Zach Cregger is on a roll right now. The rising horror director made a huge splash with the extraordinarily twisty-turny Barbarian, and followed it up with last year’s smash Weapons – which, as well as garnering massive acclaim and a great box office haul, won as Oscar for Amy Madigan. Now, he’s already back with his next film: Resident Evil. The legendary video game saga has come to our screens many times before, in the Paul W.S. Anderson films, in the reboot movie, and in an ill-fated Netflix series. But many fans would argue that the spirit of the games has never really successfully translated to the big screen – so, has Cregger finally cracked (or, cregged) it? Watch the trailer here:
The film sees Cregger re-team with his Weapons star Austin Abrams, here playing a medical courier who finds himself caught up in some seriously spooky stuff. Abrams isn’t playing any character from across the game series; Cregger co-wrote the film, alongside Shay Hatten, and has cooked up an original story with new characters, in a take described as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention” of the franchise. Exactly what horrors await remain to be seen – but there are enough unsettling images in this first teaser alone to suggest we’re in for a wild, wild ride.
Thankfully, there isn’t long to wait – Cregger’s Resident Evil will be hitting cinemas on September 18, the perfect tee-up to spooky season. And it was filmed for IMAX too, so get ready to see Austin Abrams’ terrified face on a gigantic screen. Now, who’s up for rewatching Weapons again?