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Zach Cregger is a Resident Evil fan. He also happens to be one of the hottest horror directors in Hollywood right now, fresh from the success of last year’s smash hit Weapons.
His new film, an entirely new take on Capcom’s horror franchise, shepherded by Sony Pictures and PS Productions, has been attracting rave reviews in recent screenings.
And here’s our very first look at the movie, starring Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier.
Our initial takeaway after watching the trailer is two-fold:
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- It doesn’t immediately scream Resident Evil to us
- It looks absolutely awesome anyway
Speaking with the PS Blog, Cregger perhaps anticipated that response, and addressed it directly:
“I wanted to do a movie that was following a character from point A to point B, because that’s what those games do so well. You go on this crazy journey, and you go through all these different environments, and things just seem to be escalating and escalating. That feels so cinematic to me. So I wanted to tell a story that could take place in the Resident Evil world, but wasn’t telling a story that the games had already told. To me, I would feel like there’s kind of no winning there if I were to tell Leon’s story, because the games do such a great job. It would just be kind of redundant, and ultimately, I think, disappointing. So I would rather just kind of celebrate everything I love about the games by telling the story that could exist on the sidelines of one of the games.”
Cregger says there’ll be many references to the wider Resident Evil world in the film; it takes place around the time of Resident Evil 2, when things turn to sh*t in Raccoon City.
He says there’ll be progression just like in the games; Bryan’s arsenal will slowly evolve over the course of the movie, while the locations will expand. There’ll also be all of the familiar health items you remember.
Sony has tried directly adapting the games, most famously with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City a few years ago. Now it’s trying a supporting story, with one of the best directors around.
The movie’s due out on 18th September, and we reckon it’s going to be outstanding. But what are your thoughts on the teaser trailer so far? Let us know below.