Asking For It Trailer: The Battle Of The Sexes Gets A Body Count

The battle of the sexes it about to get a lot bloodier in "Asking for It," the feature debut of writer/director Eamon O'Rourke. The film follows a group of vigilante women who call themselves the Cherry Bombers and seek revenge on rapists, abusers, and the corrupt systems that empower them. "tick, tick...Boom!" star Vanessa Hudgens leads an all-star cast that includes Alexandra Shipp ("X-Men: Apocalypse"), Kiersey Clemons ("The Flash"), Radha Mitchell ("Silent Hill"), Ezra Miller ("Justice League"), Luke Hemsworth ("Westworld"), and Gabourey Sidibe ("American Horror Story"). 

The trailer for this high-energy flick, which looks like a cross between "Assassination Nation," and "Thelma & Louise," is here, and it's pulling zero punches. The first thing Hudgens announces is "nothing I like more than watching grown men squeal," so gird your loins and get ready for one seriously brutal movie.

In "Asking for It," small-town waitress Joey (Clemons) is asked to join a gang of all-femme vigilantes who get revenge on bad men after she is sexually assaulted. According to a first-look from People, the women will take on all kinds of misogyny, ranging from violent frat bros to a dangerous alt-right Men's First Movement, complete with co-opted Viking imagery. The leader of MFM, Mark Vanderhill, is portrayed by Miller, and he's channeling some of his "We Need to Talk About Kevin" viciousness in the trailer. The Cherry Bombers will also have to contend with Sheriff Morel (David Patrick Kelly), who's running a human trafficking operation out of his town's police force. That's an awful lot for one crew of women to tackle, but these feisty femmes seem up for the challenge. 

Rape-revenge stories are often controversial, and the intense approach to gender divides in "Asking for It" is sure to raise some hackles, but I think it looks like it could be an interesting ride. The cast in particular is promising, because Hudgens, Shipp, and Sidibe are both veteran femme fatales; Hudgens in "Spring Breakers," Shipp in "Tragedy Girls," and Sidibe in "American Horror Story: Coven." Miller is also great at playing a total creep, and his menacing "we are men, we founded this country on our backs" speech in the trailer gave me chills. If O'Rourke's direction is as sure as it is throughout the film as it is in this trailer, "Asking for It" definitely has the makings of a future cult classic. 

"Asking for It" will premiere in theaters, digitally, and on demand on March 4, 2022.