Resident Evil Trailer Reanimates Live Action Hopes
by Cee
Feb. 27 is just around the corner, and with it comes the release of the latest installment in the Resident Evil franchise: Resident Evil: Requiem. To the benefit of all our horror-loving hearts, Capcom has dropped a three-minute short film titled Evil Has Always Had a Name, which features Maika Monroe in the lead role.
Monroe, who is no stranger to horror — having been in titles like It Follows (2014) and Longlegs (2024) — gives a memorable performance and voiceover as a mother trying to navigate the horrors of her new reality. Set in Raccoon City at the time of the outbreak, fans get to see a masterful progression of a mother and daughter experiencing the devastation firsthand.
The trailer adds an emotional component to the story that was missing from its predecessors — the movies, not the games. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Maika said she loved the short film because it had heart, adding, “It’s really heartbreaking, the story that you’re watching unfold. I just thought it was a really interesting and new way to portray this video game coming out.”
In just three minutes and 36 seconds, Capcom has managed to invigorate belief in its ability to produce a live-action film that would do one of its most beloved series justice — a hurdle that once seemed too big to climb.
In 2002, fans of the Resident Evil series anxiously awaited the arrival of the first live-action installment, Resident Evil. With familiar faces — Milla Jovovich helming the film (portraying Alice) and Michelle Rodriguez (portraying Rain Ocampo), who had just catapulted to the mainstream in The Fast and the Furious a year prior — the movie attempted to cultivate the same fervor that made its video game predecessor so successful.
Unfortunately, the film was devoid of any real connection to the story of the games. Yes, the evil Umbrella Corporation was the big bad; there were zombies, a lab and even creatures like the “Cerberus” and “Licker” — monsters created by the T-Virus, which kills and causes its subjects to reanimate — but beyond the visuals, the movie fell flat. The story was sewn together with big ideas from the game but failed to incorporate any of the nuance or characters we had come to love.
If that wasn’t bad enough, they decided to make six more, each one worse than the previous. With no real foundation from the first movie to grow from, each sequel devolved further into a convoluted mess that ultimately read more as a sci-fi superhero movie than the survival horror Resident Evil is intended to be.
Well, after six bombs, Capcom seems to have finally made the right moves to get this right. Entrusting director Rich Lee — who has redeemed himself from his 2025 rendition of War of the Worlds — the short film captures the atmosphere, tone and heart of what makes the games as gritty, harrowing and devastating as they are. With atmospheric visuals to match, this new release has reanimated both the hearts and minds of Resident Evil fans everywhere, leaving us hungry for more and with the lingering thought: “itchy, tasty.”
With some hope loaded in the chamber, this may be a sign of things to come for the full-length live-action film co-written and directed by Zach Cregger, who previously directed Weapons and Barbarian. He will team up with Shay Hatten, who wrote for John Wick 3: Parabellum, John Wick: Chapter 4 and the 2025 spinoff Ballerina.
The two may potentially make a promising team, proving their ability to write and direct movies that deal with both horror and action, respectively. Though it’s been verified the film will depart from the games’ official origin stories, Cregger and Hatten may just provide the one-two punch that the franchise needs.
In the meantime, check out the short film and enter the world of survival horror here!
Resident Evil Requiem is scheduled for release on February 27, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (via Steam/Epic Games Store).
