Noel Clarke is back behind the camera again, after a brief hiatus (doing mostly acting), with the sci-fi actioner titled “The Anomaly,” which he also stars in, alongside Luke Hemsworth and Ian Somerhalder.

Shot in London and New York, Brian Cox and Alexis Knapp round out the cast of a film that follows a traumatized ex-soldier (played by Clarke) who wakes up in the back of a van, alongside a kidnapped boy. The soldier and the boy escape, but when he finds a mask in his pocket, he comes to an appalling realization…. but there’s no time to act. You see, the problem is, after nine minutes and forty seven seconds of consciousness, it all goes black. What does this have to do with Ryan’s past as a patient at the experimental Medical Unit? Ryan has a lot of questions, and very little time to find any answers. 

Whether he’ll find answers, and what exactly the appalling realization he comes to is, will all be unboxed when The Anomaly is released in UK cinemas first in July.

Universal Pictures picked up UK theatrical and home entertainment rights to the thriller. No word on whether the film will head west. Although I’m sure an American distributor will pick it up. If Universal likes it in the UK, why not in the USA as well?

Last summer, the British multi-hyphenate Clarke, revealed that he was working on a British film with an American villain. We can only assume that The Anomaly is that project.

I should note that this is Clarke’s first solo directorial effort since 2008’s “Adulthood” (he co-directed 2010’s “4.3.2.1” with Mark Davis).

Most recently, he signed up to star in The Habit of Beauty, from directors Enrico Tessarin and Mirko Pinchelli, their first feature, which will be set against the backdrop of the 2011 London Riots.

Watch the new trailer for “The Anomaly” below: