Venom: Let There Be Carnage Trailer Strikes the Right Campy Tone

Venom was a movie that somehow hit that pitch-perfect balance of camp that lets you enjoy a film that isn’t exactly good but you don’t care anyway. It’s an incredibly hard thing to nail and Sony most likely didn’t do it on purpose, so it’s a bit surprising that the first trailer for the film’s sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, has somewhat of the same feel to it. The trailer dropped today and not only gives us our first look at what the film will be like, but also our first taste of Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady / Carnage.

The film will introduce Carnage as the symbiote takes over Cletus Kasady, a deranged serial killer, and bad things start happening. Obviously, Venom, who has been a bit domesticated after the events of the first film, is going to need to throw down. Hopefully, there isn’t much more plot to the movie and we’ll just get Harrelson acting like a madman and CGI tentacle battles for two hours. There’s plenty of comedy sprinkled in throughout the Venom: Let There Be Carnage trailer, which could work in favor of the camp but could also kind of destroy the character of Venom. Making the symbiote too much of a punchline would be a bad move, especially since part of what worked about the original was the balance between the humor and taking themselves far too seriously.

Andy Serkis is stepping into the directorial chair for the film taking over for Ruben Fleischer. Both Tom Hardy, with his weird Eddie Brock voice, and Michelle Willams are returning to the film alongside Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, and Stephen Graham. It looks like this will really be Harrelson’s film, though. The actor can do deranged and over-the-top like no one else, and even just the few glimpses we get here makes it look like he’s having fun with it.

Let’s not forget that this is all part of Sony building up its Spider-Man villains universe. The studio has delayed Morbius to 2022, but that movie was supposed to come out before this and begin building the universe a bit with a cameo from Michael Keaton’s Vulture. The trailer here might also be hinting at a return of Spider-Man at some point with the crushing of the spider, a reference that is certainly on purpose.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage will release on Sept. 24, almost a year after its original October 2020 release date, only in theaters. Check out the new poster below.