So, you're feeling kind of blah and waiting for the elevator and sipping your latte, and the door opens and some guy is choking some other guy on the floor, and you're just like, Whatever, it's probably some stupid marketing stunt for some indie gangster movie because oh my god even these nontraditional ads are getting so tired.
Viral marketing agency Thinkmodo—the professional ambushers who also did the Beauty Shop Scare video that we posted last week—says this latest clip shows regular bystanders, not actors, happening upon what appears to be an attempted murder, and that every precaution was taken to ensure the safety of all parties involved. The clip, promoting the movie Dead Man Down, your average underworld revenge fantasy rom-com starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace, features such choice responses to the crime-in-progress as beating the attacker about the head with a bouquet of flowers and spraying both him and his victim with a fire extinguisher. Because everyone knows if you see a person being strangled, don't panic—just reach calmly for the nearest fire extinguisher, remove the pin, stand eight feet back and aim at the base of the strangling while squeezing the handle and sweeping the hose from side to side.
There's also a lot of staring awkwardly and then scurrying away, and one guy who takes a picture—all masterfully emphasized to produce amused incredulity and Internet bravado among the YouTube masses.
Despite the creators' claim that it's not manufactured, it's pretty hard not to imagine the movie's lawyers getting a nasty ulcer over this—unless it was staged. As one random, surprisingly level-headed YouTube troll put it: "I hope you guys did this experiment in a state that doesn't allow concealed carry, I would have shot that mother fucker." Because where's the fun without a little debate.