With a title like "Seven Psychopaths" one might expect an "Expendables" for the horror genre with Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers all appearing in one movie, but you'd be wrong. "Seven Psychopaths" instead refers to Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish, who star in Martin McDonagh's dark comedy about the kidnapping of a mobster's beloved Shih Tzu. On cast alone, the film looks to be worth it, to say nothing of McDonagh, whose "In Bruges" was a revelation, not only for Farrell's career, but for McDonagh's transition from playwright to filmmaker.
Once again, Farrell takes the lead in "Seven Psychopaths," playing a struggling writer named Marty whose unemployed actor friend Billy (Rockwell) is also a part-time dog thief, and has managed to snag the pooch belonging to Charlie, a violent and unpredictable gangster who begins to lose his mind without his dog Bonny. In fact, one of the latest pieces of viral marketing for "Seven Psychopaths" comes from Charlie himself, in the form of a public service announcement about the trouble our country is facing, namely, the missing Bonnie. We should warn you, the ad does contain some unsavory dialogue, for those of you watching at work.
That's not the only promotion for "Seven Psychopaths," two new preview clips have arrived online as well. The first clip, released by EW shows Billy discussing the dognapping with his girlfriend Angela (Kurylenko), who wants him to return it. Meanwhile, the next clip reveals how Waits gets involved in the mix as the rabbit-toting Zachariah, who has responded to an ad put out by Billy. Check them both out below.
Viral ad aside, the preview clips don't seem like an improvement over the film's effective first trailer, though we imagine it's hard to find a minute from the movie that properly promotes McDonagh's wry dialogue. In our TIFF review of 'Psychopaths,' our man on the ground found the film a bit uneven and remarked that it "tends to be a movie with a hit/miss ratio that will depend on your tolerance for the film's restlessness." McDonagh's track record still warrants a viewing, however, which can't happen until October 12th. [ComingSoon]