Even without including the film franchise that largely avoided the source material, it’s safe to say the Resident Evil universe is one filled with complications, timeline issues and canonical hiccups. However, that hasn’t stopped the video games from reaching the apex of horror-action as the years have gone by, and it also hasn’t stopped attempts to bring the zombified saga into live-action. The latest iteration is Netflix’s upcoming episodic series, which looks like it’ll skew as close to the game’s storyline as anything, even while introducing its own unique spins on the monstrous history of Raccoon City and the Umbrella Corporation. But with its latest trailer, Resident Evil lightened up on the core mythology to make way for a veritable buffet of bloody, gory, and sticky mayhem.
As the trailer’s opening lays it out, the world essentially came to a crashing and burning halt in 2022 after a deadly virus spanned the globe and sparked an apocalypse. 14 years later, Ella Balinska’s Jade Wesker has quite a bit of discovering to do as she struggles to survive through her attempts to find out how her father Albert (Lance Reddick) is connected to the Umbrella Corporation and its dangerous concoction dubbed “Joy,” as well as what happened to her sister Billie (Siena Agudong). I imagine it would be a lot easier for Jade if society hadn’t been overrun by infected organisms with a thirst for blood.
And boy, is there blood on display in the new trailer, both in the scientific sense, with droplets being researched for their presumably DNA-altering properties, as well as in the sense of characters being covered in it for currently unexplained reasons. We can only hope most of it belongs to the freaky creatures running around.
The trailer has a creepy “American Dream in the 1950s” vibe, thanks to the Umbrella Corporation’s approach to media, the picturesque suburban settings, and all of the labwork being done. Not to mention someone seemingly drinking from an Umbrella-branded milk bottle. I dare not consider what creature that milk came out of, though, and it’s going to be hard to convince me that Lance Riddick’s character is a true villain here, since I will always inherently trust anyone he plays.
Of course, the good ol’ days, as it were, weren’t privy to massive, ground-shattering worm monsters, even though there were probably quite a few test-subject rats attempting to breaking out of their cages at the time. Just presumably not with the T-virus coursing through their little veins.
The trailer delivers a lot of awesome bursts of thrills and chills, and that includes an appearance from at least one angry dog that immediately bring to mind the first game’s most iconic scare. Fans can also play the game “Would You Rather Be Attacked By A Slimy Spider Thing Dropping From The Ceiling Or By A Slimy Veiny Thing With Super-Sharp Teeth?” The answer, of course, is “whichever one grants me access to a chainsaw.” Always go with the chainsaw. Or a flamethrower, I suppose.
The back half of the trailer really ramps up the action, with Jade Wesker setting herself up to become the next great sci-fi heroine. She looks like she'll be handling an assortment of weapons, similar to how things go in the video game series, and I'm hoping to see them introducing some mightily intimidating hardware as the season goes on.
Resident Evil thankfully already has a release date locked down, unlike a lot of other projects being promoted during Geeked Week, and those with Netflix subscriptions can look forward to the premiere arriving on Thursday, July 14. And while waiting, be sure to dive into the animated series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and then check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see when all the other new and returning shows will be popping up.
