Enter a new era of evil...
The first footage from Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger's Resident Evil reboot screened at CinemaCon earlier this month to a highly positive reaction, and Sony Pictures has now officially released the teaser online.
It's certainly a very effective first look, as we see Austin Abrams' character desperately searching for a working phone so he can call his girlfriend... maybe for the last time. As he leaves her a message, we see him being chased through the snow before taking refuge in an abandoned house, where he encounters a massive, bloated creature while several other partially visible terrors lurk in the darkness.
The trailer ends with Abrams running down a street while zombies fall from the sky, splattering all over the ground.
A test-screening for the movie was held recently, and while the feedback (via World of Reel) was positive, Cregger's take is said to have "practically nothing to do with the games, aside from a few Easter eggs and some recognizable monsters."
During a recent interview with The New York Times, Cregger said that he fully expects fans to "crucify" him if he does anything to alter the source material.
“I love the idea of being pitted against a world that is hellbent on annihilating you. It just feels fun and I haven’t seen a movie that offers that sort of experience," he added.
The last Resident Evil feature was Johannes Roberts' (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) Welcome to Racoon City starring Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield, Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Jill Valentine, and Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield. It was not well-received by fans or critics.
More recently, a live-action Resident Evil series starring the late Lance Reddick (John Wick, The Wire) as Albert Wesker was released on Netflix, and that was met with an even worse reception.
Could this movie finally deliver the terrifying experience fans have been waiting for? Check out the teaser below, and let us know what you think.
The new movie's official synopsis reads:
From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger comes a thrilling—and terrifying—reinvention of the RESIDENT EVIL franchise. In an all-new story, RESIDENT EVIL follows Bryan (Austin Abrams; pictured), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival, as one fateful, horrifying night collapses into chaos around him.