Following some promo images and a brief teaser, Sony Pictures has released a full trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City.
Set to 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" (for some reason), this teaser definitely indicates that the movie will take more influence from the video games than the previous franchise, as we see the likes of Claire, Leon and Jill facing off with zombies, devil dogs, lickers, and various other creatures as they attempt to find a way out of the besieged city.
Gamers are also sure to recognize some of the locations, and director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) does seems to have at least made an effort to replicate the dark, grimy chills of the games, but is this really the Resident Evil movie fans have been waiting for? Check out the trailer for yourselves below and let us know what you think.
The movie will feature plenty of familiar faces from the first three Resident Evil Games - Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Brad Vickers (Nathan Dales), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), and Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell) - as they attempt to find a way out of the zombie-infested city of the title.
Roberts recently explained why he wanted to take inspiration from the original games when it came to the tone of this reboot.
“I wanted to go back to the horror of it all. I wanted scares and atmosphere rather than full-on action,” he told IGN. “I think fans of the game felt the same. They wanted to see the iconic characters and locations and feel that the movie was more in line with the Resident Evil game world so that’s really why we chose to go in that direction. We worked hand in hand with Capcom on this movie to the point that we actually got blueprints from them on the designs of the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon police station in order to recreate them as perfectly as we could. We even have the exact artwork up on the mansion walls. Capcom saw it for the first time the other day and was so happy and excited.”
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City also stars Neal McDonough (Yellowstone) as William Birkin, and Donal Logue (Silent Night, Gotham) as Chief Irons. The movie is set to hit theaters on November 24, 2021, in the US, December 3 in the UK.