Murder School Is Now In Session - New Trailer For Rob Zombie's '31'!

After what seems like an eternity, we finally have a trailer for Rob Zombie's long awaited gore-fest 31. Premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival, this is the first time we have seen a trailer for the clown-filled horror. If you are a Zombie fan, then you will know that his films like House of 1000 Corpses and sequel, The Devil's Rejects, don't scrimp on the gore factor. The trailer promises that 31 is his sickest outing yet, and it certainly doesn't disappoint on that front.

Set during the halloween of 1976, 31 centres around a cast of carnival workers when attacked by a deranged group of maniacs, known only as 'the Heads'. Kidnapped and taken to an unknown building, the survivors are given 12 hours to navigate a maze of rooms whilst being hunted. The aim of the game (called 31) is to survive the night, and in return, gain your freedom - there is only one rule...survive!

Shot with Zombies usual grindhouse style, The gritty trailer introduces Richard Brake's Doom-Head , a blood soaked clown who narrates us through the journey:

In hell, everybody loves popcorn.

Known for playing Joe Chill in Batman Begins, as well as The Night's King in Game of Thrones, Brake definitely brings the creepy clown vibe to the trailer.

As for the doe-eyed damsall, forget that, we have our very own Ellen Ripley to take on the clowns. 31 once again reunites Zombie with his other half, SherI Moon Zombie, the self-proclaimed 'scream queen', who is as sassy as ever as carnival worker Charly:

I say we hunt these freaks down and slit their throats.

Something of a Zombie reunion, the cast is rounded off by the likes of Malcolm McDowell, playing the aristocratic Father Napoleon-Horatio-Silas Murder. Known as A Clockwork Orange's Alex DeLarge, McDowell is no stranger to the horror genre, or to Zombie. McDowell played the iconic Dr. Samuel Loomis in Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween and its 2009 sequel.

The film was part crowdfunded twice via Fanbakced.com, with Zombie explaining to Loudwire his reason behind the controversial move:

As the years go on, the game changes all the time, and a movie that you could get made years ago, you cannot get made anymore, because the business changes, things change. And I’ve noticed that, there’s also a lot of aspects of the crowd funding that were sort of taking place already, where people always wanna buy props or own a piece of the movie or somehow be involved after the fact, whereas after the fact, there’s nothing much to be involved with.

Originally it was thought that 31 would either be the long-mooted Halloween reboot, or a third film that follows Sid Haig's character Captain Spaulding - Spaulding appeared in both House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects as the patriarch of the Firefly family. Zombie later revealed that 31 would not be based on any of his previous works, but that the name does come from the film being set on October 31. Test screenings unfavourably compared 31 to The Devil's Rejects, and despite positive Sundance reviews, the film currently only holds a 44% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. We will be left to make up our own minds when 31 gets is released on VOD September 16th, and theatrically October 21st.