Neon has unveiled the first trailer for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour’s highly anticipated follow-up film, The Bad Batch. Written and directed by Amirpour, the film reimagines the United States of America as a country that has opted to dispose of its undesirables—murderers, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, etc.—into a wasteland in or near Texas that, officially, is not part of the United States. Those deemed part of the “Bad Batch” are tattooed with a number and dropped off outside an electric fence with nothing but the clothes on their back and a fast food cheeseburger in their hand. To make matters worse, the land which the Bad Batch inhabit is a desert—natural wildlife are in short supply, thus some have reverted to cannibalism in order to survive. Suki Waterhous leads the film as a young heroine who escapes a batch of cannibals (with an arm and a leg missing), only to wander the wasteland and come across a variety of colorful characters.

I caught the film back at TIFF in September (read my full review here), and unfortunately found it to be quite disappointing. It’s stylish to be sure, with Amirpour playing with some John Hughes-ian undertones, but the film continues to switch gears as it meanders from a revenge story to a love story to a Midnight Run-esque road trip movie. None of these gears ever reach their full potential, and what we’re left with is a very pretty, but very dull movie with potential to spare.

This trailer actually offers a pretty accurate representation of the film, and perhaps you’ll find more to like in the full movie than I did. Annapurna Pictures and VICE Media produced it, but Tim League and Tom Quinn’s brand new distribution arm Neon is handling the releasing, and they’ve chosen a swell June 23rd release date.

Check out the trailer below. The film also stars Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, and Jim Carrey.

Here's the official synopsis for The Bad Batch:

The highly anticipated follow-up to Amirpour’s acclaimed directorial debut, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, THE BAD BATCH follows Arlen (Waterhouse) as she is unceremoniously dumped in a Texas wasteland fenced off from civilized society. While trying to orient her unforgiving environment, she is captured by a savage band of cannibals and quickly realizes she'll have to fight her way through her new reality. As Arlen adjusts to life in 'the bad batch' she discovers that being good or bad mostly depends on who you're standing next to.

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Image via Annapurna Pictures
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Image via Annapurna Pictures