I have never been a Mortal Kombat fan. But as the older sister to a younger brother who both grew up in the 90s, I knew more about the game than I really needed to know. It’s more or less a plotless videogame: a selection of the deadliest fighters and assassins (with magic powers) are collected to fight to the death. That’s about it. It was pure over-the-top violence and gore. It’s no wonder freaked-out mothers were appalled by it (which is why they shouldn’t have bought it for their kids, but that’s another story). So, when Hollywood decided to make a movie based on the game, they did the cowardly thing and made it PG-13. Of course, the mothers were still upset with the violence (even if there was less gore) and those fans of the game were disappointed by the overall lameness of the movie.

So, today (thanks to the good people of the Internets) I found this brand new video that just posted in the last 24 hours or so. I am warning you right here and now, this is the very definition of NSFW. It is super gorey and creepy. But it might (just might) be the first crazy long trailer for a new Mortal Kombat movie. Watch.

So, I’ll be honest with you. I couldn’t watch the whole thing. I ended up looking away and letting my always patient boyfriend tell me what was happening (ala “OK, Scorpion just stabbed that guy in the neck!”). But it’s kind of gratifying to see such a high-quality and seemingly story-focused video connected to a fallen franchise like Mortal Kombat. There are very, very few good video game adaptations, but I like where the video was heading. This could actually be a cool movie. Yeah, it’s insanely violent, but that’s the whole point of Mortal Kombat! Plus, the nerds could be appeased simply for the addition of Jeri “Seven of Nine” Ryan. Some bloggers are suggesting this is simply a viral video for a new MK video game, but this seems almost too high-quality for a simple promotion. I’m betting on it being for a movie (but I guess we’ll see if it is mentioned at E3 in the next few weeks).

And in case you didn’t catch it in time, here is the screenshot of Sub Zero that flashed on the screen towards the end of the video. Again, CREEPY!

UPDATE: Comingsoon.net has confirmed that the short film is a test sample made by director Kevin Tancharoen to convince movie studios to reboot the series, not a promotion for a new game. Side note, the actor playing Jax (the detective who has the majority of the lines in the short) is Michael Jai White, perhaps best known as the black gangster in The Dark Knight who gets to learn about the Joker’s scars. Why so serious indeed!