The official trailer has arrived for Resident Evil, with Weapons director Zach Cregger and actor Austin Abrams reuniting for a very long night in Raccoon City. Released ahead of the film’s Comic-Con panel, the footage reveals more of the story, brings Umbrella into the nightmare and packs in survival-horror details from the games. Watch the trailer above, then read on for what to know.

The Resident Evil Trailer Sends Bryan on the Delivery from Hell

Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier responsible for transporting transplant organs and other urgent packages. After completing a hospital run, he accepts one more late-night assignment: deliver a particularly important package to Raccoon City.

Anyone familiar with the Resident Evil universe knows that is a terrible destination. Bryan, unfortunately, does not. His night takes a catastrophic turn when he hits someone on a snowy road and gets out to help. That decent decision leads him towards an apparently deserted house, where the phones are unreliable and a figure comes sprinting towards the property.

Bryan finds a shotgun but, of course, no ammunition. He is forced to search drawers and cupboards while danger closes in, turning the sequence into the kind of stressful scavenging exercise players know all too well.

Umbrella Knows What Is Happening in Raccoon City

The new footage also provides a look at Paul Walter Hauser as Carl, a scientist connected to the Umbrella Corporation. “Everything that has happened in this town transpired in a matter of hours,” Carl tells Bryan. “You’ve got no idea what you’ve got there in your hands.”

Whatever Bryan is carrying appears to be far more dangerous than he realises, placing the unlucky courier at the centre of the outbreak rather than making him another civilian caught in it.

Zach Cherry and Kali Reis also play Umbrella scientists, although their characters remain under wraps. The corporation’s involvement makes one thing clear: this is not some random zombie attack. Someone knows how the nightmare began, and Bryan may have been sent straight into it.

Zach Cregger Is Adapting the Experience Rather Than the Story

As previously covered, Weapons and Barbarian filmmaker Zach Cregger is not retelling the story of Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield or another established hero from the games. Instead, he has created a protagonist who reacts like an ordinary player suddenly dropped into the action. Bryan is not a trained soldier or expert marksman. He misses shots, panics under pressure and has to search for everything he needs.

The trailer leans further into that idea. A typewriter sits prominently inside the house, recalling the save points from the earlier games, while the shotgun shells Bryan discovers carry the Heavy Field branding seen in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5.

Cregger directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten, whose credits include Army of the Dead and John Wick: Chapter 4.

Release Date

Resident Evil will be released in Australian cinemas on September 17 and U.S. cinemas on September 18.

More Horror Coverage:

‘Clayface’ Trailer: Batman Villain Melts into a Body-Horror Nightmare in Gnarly-Looking DC Film

Jessica Chastain Plays a Frightening Double Role in ‘Other Mommy’ Trailer