RESIDENT EVIL Comic-Con Footage Teases a Terrifying Snowbound Zombie Encounter
If Zach Cregger's upcoming Resident Evil movie is aiming to make audiences squirm in their seats, the first clip shown at San Diego Comic-Con looks like it's already on the right track.
The filmmaker unveiled an early scene from the movie that delivers slow-burning suspense, a nasty undead encounter, and just enough panic to remind fans why this franchise has remained a horror favorite for decades.
Cregger introduced the footage by explaining that the scene takes place "early in the movie," giving fans a small taste of the nightmare that's waiting for them when the film hits theaters.
The clip follows Bryan, played by Austin Abrams (Weapons), as he stumbles across an overturned police cruiser sitting alone in a snowy field at night. The passenger door is hanging open, and Bryan cautiously climbs inside to check on the officer, who appears to be unconscious.
As he reaches over to check for a pulse, the patrol car's radio suddenly crackles to life, delivering a perfectly timed jump scare for everyone watching.
Trying to get help, Bryan nervously speaks into the radio. "Hello, I'm not a cop, so I don't know what to say, but I have an emergency here. Can you hear me?”
No one answers. Instead, the tension keeps tightening as Bryan searches the vehicle, expecting almost anything to happen. It isn't the missing officer who appears, though. A horrifying zombie woman suddenly materializes outside the window.
Bryan grabs the officer's handgun and desperately orders the creature to stop, but she begins crawling around the cruiser on all fours in an unsettling, almost animal-like way. He kicks her in the face and pulls the trigger... only to realize the gun won't fire.
The zombie charges after him as Bryan frantically struggles with the weapon before discovering the safety is still on. In the chaos, he accidentally fires off a shot in the wrong direction and nearly drops the gun altogether.
Then everything goes eerily still. The zombie vanishes. Bryan cautiously circles the vehicle, scanning the darkness until she suddenly comes sprinting out of the snow toward him.
He stumbles backward, firing wildly and missing repeatedly before crashing to the ground. Just as it looks like he's finished, Bryan squeezes off one final shot, blasting the zombie off her feet with enough force to end the sequence on a satisfying jolt.
After the footage wrapped, Cregger reminded fans that the version shown during the panel isn't exactly what audiences will see in theaters.
He joked: "They managed to cut about 25 f-words out of that clip." It's a fun tease that suggests the finished version may be even more chaotic than the Comic-Con audience experienced.
From the sound of it, Cregger is leaning into suspense just as much as monster mayhem, letting simple situations spiral into terrifying encounters instead of relying solely on nonstop action. If the rest of the film can maintain this level of tension, horror fans could be in for one seriously creepy ride.
Resident Evil opens in theaters on September 18, and after this first glimpse, it's definitely climbing the list of must-see horror movies this fall.