Watch as a typical night for a group of war veterans at the local VFW turns into an all-out battle for survival in the new trailer for Joe Begos’ VFW. The action/thriller/horror film starring Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove, David Patrick Kelly, Sierra McCormick,Tom Williamson, Travis Hammer, Dora Madison with George Wendt and Fred Williamson opens in theaters, on demand and digital on February 14, 2020.
In the near future, the city has been reduced to a dystopian wasteland due to the scourge of “Hype,” a powerful narcotic that induces a simultaneous euphoric and aggressive state in its users. Distribution of the drug is nominally overseen by Boz, a homicidal gangster who rules over an army of “hypers” in a derelict movie theater. With the city dying and his power slipping away, Boz decides to flee town after brokering a massive drug deal that will secure his financial future. The night before his scheduled departure, he impulsively asks a hyper to commit suicide for his own amusement; later, the girl’s teenage sister, Lizard, slips into Boz’s lair and steals his hyper supply in revenge. Realizing he’s been robbed, Boz sends an army of hypers after her with the promise of an unlimited supply of the drug in exchange for her death and the drugs’ return. Lizard flees across the street to a decaying VFW hall, where she encounters Vietnam veteran Fred Parras and a contingent of aging soldiers—including his best friends Lou and Walter, octogenarian Korean veteran Abe, and visiting Gulf War vet Shaun— who spend their days reminiscing about their lost youth, growing irrelevancy, and impending deaths.
Presented with a final battle and opportunity to go down fighting rather than pass away ignominiously from old age, Fred and his men decide to protect Lizard and wage a final war against Boz, his henchmen, and the hypers. A siege ensues that sees the soldiers using the firearms they have on hand—as well as improvised booby traps and weapons—to kill waves of hypers, in addition to several of Boz’s men. Despite managing to keep the VFW secure, the men endure a number of casualties, and their morale gradually slips through the night. Fred’s resolve is eventually broken when Lou is killed while attempting to negotiate a cease-fire. Emboldened by what she’s seen, Lizard gives an inspirational speech to Fred, encouraging him to go on fighting so that his friends won’t have died in vain. His spirits rallied, Fred and the surviving soldiers hatch a plan to escape while Abe makes a suicide charge against the hypers. The plan succeeds and Fred, Lizard, Walter, and Sean make it out of the building; in the ensuing chaos, Lizard is captured by Boz and Walter is mortally wounded. Fred pursues Boz, intending to go down saving Lizard; a dying Walter runs Boz down in a truck, killing them both in the process. The hypers defeated, Fred, Lizard, and Sean return to the decimated VFW to share a celebratory drink with the dying Abe and raise a toast to their fallen comrades.