The first footage from Weapons 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. We then see him being chased through the snow before taking refuge in an abandoned house, where he encounters a pale, 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."
"I don't think my telling a story that's not about Leon is a violation of the Resident Evil world because the games do that all the time," Cregger tells Screen Rant. "Leon's not in seven or eight, so they're allowed to jump around. So I figure if I am honoring the games, I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing a game in the world of the game, but I'm not stepping on the toes of any of Leon's storyline."
The more recent 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.
A live-action Resident Evil series starring the late Lance Reddick (John Wick, The Wire) as Albert Wesker was also 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.