With only 6 months untill the release of Godzilla (2014), we finally get our first glimpse into relatively unknown British Director Gareth Edwards’ remake of this Toho classic. A scarier and darker twist on this iconic tale, Godzilla (2014) has everything it takes to bring the King of Monsters back to the forefront on blockbuster hits.

The first thing you’ll probably notice about the trailer is the overall creepy feeling. Between the music, the soldiers’ heavy breathing, and the look of this being some post apocalyptic hellscape, this is certainly a much darker take on the classic monster vs military/monster showdown.

A band of soldiers Halo Jump into the hellish landscape below.

One of the truly most frightening experiences in the new teaser is when the camera shifts into first-person courtesy of one of the skydiving soldiers. Through his goggles, you can barely make out his comrades once they hit the dark clouds. Only the fires below and the brief lightning strikes are able to shed some light on the surrounding mountain peaks. But they aren’t mountains. As they start to move you realize this is actually our first glimpse into the title monster. A sea of spines rising up out of the dark clouds.

Through the blurry goggles and heavy breathing of a soldier, we get our first glimpse of Godzilla. I feel really sorry for the soldier about to land on his head . . . or in his mouth.

As for plot, this trailer doesn’t teach us much, but from interviews with the writers and directors, we can start to get a feeling for the type of movie this will become. Screenwriter Frank Darabont (former show runner for The Walking Dead) spoke with io9 about the new reboot and had this to say about the new take on this classic beast:

 We’re kind of taking a cool new look at it. But with a lot of tradition in the first film. We want this to be a terrifying force of nature. And what was really cool, for me, is there was a very compelling human drama that I got to weave into it. It’s not that cliched, thinly disguised romance or bromance, or whatever.

It has also been revealed that this movie will tell the story of a soldier in the midst of Godzilla fighting other monsters. What other monsters these are we will have to wait and see; but overall this is shaping up into a pretty exiting movie for old fans and new fans alike.

The frightened soldier prepare to dive into the unknown.

From the looks of it, this movie will combine the first-person perspective of Cloverfield – minus the nausea –  with the frightening suspense of the best horror movies.  These will certainly lend a unique new take on this classic beast without falling into any of the pitfalls the 1998 movie with Matthew Broderick fell into. Now to be fair, I didn’t think that was such a bad movie. By today’s standards, it certainly would have warranted a sequel considering it earned $517 million in total – not counting inflation, the spin-off FOX cartoon, and VHS/DVD sales.

With its release date set for May 16th, Godzilla (2014) marks almost 60 years of Godzilla being the King of Monsters. More closely, it’s four days away from marking the 16th anniversary of the 1998 Godzilla movie so those comparisons will certainly be made. Either way, this movie’s tone brings a refreshing new look and feel to the genre and I can’t wait to check it out – or the sequels the production team is already discussing.