By George & Josh Bate
Fresh off the mammoth success of last year’s horror epic Weapons, acclaimed filmmaker Zach Cregger made an appearance at The Dolby Colosseum for CinemaCon 2026 to discuss his newest terrifying cinematic endeavor – Resident Evil.
Cregger voiced his longstanding adoration for the Resident Evil games, admitting that he’s “put an embarrassing number of hours” into them over the years. Cregger went on to say, “I love the atmosphere. I love the pacing, the resource management, the dread. It’s so naturally cinematic.”
Cregger’s adaptation of what he brands “the gold standard of survival horror” will not feature the “narrative acrobatics” that defined his previous efforts in the horror genre. Instead, “you’re going to be locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey from Point A to Point B as everything is trying to destroy them.”
An exclusive first trailer for Cregger’s “big scary ride” was presented at CinemaCon. It begins with Weapons star Austin Abrams stumbling on an abandoned house in a snowy field. Desperate to find a working phone, he frantically tries to call his girlfriend and apologize for being disconnected earlier. Ominously and nervously, he says that they may never speak again.
The trailer then cuts to a number of unsettling shots, in particular one of a pale and bloated zombie sitting on the floor of a sewer. Another notable moment involves a dark doorway (similar to the iconic one from Weapons) suddenly being populated with various disconnected limbs.
The big climactic moment of the trailer shows Abrams running through a deserted snowy street as a zombie horde chases him from the rooftops. The trailer concludes with numerous zombie bodies falling from the rooftops and splattering violently on nearby cars.
Unlike Johannes Roberts’ misguided franchise reboot Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, Cregger’s film tells an original story set in the zombie-infested universe of the video games. Although the story is entirely new, the trailer feels uncannily familiar as it evokes the terror and dread of the games. If we had to describe the trailer, it feels like Barbarian meets Silent Hill meets Mad Max: Fury Road.
Resident Evil is in theaters on September 18, 2026.