Trailer for Joe Cornish’s Sci-Fi Comedy ATTACK THE BLOCK

The international trailer for Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block has gone online.  If Cornish’s name looks familiar, it’s probably because his credits include co-writing The Adventures of Tintin and Ant-Man with Edgar Wright.  Wright serves as one of the executive producers on Block, which is about a teen street gang who take on hostile alien invaders.  While the trailer plays up the Shaun of the Dead connection (Nick Frost co-stars, Nira Park and James Wilson are producers), that’s not a bad film to call back.  It’s also a similar-sounding set-up: a director who understands the conventions of a genre (in this case, alien invasion flicks), mixes it with a low-key setting, and is able to derive both laughs and thrills from the result.

2011 has no shortage of alien flicks, but Attack the Block looks like it could be a standout.  Attack the Block will play at this year’s SXSW Film Festival.  It opens in the UK on May 13th.

Trailer via Empire.

Here’s the official synopsis for Attack the Block:

Sam is walking home in a scary South London tower block when she’s robbed by a gang of hooded youths. She flees when the gang are attacked by a small alien creature which falls from the sky.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of creatures falls. The gang grab weapons, mount bikes, and set out to defend their turf. But this time, the creatures are much bigger. Savage and bestial, nothing will stand in their way. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her only hope.

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