Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

That was fast! Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie barely seems to have gone into production and now we’ve got a teaser trailer. Here’s what Alasdair Stuart discovered waiting for us out in the snow.

Austin Abrams

We’re spending the entire trailer, and it seems movie, with Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier trying to make a delivery to Raccoon City. Bryan’s played by Austin Abrams, who was spectacularly good in Cregger’s breakout hit, Weapons and he’s having at least as bad a time here as he was there.

0.43 – Is that blood?

The snowy location and time are doing a neat job of hiding what’s really going on here but is that blood on Bryan’s hand? That and the conversation he’s having suggest this may be a little further into the movie than it first looks and he’s very aware of what’s going on in town.

0.47 – Running

Anyone who’s seen Weapons knows Cregger is exceptionally good at making normal motion look otherworldly and unsettling. This beautiful shot of Bryan sprinting through a snowy night towards a barn you just know has something terrible inside is no exception.

1.01 – Body Drag

That’s a GREAT jump scare! And not one I’ve seen before.

1.08 – Hmmm

I am, as regular readers will now, unthrilled by ‘Look at the weird fat person, aren’t they horrible!’ beats. What just about pulls this back for me is that it presents as alien and unsettling not grotesque and cheap.

1.14 – Oh no OH NO

The arms too far apart is bad and then OH GOD, OH GOD WHAT IS THAT?! That’s a brilliant use of negative space to create the implication of something really horrible.

1.32 – Diving Zombies!

Poor Bryan and bless him he’s still holding his courier box as zombie after zombie throws themselves off the roofs at him. What an incredible sequence, especially cut to the sound effect being used.

One final note, Cregger, in an interview with IGN, said this about where the movie fits in the labyrinthian complexity of Resident Evil canon: ‘”I like to think that everything that’s going on in the police station could be happening in this world. This is just another dude on another mission on the other side of town.”‘

Love that. The movie opens September 18th and looks both itchy AND tasty.