Virally marketed to hell ET flick District 9 will be invading multiplexes next Friday. I'll have a full review of the film in the paper and online next week (first impression: good but incomplete and a bit nonsensical), but for now you can get primed with a look at Neill Blomkamp's short film, Alive in Joburg. This short caught the eye of Peter Jackson, who hired Blomkamp to direct the now-defunct Halo movie. When Halo went belly-up, Jackson decided to give Blomkamp the cash to make a feature out of his cool little short. I can tell you that District 9 is a far more evolved take on the material in Joburg (it's amazing what a few million dollars will buy you), but the short film retains a charm all it's own. It's also good set up for the feature.
Full video after the jump …
