Sean Parker
I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you how hyped I am for Netflix’s new live-action Resident Evil series. Today, during day one of Netflix’s Geeked Week, the streaming service has not only released a new poster for the show but also a full trailer. After seeing it, I couldn’t be more ready to get into a new world of subterranean mutants and monsters. Where the initial teasers we reported on last month were a well-crafted first look, this lengthy two-minute Resident Evil series trailer rarely regurgitates any of the images we’ve already seen. Instead, it offers a nightmarish vision of non-stop chaos, complete with zombie hordes, giant spiders, chainsaws, lickers, and gallons of gore.
The trailer starts with an apocalyptic look fourteen years in the future, where zombies will outnumber the traditional human population, and then usher us back to 2022, where a young Jade and Billie Wesker are entering a new and improved Raccoon City with their father, Albert (Lance Reddick). The repentant Umbrella Corporation is now admitting to past mistakes but believes they’re now on the right track to figuring out, and to prove it, they’ve removed the Red Queen AI hive mind in favor of a more cuddly mascot. Of course, Umbrella hasn’t quite stopped their dangerous scientific experiments, adding a dose of the T-Virus inside a new anti-depressant aptly named “JOY.” During their escape from the city, Jade and Billie are split up, and the plot concerns Jade’s pilgrimage to find and save her sister.
It doesn’t appear as though it’s very long before the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, and gigantic caterpillars and spiders begin wreaking havoc for pedestrians in the newly refined Raccoon City. However, I think many of us are wondering if this iteration of Capcom’s gaming franchise will lean into aspects of the Paul W.S. Anderson films or try to etch out a new path. Fans will note that none of the scenes and characters we’ve seen outside of Alber Wesker have anything to do with the gaming universe, which may not be the worst path for the series to take after Welcome to Raccoon City. The film, released last year, followed aspects of the games rather closely but had a hard time conjuring scares for its audience.
Focused eyes on the new Resident Evil series trailer will also notice a diverse and kick-ass cast led by Fringe star Lance Reddick, along with Charlie’s Angels Ella Balinska, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Adeline Rudolph, The Purge series’ Paola Nuñez, Killing Eve’s Turlough Convery, and Ahad Raza Mir. Supernatural writer-producer Andrew Dabb is on as the series showrunner, who said in a press release that the series “expands the directions with fresh storytelling, bone-chilling horror, and an action-packed spectacle perfect for summer binging.” Netflix has also promised “bad-ass heroines, insane creatures (some new/some familiar), a battle for survival, and of course, a deep mystery to unravel.”
When the first teaser was released last month, Netflix had an embedded website within that, when entered, provided access to a second, hidden teaser.
