Watch: Nifty new 9-minute viral video for David Fincher's 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'

Credit: Columbia Pictures

Columbia is going whole-hog with their viral campaign for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" via Mouth Taped Shut, an "unofficial" "Dragon Tattoo"-related Tumblr blog that regularly pushes new content connected to the upcoming film. The most recent post on the site represents perhaps the most ingenious bit of viral marketing for the film yet: a faux video segment of the now-defunct syndicated tabloid TV series "Hard Copy" that reports on Harriet Vanger's mysterious disappearance.

The 9-minute video, designed to look like it was uploaded off an old VHS tape, does a great job of affecting the style of an old VHS recording, with all the glitches and audio/visual deficiencies that entails. It even goes so far as to include brief snippets of old (seemingly real) commercials from the late '80s/early '90s around the margins ("Nothing else delights you like Sunny Delight!"), and - having made many similar recordings myself as a kid - the effect is pretty spot-on I must say.

Indeed, from the stuffed-shirt anchors (with "Burt Nolan" subbing for the actual show's "Barry Nolan") to the shoestring reenactments, the video pretty much nails the tone of the original show, my only gripe being that the talking heads are a little too "actor-y" to approximate the feel of real interview subjects.

Overall, I applaud the "Dragon Tattoo" marketing team's imaginative efforts to promote the film, and this video is a great example of what a little ingenuity can pull off. 

My grade for the video: "A-". After viewing the full clip below, be sure and rate it for yourself at top left!

 "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" hits theaters on December 21st.

Chris Eggertsen
Producer

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A former contributor to sites including Bloody-Disgusting and AfterElton, Eggertsen enjoys rock music, rainy days and smelling the pages of old books. You should read all of his articles and follow him on Twitter because it's the right thing to do.