We're Clover The Moon: Is J.J. Abrams's Next Cloverfield Film About Zombie Nazis?

Everywhere you turn nowadays you can't move for zombie movies, zombie TV shows, and Greg Nicotero filling your Instagram feed. While Resident Evil may be finally closing its doors (for now), every other week another slow-walking zombie film lands itself on the production slate. Well, gore-fans can rejoice because a very exciting zombie project is just on the horizon, but try not to get too "Cloverexcited."

Bad Robot, the production company founded by J.J. Abrams, is shuffling forward with its WWII inspired zombie film Overlord. The film about two paratroopers dropped into enemy territory on D-Day has also now found a director in Son of a Gun's Julius Avery. While everything seems a little pedestrian here, perhaps as just another way to hop on The Walking Dead bandwagon, is there a twist hiding in plain sight, is #Overlord the fourth #Cloverfield film?

Cloverhyped?

Literally putting the "brains" in brainchild, the idea is said to come from the minds of #JJAbrams and Billy Ray. We all know Abrams as the man who directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as well as having a hand in sci-fi shows like LOST and Westworld. Meanwhile, Ray adapted The Hunger Games for film and is the one who has written the script for Overlord. I'm sure they will, but Bad Robot had better pull something special out of the bag because, sorry to break it to you boys, the idea of Nazi zombies in WWII has kinda already been done. Does anyone remember 2009's Norwegian splatter-fest Dead Snow?

The Cloverfield universe sure does like to mix it up with Godzilla-esque city attacks, underground bunkers, and outer space missions. Quite how Nazi zombies would fit into the Cloververse it's very apparent, so this really could just be a standalone project. However, the synopsis conveniently points out that the two soldiers come across zombie Nazis and "other" experiments and that there will be supernatural elements. 2008's Cloverfield may have been set in modern times, but who is to say that Overlord won't include the origins of the monster that wreaked havoc on NYC in some secret german lab? it certainly had time to grow since WWII.

The Luck Of The Clover

Paramount first got the rights to Overlord in 2007, but everything has been relatively quiet since. Last year Bad Robot released the maligned Star Trek Beyond, but was also responsible for 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was a surprise success of the year and was nominated for a string of awards. Away from The Hunger Games, Billy Ray wrote the script for critically acclaimed Captain Phillips, so having him on board certainly adds some Hollywood credentials. It is also said that The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith did a "slight polish" on Ray's script, so all signs point toward something special.

Only time will tell if Bad Robot can continue their Cloverfield success with the upcoming #GodParticle, which is a loose continuation of the franchise, but if it is anything like #10CloverfieldLane, we are in for a treat. There may be no news on Overlord's release date, but with Avery's attachment, the project has gathered steam, while studios have even started meeting with the "talent" who could play the two soldiers. If this is a Cloverfield continuation, expect that the franchise's recent success in films has fast-tracked Overlord. It may all sound a bit like Wolfenstein, but — and I am copyrighting the name now — we might as well call this one Cloverlord and be done with it.

(Source: Variety)