Any fans of Angel out there? If so, you're familiar with the story of murderous children's puppets from "Smile Time" in Season 5. In that, villianous muppets for public television used the medium of "edutaintainment" to literally suck the lives and happiness out of unsuspecting children to gain enternal life.

In the upcoming feature, Brian Henson's (Jim Henson's son who is directing the project) THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS treads on similar territory to showcase the darker side of the brand.

The just released concept art is below. If you've seen the episode of Angel (one of my favorites during its run) then you'll definitely see a resemblance. However, since that show was anything but a ratings juggernaut it's safe to say that the majority of the population has been caught unawares.

According to Entertainment Weekly's blog Inside Movies, the just-released images shows disgraced ex-cop Phil Phillips. The film takes place in a world where puppets are acknowledged but are second class citizens to humans. Phil is searching for a serial killer who murdered his brother and is now targeting cast members of ’80s television show, The Happytime Gang. The catch? The clues to the killer’s identity begin to point back to Phil himself.

Not much is known about HAPPYTIME MURDERS, except that Katherine Heigl is set to star. This will be a much needed change from Heigl's normal repetoire of films. I can only hope that by adding muppets, her performance will become bearable.

No word yet on a release date for HAPPYTIME MURDERS.

 

Source Inside Movies