It’s not that we lack proof that literally every IP that’s ever been a movie or TV show is currently on the table for a reboot, prequel, spin-off, or reimagining. But the most recent case is particularly surprising: Universal Pictures has risen again RIPDthe comic book movie that flopped in theaters in 2013. On Wednesday, the studio released the first trailer for a prequel film called RIPD: Rise of the Damnedwhich comes out on November 15th on home video and digital release. Streaming video, which appears to be the first eight minutes of the film, is online at Universal’s website
The original RIPD Film is a modern supernatural action story with main actors Dead Pool‘s Ryan Reynolds as Detective Nick Walker, whose corrupt partner (Kevin Bacon) murders him and accidentally inducts him into an afterlife law enforcement agency called the Rest In Peace Department. The RIPD fights “Deados” (pronounced “dead-ohs” as if they were some kind of undead breakfast cereal), souls of the damned who escape the afterlife and wreak havoc on Earth. Jeff Bridges plays Nick’s new partner, Roy Pulsipher, a former Old West sheriff who has been hunting Deados since he was gunned down.
Rise of the Damned focuses on Roy’s origin story, with the character now being played by fire noticeis Jeffrey Donovan. When a prospector accidentally unleashes a power from the underworld, a newly dead Roy is drawn into battle to send him back to Hell. Here is Universal’s full plot description:
The Wild West has literally gone to hell, and the world’s best hope of being saved lies in the armed hands of Sheriff Roy Pulsipher (Jeffrey Donovan), who becomes the newest officer in the Rest In Peace Department (RIPD) to lead the… enforces laws after death. If the Wild West was wild when it was alive, wait until Roy sees how weird it gets when he dies. Roy thought joining the RIPD would give him a chance to revisit his daughter and solve the mystery of his murder. Instead, he has his holsters full of chaos and hellfire when he is given a mission to stop a dangerous demon from opening a portal to the underworld. The fate of the living and the dead now depends on Roy and his partner Jeanne (Penelope Mitchell), a mysterious swordswoman, as cowboys clash with creatures and the madness of the undead unleashes apocalyptic chaos.
RIPD 2 will be available as a digital release on November 15th. The original RIPD is a goofy action shoot-’em-up set in the continuum of Barry Sonnenfeld’s fantasy cop films Wild, wild west to Netflix Bright. It is Streaming on HBO Max and is available digital rent at amazon and other services.