So far Conan has seemed like a run-of-the-mill period fantasy action flick taking aim for the gap right between the Clash of the Titans remake and Prince of Persia. I don’t think many would consider that a good place to be.

Despite all the CGI and gimmicks in the full trailers, some small bits of interest have escaped from the PR department, and this new decidedly red-band clip of kid Conan kicking ass in the woods is an example. Perhaps this is a repeat of the Halloween remake, in which the iconic character’s childhood forest murders are the most well-shot part of the movie, but I like what I see. Even though the sequence has clearly been cut up a bit for this promo, the action is coherent, gory, but still definitely on the over-the-top side. I also dig Leo Howard as young Conan- he’s got a good face for emoting impetuous attitude. He’s come a long way from Shorts.

Ron Perlman also looks like he’s having fun being exceptionally wide.

Does this get you anymore excited for the flick than you would otherwise be? I’m worried that this stripped down violence is held only briefly before all the over-digitized mysticism bullshit comes into play, but who knows… Tweet me, comment below, or hit the boards to let us know.

(via Dave Poland)