Resident Evil 2 live-action trailer channels the '90s camp of George Romero's TV commercial

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Now this is B-movie goodness

To my mind, Resident Evil is at its best when it's presented as a not-too-serious B-movie horror story, so you can see why I'm in love with the newly released Resident Evil 2 live-action trailer (which you can watch above). I love Leon's deer-in-headlights gaze, I love Claire's contrastingly fierce glare, and I absolutely adore the obvious jump scares. My favorite moment has to be at 1:10, which is presumably when the director said "Give me your fiercest stare" but some wires got crossed and Leon instead gazed mournfully at his pistol. It is fantastic. 

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As Capcom said in the description for the new live-action trailer, it's actually based on an old 1998 TV commercial by filmmaker George Romero, best known for such movies as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. You can watch Romero's original commercial below:

There's something unequivocally '90s about Leon's shock of hair and Claire's extremely hairsprayed do. That said, I think the biggest distinction is that Romero's commercial contains considerably more shotguns than the new trailer, but I won't hold that against it. Oh, and you've got to love the pronunciation of Capcom there at the end. "CAPcome." Perfection. 

If your eyeballs are still craving Resident Evil 2, have a look at the remake's launch trailer, which gives Ada and Claire the lion's share of the spotlight. It also gives us a good look at William Birkins' remastered G-Virus form, which is delightfully disgusting.

Wondering about that Ghost Survivors thing at the end of the launch trailer? Wonder no more: it's a new mode coming in free DLC.  

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.