The director of Weapons and Barbarian is doing his own thing with Resident Evil, and it looks horrific but darkly funny too.
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Don't give me hope, PC Gamer's Elie Gould expressed when Zach Cregger's upcoming Resident Evil film got a teaser in April. They've been let down by Resident Evil movies before, as have we all, but that teaser did give the impression that it might be good.
Now the full trailer for Cregger's take on Resident Evil is out, and I'm not sure if this counts as good news for Elie or bad news—but yeah, it really does look like this might be a winner.
What's interesting about the film, as Cregger explained in May, is that it "takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2," but won't include any of them, or anyone you know from the game: "It's an alternate storyline that takes place on the periphery of the hero's storyline, so it's a story that could be happening without necessarily breaking the universe of the story the games are telling."
Cregger said at the time that the film reflects what would happen if he were thrown into a Resident Evil situation in real life, utterly unprepared or unequipped for the situation: "I think it's just fun to be following someone with no combat experience whatsoever as they're walking through hell with a machine gun."
You can see that kind of "fun" in the trailer, which has a very down-dressed Austin Abrams—average guy extraordinaire—suddenly up to his neck in awfulness. There's a humor to it not present in that April teaser that reminds me a bit of the Evil Dead flicks: That zoom-in on the shotgun over the mantle is just about a dead lift from Sam Raimi's groundbreaking splatter flicks, and Abrams' reaction as he looks out the window and sees the zombie running toward the house, well, maybe it's just me but I find it very funny.
Don't do this to me Zach Cregger, don't get me excited for a Resident Evil movie—I can't get hurt again
Zach Cregger's inspiration for the upcoming Resident Evil film once again proves he knows ball
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil film 'takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2' without actually engaging any of the characters
I don't think the whole film is going to be played for laughs—Cregger has previously said that what he loves about survival horror and Resident Evil specifically is the "overwhelming feeling of dread," and individual moments of levity don't mean that the experience as a whole isn't going to be horrific. But I do think that by making a parallel addition to the mythos, Cregger has a chance to cook up something much more interesting than previous films—and maybe, one that's actually good.
Resident Evil is set to hit screens on September 18.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.<\/p>","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); }
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
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