Sony has released the Resident Evil official trailer, timing the drop just hours before Zach Cregger takes the stage in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con today.
The full Resident Evil official trailer is the deepest look yet at the reboot, which was filmed for IMAX and hits theaters on September 18.
It follows the teaser trailer from April, and where that first look was all panic and outbreak, this one finally explains how the night goes so wrong. Watch below.
How Bryan’s night falls apart in the Resident Evil official trailer
Austin Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier at the end of his shift who agrees to haul one more organ on his way home, with the drop-off at Raccoon City General hospital. It is the classic horror movie decision that dooms him.
On a snowy road, Bryan hits someone with his car. He gets out to check on them, and from there the trailer spirals: he winds up trapped inside Raccoon City as the outbreak takes hold, at one point finding a shotgun with no shells and scrounging for ammo in a touch pulled straight from the games.
The Resident Evil official trailer also hangs its dread on a warning that everything that happened in the town “transpired in a matter of hours,” and that Bryan has no idea what he is actually carrying.
Paul Walter Hauser shows up in the footage as well, while Zach Cherry and Kali Reis remain absent from the marketing. The two reportedly play Umbrella scientists, so Sony appears to be saving that side of the story.
Cregger says you have now seen most of the movie’s zombies
Anyone expecting wall-to-wall zombie hordes should adjust.
Cregger has said the film only has two or three proper zombie scenes in total, with most of them appearing in this trailer, because his version leans harder into the franchise’s stranger creature horror.
The Resident Evil official trailer still delivers T-virus gore and game references for longtime fans, including the series’ signature shotgun shells.
Also worth noting: AMC’s listing puts the runtime at 1 hour and 35 minutes, one of the shortest in the franchise’s history. That tracks with the lean, non-stop structure Cregger has been promising.
This is Hollywood’s third swing at Resident Evil
Paul W.S. Anderson’s series ran six films from 2002 to 2016 with Milla Jovovich as Alice, a character invented for the movies who had no counterpart in the games. It made money and irritated purists in equal measure.
Sony tried again in 2021 with Welcome to Raccoon City, which went the opposite direction and adapted the first two games closely. It landed with a thud.
Cregger’s version is not doing either. Bryan is a new character, but the approach is built on the games’ atmosphere rather than their plots, which is why the shotgun-with-no-shells beat in the Resident Evil official trailer plays as a wink rather than a recreation.
A Zach Cregger movie that happens to be Resident Evil
The Resident Evil official trailer plays like a proof of concept for everything Cregger has said about the project.
He recently told Empire the film is one gigantic sequence built around an everyman hero he compared to Frodo walking into Mordor, and he has repeatedly framed the reboot as survival horror built on dread rather than action.
Cregger presents Resident Evil in Hall H today, so expect more out of the panel, including the possibility of new footage for the room.
Resident Evil release date and cast
Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser. The film is directed by Zach Cregger and written by Cregger and Shay Hatten. It hits theaters and IMAX on September 18, 2026.
