Up to this point, Paul Thomas Anderson‘s gone a little underground with The Master — so long as YouTube is an “underground” avenue for releasing previews — but with his first outing since There Will Be Blood set to hit in only three months, now’s the time for a real trailer. And it’s here.

“Here” alone, Anderson has provided so much beauty, so much tension, so many details, and reveals so little all at once. Maybe it’s because the tiny glimpses at plot and character, good as they appear to be, almost feel interstitial on this first viewing, when the late ’40s California, sun-baked iconography fuses with Jonny Greenwood‘s Blood-like score; together, they make this look like entirely new territory for such an eclectic filmmaker. That’s enough to make The Master worth discussing, and the fact that it also might very well be one of 2012′s best films is almost an afterthought right now.

Watch the preview below (via Yahoo!):

The Master opens on October 12th.

Even from this trailer, do you think The Master will live up to Anderson’s prior output?