'I. Am. Spurt-acus!'
Hey, do you like nudity and outlandish blood spurting? Haha, trick question, we all like those things. Rarely, though, has an ad campaign focused on the two to the exclusion of all else, but then, Starz has to make a name for its news series Spartacus: Blood and Sand somehow. Come in and let's take a look at the NSFW trailer, shall we? Wear a smock (but nothing else).
The pay-cabler, which brought Spartacus to Comic-Con, is making no bones about the fact that it's being positioned as Gladiator meets 300 (if the copious green-screen and arena battles hadn't already tipped you off). Still, though, Sam Raimi-produced show is looking to cut through the cable clutter by pushing past normal limits on sex and violence. Want to see an arterial gush in freeze frame? They've got that! How about Lucy Lawless wearing nothing but a pubic wig? There's that, too! It's a video game with bare asses, and it's coming in January.
VERDICT: This vexes me.
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· Starz' 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' trailer [THR]

Comments
I was thoroughly relieved to find no signs of Karl Urban.
Yet.
Yayzers! It looks like what Rome wanted to be. Less stupid history...more naughty touching! And blood! Remeber the Orgy scen's form Rome? Where everything was sorta implied? Imagine no more! I wonder if pay cable can show penetration yet?
I can't help but feel this show just looks like recycled sword and sandals epics from the past 10 years, with a dose of 300's CG blood splashed around for good measure.
Hopefully, it's not all beefcake and butts, and the writing is as solid as all the muscle on display.
(The Fast and Furious-style lesbians in the trailer were a nice touch.)