Visually gripping from frame one, the trailer for 'The Master' - Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film - is a stunner. We're curious if it's being released now to appear on prints of 'The Dark Knight Rises,' and wonder if there's a crossover audience.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as a troubled soul who falls in with Philip Seymour Hoffman's group, which has long been rumored to be modeled on Scientology. Where things go from there is anyone's guess, but the trailer does have a journalist (or scientist) accusing Hoffman's character Lancaster Dodd of running a cult.

We also see some of the plot, but had a little bit of a 'Friday Night Lights' nerd-out with the appearance of Jesse Plemons. Regardless, this looks great, and we can't wait for the film's eventual release on October 12 (though that will be a limited engagement, likely New York and Los Angeles).

Here's the synopsis:

Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as a founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s. Hoffman plays "the Master," as in "master of ceremonies," a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952. The core is the relationship between the Master and Freddie (phoenix), a twentysomething drifter who becomes the leader's lieutenant. As the faith begins to gain a fervent following, Freddie finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.

And here's the trailer:

 

More From ScreenCrush