite on Feb 14, 2010
22
@17 we're all complaining because if not for guy in the spacesuit in the trailer, there wouldn't be any sense or connection of this film being remotely sci-fi. if the premise wasn't stated beforehand, i'd say this was a romantic film, or a thriller at best...definitely not sci-fi. we don't need action, we need some...science, not some guy rolling in the grass.
GET TO DA CHOPPAAAAAA! on Feb 14, 2010
23
Great trailer, the story sounds very interesting. It looks like old-school sci-fi, a psychological thriller built on suspense, meaning and performances and not on heavy CGI. I don't think we will see explosions, big bad robots and ground-shaking sound effects (hopefully!). If you don't like it rent Transformers BD... ? am looking forward for this film.
var2apo on Feb 14, 2010
24
ummmm righhhhttt... Some crazy-indie-sci-fi movie where the director was on heaps of acid before, during, and heavily after filming. Or the dude that edits the trailer was on some better shit and they shared what they had.
Spray On Hair on Feb 15, 2010
25
#25 If this is true it is not necessarily bad. Philip K. Dick one of the greatest Sci fi novelists was heavily on drugs when he wrote. It's bad for his health, sure!
var2apo on Feb 15, 2010
26
lol #26 true true. But they must of done most the filming/editing in this one when they were coming down hard.
Spray On Hair on Feb 15, 2010
27
OK, first off: It's a TEASER. It's supposed to tease at what is going on and not just give it all away. I've seen teaser trailers that the only thing you see of the movie is the title. This one definitely gives a bit more than some, and to me, it was more than enough to pique my interest. Who are these people? What were they doing in space? What was that object that was seen in space, and later, being held by the person in the space suit? I want to know.
GlossGreen on Feb 15, 2010
28
A bit Bladerunner, E.T, type in the Storyline, Dull Trailer just shoots of diffrant peoples faces.
Cineprog on Feb 15, 2010
29
that was fucking weird,the trailer was dull it didn't give to much away like most trailers do now days.i still want to see it though.
DEADPOOL,MERC WITH A MOUTH on Feb 15, 2010
30
31
Its not the movie as much as just the trailer itself...I mean seriously if I didnt see your description Id think this is some trippy romance flick, I dont like movies being shown in the whole trailer but damn at least try to show us what the movies about.......Id like to see the movie though cause like #17 said my interest is a bit peaked.
Cody on Feb 15, 2010
32
Okay, I watched the trailer twice and came to this conclusion: Random images do not a good trailer make. If you took out the spikey meteor-thing, you'd have a bunch of sad people and an astronaut. A good trailer should draw you in either with a hint of the story, some compelling performances, an amazing set piece, SOMETHING. Alex, your write up makes me interested in this movie and not its trailer which screams "pretentious arthouse pic."
Michael F. on Feb 15, 2010
33
Alex, most of us are still interested in the final product, its just the trailer didn't give off too much info.
Xerxex on Feb 15, 2010
34
It's a TEASER trailer you dipshits.
tully on Feb 15, 2010
35
There's a follow up trailer here: http://gordonandthewhale.com/exclusive-sxsw-2010-earthlings-judith-trailer/#more-48200
James M. Johnston on Feb 15, 2010
36
The follow-up trailer is only slightly less bad. At least it has the benefit of NOT including the suicidal-thought-inducing "music" contained in the first trailer.
Sharkman on Feb 15, 2010
37
Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Humans finding out they are aliens and then trying to figure out which side they are on. I wonder if they are heading back to their mother planet called Caprica...
drnknjbbrsh on Feb 15, 2010
38
zzzzz... I waited 10 minutes for this to load and then watched it. That's 1o minutes of my life I'll never get back. Maybe next time they toss together a trailer they can use film other than scraps from the cutting room floor. wow.
todd on Feb 16, 2010
39
Damm you guys sound like you're so dogmatized by the mainstream cinema, so that when something "diferent" or "foreign" is shown, you just cant tolerate it. I think it looks realy great, kinda of like The Fountain.
Andres Sanclemente on Feb 17, 2010
40
lol @40 The Fountain was shit and so was this trailer, your taste in movies suck @ss dude. Btw i love 'foreign' movies such as 'A Prophet' and 'Gomorrha'. Lol next time dont try to sound like a hero.
Doig on Feb 18, 2010
41
NO Number 14 is right!!! at 1:01 where the girl is lying on the ground there is something that looks like a bump coming out above her eye! Look at the middle right of the screen....weird!!!
luke on Feb 18, 2010
42
Aweful trailer, but I kinda want to see it anyway.
Robbie on Feb 20, 2010
43
@40 - I love indie films, i love indie SciFi, i love foreign films and i love mainstream. I simply love cinema. I think what a lot of people are getting at, without really explaining, is that this film has done itself no real favours by releasing a teaser that shows us nothing of the story. If we didn't know anything of the story, yet saw this, interest rate would probably be below 0, its low enough as it is.
Trailer Guy on Feb 23, 2010
44
I thought the Karate/Kung-Fu Kid's movie should have been featured on ratemypoo.com, this one was like waking up next to Elton John
Jon the Rob-ot on Mar 15, 2010
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