Move over Wesker, there’s a new mascot in town
Video game adaptations are all the rage, and Resident Evil is taking no breaks. Today, Netflix put out the official teaser for its live-action Resident Evil series and it’s got zombies. It’s got chainsaws. Also, there’s a bear hologram.
“Nothing eventful ever happens in the peaceful New Raccoon City,” the video description reads. The series apparently follows two timelines, surrounding the outbreak and ramifications of a bio-weapon disaster. In the teaser, we can see that flip happening, as we see the time and location leap midway through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tb9ENbFWvQ
It all seems a bit more general zombie movie with some Resident Evil flavor sprinkled in. You can spot some references like Umbrella, and of course an angry undead dog. But I’m also left a bit curious how deep into Resident Evil lore we’re going to be cutting.
Under the Umbrella
To be fair, Resident Evil has had success in the past when it was loosely adapted. There’s just also been a string of recent and highly faithful Resident Evil adaptations to compare Netflix’s effort directly against.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is the most recent live-action effort, and it didn’t exactly light the world on fire. Netflix itself brought another Resident Evil series, Infinite Darkness, to its service last year too. That one was CGI though, and followed Leon and Claire in a Washington D.C. horror-fest.
The Netflix live-action Resident Evil series’ ace in the hole might be its cast. The production even has Lance Reddick taking up the mantle of Wesker. And maybe this two-timeline thing works out okay. Just don’t trust the giant talking teddy bear hologram.
I’m interested to see where this adaptation takes Resident Evil. At the end of the day, big mega-corp starts zombie outbreak is a pretty broad setting to work in. But the lukewarm reception to the Halo series gives me just the slightest of pauses. We’ll see what Netflix has in store on July 14.
