Now this is a strange image that I had to bring back along with me.  With the political race heating up more than it has a right to, and Sarah Palin neck-deep in the middle of it all, it was a surprise to see what looked like a fan poster come out, vaguely in the style of the Saw series.

The poster depicts Sarah Palin in full Little Billy style cheek swirl makeup superimposed over a clearly blood-drenched United States.  The caption reads “Oh yes…There Will Be Blood.”

There also appears to be an artist’s signature and copyright in the lower left hand corner reading “Michael Troy 2008″.

Looking at the poster, it’s clear that it’s not professionally done.  But that being the case, why would it have been sent FROM Lions Gate’s publicity arm?  I cracked off an email to my Lions Gate contacts today, but haven’t received a response yet.  When–IF–I do, I’ll be sure to pass it on to you.

Until then, I’m left to conjecture–which, happily, makes for good blogging.  My guess is someone hijacked the Lions Gate PR system to send this thing out, possibly this Michael Troy himself.  There is no conceivable reason why a studio would have an amateur and clearly inflammatory poster made–I’m no Sarah Palin fan, but the allusion to her bringing bloodshed to the country and painting her up in the grandest Little Billy fashion can be nothing but inflammatory–and then pass it around through normal press channels.  This isn’t the place for that.  Saw V certainly doesn’t need that kind of viral marketing.  This isn’t some new title on the block–this is the fifth installment of a blockbuster flagship franchise.  It is–sadly, in many ways–its generation’s Friday the 13th.

So why bother with a political smear campaign to coordinate with a political election?  It makes no sense.

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