Smart Zombies and Undead Tigers, Oh My, It’s Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead Trailer

Director Zack Snyder looks to be setting his sights on releasing one of the zaniest zombie action films ever made, judging from the newly released trailer for Netflix’s upcoming Army of the Dead. Packed to the gills with cartoonish explosions, improvised weaponry and action sequences that look like live-action adaptations of a Dead Rising game, the freaking undead tiger is really just the icing on the cake.

Army of the Dead takes place in Las Vegas, where a zombie outbreak has destroyed the city, but left the rest of the country apparently intact. That means money still has some value, and like the inferior Train to Busan sequel Peninsula from last year, it’s what drives the story forward. As the synopsis reads:

From filmmaker Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Zack Snyder’s Justice League), ARMY OF THE DEAD takes place following a zombie outbreak that has left Las Vegas in ruins and walled off from the rest of the world. When Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), a former zombie war hero who’s now flipping burgers on the outskirts of the town he now calls home, is approached by casino boss Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada), it’s with the ultimate proposition: break into the zombie-infested quarantine zone to retrieve $200 million sitting in a vault beneath the strip before the city is nuked by the government in 32 hours. With little left to lose, Ward takes on the challenge, assembling a ragtag team of experts for the heist. With a ticking clock, a notoriously impenetrable vault, and a smarter, faster horde of Alpha zombies closing in, only one thing’s for certain in the greatest heist ever attempted: survivors take all.

So we’ve got a ticking clock, lots of guns, and a stacked ensemble cast, which can only mean one thing: Some of these folks are going to die spectacular deaths. Army of the Dead’s many warm bodies include Bautista, in addition to Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi, Samantha Win, Michael Cassidy, Richard Cetrone, and Garret Dillahunt.

Snyder, coming off all the attention of the Snyder Cut of Justice League on HBO Max, is of course old hand at zombie cinema, having made his directorial debut with 2004’s George Romero remake Dawn of the Dead. That film, with its fast-paced zombies, went on to have a divisive but very influential impact on the genre in the last 17 years, but this time around it’s clear that Snyder is abandoning any kind of subtlety or attempt at being “scary” in favor of outright bombast and fist-pumping action. Which honestly sounds pretty fun, if you ask us. Check out the full trailer for Army of the Dead below, which arrives on Netflix on May 21, 2021.