Wild Eye Releasing unveils The Velocipastor trailer. Directed by Brendan Steere, the horror film stars Greg Cohan as the title character, with Alyssa Kempinski co-starring as the female lead. The Velocipastor will have a special midnight screening and Q&A at the Texas Frightmare Weekend on May 3.

In The Velocipastor, a man of the cloth, Doug Jones (Cohan), comes to the realization that he can transform into a dinosaur. While visiting China after a family tragedy, Doug embraces his Dino superpowers, thanks to advice from a local sex worker. The Velocipastor is not only about the age-old tale of good vs. evil and existential angst, it’s also about a pastor-dinosaur mutant who battles ninjas. In 2016, Steere released his debut feature A Cat in the Forest, and the Montana native recently announced a new thriller called They Hunger. As for The Velocipastor’s lead, Cohan recently played Guard Alvin Bell in one episode of NCIS: Los Angeles season 10, and has a role in the 2019 drama A Little Water. Cohan’s co-star in The Velocipastor, Kempinski, appeared HBO’s The Deuce season 1.

On YouTube, MVD Entertainment Group released a trailer for The Velocipastor. To begin, Pastor Jones roams the woods and screams like he’s transforming into The Incredible Hulk. As it turns out, his mutation fears are confirmed when he’s later revealed to be the titular Velocipastor. During the trailer’s first half, Jones fends off a room full of ninjas in his underwear, thus establishing his physical agility and masculinity. From there, gritty voiceover narration creates a grindhouse aesthetic, complemented by Pastor Jones' beating of a man who admits to murder during a confession. The Velocipastor's drama intensifies during a bedroom sequence, in which Pastor Jones learns that he once transformed into a dinosaur and ate someone, at least according to his love interest. The camera zooms in on the Velocipastor’s face, followed by a hilarious reaction shot and yet another graphic that reinforces the film’s central theme. In the trailer’s second half, the Velocipastor battles ninjas, and the clip ends with Velicopastor suggesting that “God wants a lot of people dead.” Check out The Velocipastor trailer and official poster below.


While The Velocipastor doesn’t feature any A-list stars, it does capitalize on exaggerated performances and visuals that often transform low-budget films into cult classics. For example, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room didn’t exactly stun critics upon its 2003 release, though the campy aesthetics (intentional or not) made the film popular amongst general moviegoers. In fact, The Room became so popular that it inspired James Franco’s 2017 comedy The Disaster Artist, which chronicles the production of Wiseau’s film.

Based on The Velocipastor trailer, the film seems geared towards the midnight screening crowd and audiences who appreciate independent horror filmmaking. While the film doesn’t seem destined for the Academy Awards, it could find a home on a popular streaming platform like Shudder. Until then, The Velocipastor will have a home entertainment release in August.