Zach Cregger has become one of the premier names in horror, and after his Oscar-winning film Weapons, Cregger is taking on one of the premier franchises in horror gaming, Resident Evil. Since the project was announced, Cregger has made clear his intention to craft a film that captures the experience of the Resident Evil games, rather than a direct adaptation of the games’ lore and characters. Some diehard fans have pushed back against that creative concept, but Cregger has earned so much trust from horror fans that there’s been a heavy ‘wait and see’ air hanging over the film.
Well, fans have waited long enough to see at least one major sequence from Resident Evil – one that’s been teased in every trailer, TV spot, and photo drop: the zombie gauntlet. Thanks to Sony and PlayStation, Resident Evil fans get to experience 3 full minutes of some of the craziest zombie horror you’ve never seen before.
As the video’s synopsis reads: “From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.”
This sequence certainly reinforces Cregger’s earlier tease that he’s taken many familiar elements of Resident Evil and remixed them into something wickedly fresh, yet familiar. “There are things I can’t really talk about because I don’t want to spoil them,” Cregger told ComicBook earlier this year. “But like, there’s a lot of unique mechanics in this movie that still play within the rules of the Resident Evil games. But you haven’t seen before, I think, and I’m really proud of and excited for people to see.” Resident Evil game players have had to walk through many hallways, streets, and rooms that are overrun with zombies; however, a gauntlet of zombies dropping from rooftops is certainly a novelty for the game franchise, and horror films in general.
So far, we know that Resident Evil‘s zombie dogs will be updated into new nightmares; there is also a multi-limbed T-Virus monster that pursues Bryan throughout the film (while adding more limbs). Even the start of the clip above comes after Bryan has encountered a different freak (a freakishly grotesque man) squatting in that sewer he climbs out of.
That’s all to say: Resident Evil looks like it will be a blast when it hits theaters on September 18th.
