‘Resident Evil’ Trailer Teases a Relentless Survival Horror Nightmare
Horror is absolutely on fire right now, and everything really feels like it’s about to explode this May. Between the breakout buzz surrounding Obsession and the massive anticipation building behind Backrooms, which already feels poised to become one of the biggest horror movies of the year, fans are celebrating a wave of original genre storytelling in a marketplace drowning in sequels, reboots, and recycled IP.
That said, some of the year’s biggest horror events are still firmly planted in franchise territory, including Evil Dead Burn and Sony Pictures’ new Resident Evil reboot from Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger.
The filmmaker unveiled the first footage during Sony’s CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas, and despite early skepticism surrounding his “original” take on the beloved Capcom video game franchise, the response coming out of the room was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees described the footage as frantic, high-octane, and surprisingly aggressive, with several reactions comparing the energy to a horror version of Mad Max: Fury Road.
It’s a major tonal shift from the slower, dread-soaked atmosphere associated with the earlier games, though longtime fans know the franchise has always flirted with action-heavy chaos as the stories escalate. Sony finally released the trailer online today, and based on the reaction alone, Resident Evil already feels destined to become one of the biggest horror films of the year, and potentially the movie that revitalizes the franchise on the big screen.
The trailer itself wastes absolutely no time throwing audiences directly into the nightmare. The footage follows Austin Abrams (Weapons breakout) as a courier traveling through a snow-covered, nearly abandoned town before stumbling into the middle of a rapidly spreading outbreak.
The footage leans heavily into panic and momentum, showing infected civilians hurling themselves through streets, blood-soaked interiors, overturned vehicles, sewer-dwelling monstrosities, and packs of terrifying infected dogs stalking through the darkness. One particularly intense sequence features zombies throwing themselves from rooftops as Abrams desperately runs for safety.
This new Resident Evil feels much more grounded and survival-driven than previous adaptations, with Cregger emphasizing tension, isolation, and resourcefulness over giant action set pieces. Even with the increased pace and scale, the trailer still captures the oppressive dread and unpredictability that made the games iconic in the first place.
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 into chaos around him.
It also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, and Johnno Wilson.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Resident Evil will have dominated theaters. The previous film franchise from director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich became a global box office powerhouse, earning more than $1.2 billion worldwide across six films despite often taking massive departures from the source material.
Those movies leaned heavily on stylized action and PG-13 accessibility, transforming Capcom’s survival-horror franchise into something closer to a sci-fi action saga than pure horror. This new reboot appears to be taking the opposite approach entirely.
Not only is the new film embracing a harder R-rated vision, but Zach Cregger also seems intent on pushing the franchise back toward dread, brutality, and relentless tension. More importantly, he’s doing it with the kind of strange, unorthodox filmmaking voice that has made him one of the most exciting directors currently working in horror.
In an era where so many IP-driven films feel manufactured and safe, getting a studio horror reboot that actually feels unpredictable and original is something worth celebrating.
Resident Evil releases exclusively in theaters on September 18, 2026.
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