Resident Evil returns with chilling first trailer from director Zach Cregger

Sony has released the first trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil film directed by Zach Cregger, giving audiences their first proper look at the latest big-screen take on the long-running horror franchise after an early CinemaCon preview earlier this month.

The footage opens with Austin Abrams’ character, Bryan, a medical courier who finds himself stranded on a snowy night, making his way toward an isolated, dark house after what appears to be trouble on the road.

Inside, the situation quickly unravels as he reaches out to his girlfriend, suggesting he has landed in a deeply dangerous ordeal and may not survive long enough to explain what has happened. The tone is tense from the start, leaning heavily into survival horror rather than spectacle.

As the trailer unfolds, the world of Resident Evil begins to reveal itself in fragments — distant screeches, unsettling movement in the shadows, and glimpses of grotesque infected creatures emerging in the snow-covered chaos outside. There are flashes of violence, overturned vehicles, scattered bodies, and streets running into panic, all reinforcing the sense that containment has already failed.

Zach Cregger, who comes off the success of Weapons, appears to be steering Resident Evil in a more grounded direction, stripping away narrative complexity in favour of a single, continuous survival journey. His approach keeps the focus locked on one protagonist moving through an environment that feels relentlessly hostile, with little room for relief or detachment.

The Resident Evil franchise, originally launched by Capcom in 1996, has long revolved around viral outbreaks tied to the Umbrella Corporation, and has already seen multiple film adaptations.

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The Milla Jovovich-led series dominated the early 2000s, while a later reboot in 2021 attempted to return closer to the game’s origins. This new Resident Evil iteration marks another reinvention under Sony’s banner, with Cregger now shaping the tone and structure.

Early reactions to the trailer suggest this version of Resident Evil leans more toward atmospheric horror than action-heavy set pieces, something that aligns with Cregger’s stated intent to keep the experience tight, immersive, and centred on survival. The cast also includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser, with the film scheduled for release on September 18 via Columbia Pictures.