New Resident Evil Movie Trailer Hints at Serious Horror

There's a trailer for the new Resident Evil movie and it looks surprisingly great, though the somber tone could disappoint people looking for the camp of the Paul W.S. Anderson installments. This looks to be a serious horror film. It's directed by Zach Cregger, fresh off his Oscar-winning Weapons.

The teaser shows an unassuming medical courier fighting for his life at a rural farm house, a plot that seems partially inspired by Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. This is a standalone story that's set in the Resident Evil universe but doesn't follow the events of any one particular game. Director Cregger spoke to the PlayStation Blog and said that telling Leon's story "would just be kind of redundant" and "disappointing."

Cregger does, however, promise Easter eggs for franchise fans. The lead character will have to deal with resource management, with healing items taken directly from Resident Evil 4. The director also says there will be "a lot of little visual and thematic things" but doesn't want to spoil anything.

The trailer does spoil one thing. The film features a Fat Molded as an antagonist, as there looks to be one lurking in the basement of that farmhouse. Here's to hoping the unassuming medical courier knows about head shots and how to avoid acid vomit.

Resident Evil hits theaters on September 18. It stars Austin Abrams, who was also in Weapons. Cast listings note that Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry and Kali Reis are also in the film, but they don't appear in the trailer. The vibe here is strictly "one guy trying to survive," which reminds me of Evil Dead.