This morning kicked off with our very first look at Sony’s live action movie Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which is currently headed to theaters on November 24.

The first-look photos came courtesy of IGN, and the website also published an extensive chat with director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) that teases the approach for the franchise’s return to the big screen. For starters, Welcome to Raccoon City is a *horror movie*, leaving behind the big budget action of the previous movies.

Roberts explains to IGN, “This movie really had nothing to do with the previous franchise. This was all about returning to the games and creating a movie that was much more a horror movie than the sort of sci-fi action of the previous films. I was hugely influenced in particular by the remake of the second game and I really wanted to capture the atmosphere-drenched tone that it had. It was so cinematic. The previous movies were very bright and shiny whereas this movie was dark and grimy, entirely shot at night. It’s constantly raining and the town is shrouded in mist.”

“The movie has a very old-school retro feel to it. I was hugely influenced by movies like The Exorcist (and Exorcist 3!), Don’t Look Now, and The Shining. You can really feel the texture in this movie,” he continues. “Nothing in this town feels hi-tech. It feels dilapidated. I wanted Raccoon City to feel a bit like the town in Deer Hunter; a ghost town forgotten by the rest of the world. And the whole structure of the film was definitely very influenced by Assault on Precinct 13.”

Roberts also talks about the new movie’s creatures in his chat with IGN, which he says will be faithful to the video games. Notably, Lisa Trevor (seen below) is in the mix this time around!

“We always returned to the game whenever we were looking at the characters and creatures and locations. It was our guiding star. Every character and creature is from the game and as such, I wanted to be as faithful as possible,” Roberts tells IGN. “I wanted to create a truly immersive feeling for the fans. But that also became the trickiest part of adapting a piece of IP like this because I didn’t just want to put the game on screen – it had to be its own thing with living breathing characters and creatures (and of course zombies!) that felt true to the world. There is some cool shit in there. I mean some of the creature stuff looks fucking incredible. It was a mixture of prosthetics, CGI, and creature performers. There’s some wonderfully freaky stuff in there. You’ll immediately recognize the creatures from the game but hopefully, we’ve gone beyond the game in terms of making these terrifying creations feel like they really could exist in real life.”

Roberts continues, “There is actually quite a lot that has never been in any previous movie to be honest which is exciting. And even the stuff we have seen before – I won’t give it away but there are some iconic creatures fans will be so happy to see – we have really gone all out in making them feel like characters – we really focus in on each individual creature whether it be zombie, or crow, or Doberman or… (I won’t spoil the rest) – but it’s never huge wide shots of faceless hordes – it’s about detail. It’s about really connecting with that individual creature at that time.”

Head over to IGN to read the website’s full chat with Johannes Roberts.

Here’s the full official synopsis for the new movie…

“Returning to the terrifying roots of the massively popular franchise, fan and filmmaker Johannes Roberts brings the games of the billion dollar franchise and the most successful video game adaptation in history to life for a whole new generation of fans.”

“Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town. The company’s exodus left the city a wasteland…with great evil brewing below the surface. When that evil is unleashed, the townspeople are forever…changed…and a small group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night.”

The cast includes Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, and Neal McDonough (Yellowstone) as William Birkin.