Zach Cregger's Resident Evil Just Delivered One Of 2026's Best Trailers

After "Barbarian" and the hilariously twisted "Weapons," I am ready for whatever director Zach Cregger wants to do next. And what he wants to do next is a new "Resident Evil" movie, which we have a fresh trailer for above. While there have been numerous "Resident Evil" movies before (there was an entire franchise led by Milla Jovovich), Cregger's approach looks a bit different. Most notably, the writer/director isn't attempting to directly adapt any of the specific games. Instead, he's telling a new story set in the "Resident Evil" world.

I'm sure some fans will have a problem with this. There seems to be a certain vocal subset of fandom that demands every movie based on an existing property be a 1:1 adaptation that slavishly recreates familiar moments. Personally, I think that's silly. Why would I want a direct recreation? Give me something different! And that's what Cregger is doing. And I'm excited. "I just want to make a movie that is a love letter to the experience that I get when I play those games," Cregger told me when I interviewed him last year. 

Check out the excellent new "Resident Evil" trailer above.

Now that's what I'm talking about. This is one hell of a trailer — funny, spooky, and exciting. Pretty much exactly what we expect from a Zach Cregger movie at this point. In Cregger's take, Austin Abrams, who had a memorable turn in Cregger's "Weapons," plays Bryan, a medical courier who quite literally crashes into a nightmare situation involving all sorts of scary things. 

As I said above, this isn't a direct adaptation of any of the games, and that's fine. Sure, there are elements here to remind you of the game — including a Raccoon City namedrop at the end — but it's also clear that Cregger is putting his own unique spin on the material, and I couldn't be more excited about that. The Bryan character is like an avatar for someone playing one of the games alone, navigating through one deadly, hazardous situation after another.

In addition to Abrams, "Resident Evil" also stars Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser. Look for the film in theaters starting on September 18, 2026.