The first official trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s eighth theatrical feature, The Hateful 8, was released yesterday. The film appears to be a mish-mash of Django Unchained and Reservoir Dogs, fusing the Old West bounty hunting of Django with the ensemble cast and bottle-episode feel of Dogs (possibly with some non-linear storytelling thrown in for good measure). We get to see a number of Tarantino regulars in the trailer, plus a few newbies, bumping elbows in a log cabin in the middle of the winter. Check it out:
It looks like Minnie’s Haberdashery is about to get cozy for the next few days.
Our introduction to this world pulls no punches. In a stunning 70mm widescreen shot of the Rocky mountains, a team of horses pulls a stagecoach through pristine snow. In a mountain pass, the coach comes upon Samuel L. Jackson sitting in the middle of the trail in front of a pair of stacked, frozen corpses. Jackson’s eyes emerge from the snow-covered brim of his hat and he asks the coach if there’s room for one more. Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh are shown in the coach, and we get our title logo.
Basic expository dialogue from Jackson follows: Russell is John Ruth “The Hangman”, a bounty hunter who prefers hanging his quarries. The three arrive at Minnie’s Haberdashery to stay the night, which is inhabited by a host of other characters (Eight in total – which is why they call it that). It appears as though the majority of the film will take place over a single night at this one location, although the possibility for flashbacks certainly exists, as non-linear story structure is a Tarantino hallmark. So is an eclectic music selection for the soundtrack, and if this trailer is any indication we will get plenty of that as well.
The rest of the trailer proceeds through a quick montage of the other characters as we hear that some are not who they claim to be, we get various threats of shooting, and people generally seem quite hateful. The trailer closes by imploring us to see the film in 70mm if we have the option. If you recall my previous piece on this subject (found here), you’ll know that The Hateful 8 will release on Christmas Day only to select theaters capable of showing the widescreen 70mm print, and then will be expanded to other screens two weeks later. Now that I have gotten a glimpse of the tone and style of this film, I’ll be feverishly looking for somewhere to watch it in 70mm, not only to appreciate the grandiose landscape shots, but also to see the flick two weeks earlier!