‘Resident Evil movies? I’ve never seen one’: Weapons director Zach Cregger on resurrecting the beloved zombie franchise
“I feel like there’s been so many people taking what I say about this exact thing out of context and saying: ‘He just wanted to make the movie that he wanted to make, and then slap Resident Evil on it, so he could get a bigger budget.’ Which is not the case. It was conceived to be a Resident Evil story. And when you watch the movie, you’ll know that’s the case, because it’s undeniable.”...
... So while Cregger was – and is – a big fan of the games, the films? Not so much. When I ask what the relationship is of his film to the rest of the series – a sequel? Prequel? Universe-expanding retro-reboot? – he shrugs and says, somewhat proudly: “I couldn’t really say. I’ve never seen one.”
Still, as Cregger appreciates, video game adaptations are tricky for a reason: they are expected to serve the play-experienced aficionados and the clueless noobs. Cregger’s big idea for bridging this gap is to create a moviegoing experience that feels like a 90-minute session on the PlayStation, even for those audience members who may never have previously heard of Resident Evil. Narratively, this means following a single character, medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams), as he attempts to deliver a cooler containing a transplant organ from hospital A in the flatlands to hospital B in the remote mountains near Raccoon City, Colorado, where – unbeknown to Bryan – a zombie outbreak is now under way. As in the game, Bryan regularly switches environment, progressing from snowy road to deserted farmhouse to sewage tunnel. In each new place, he must find the resources to survive. Shooting the film in a rural part of Czechia was, therefore, an appropriately gruelling experience for Cregger. “It was dark. It was cold. It was unrelenting,” he says. “I had pneumonia for the first half of the movie, and a horrible bacterial infection for the back half … It sucked.”
It may have sucked, but it worked. Judging by the 30-minute preview made available to press, Cregger’s film is exhilarating and immersive. He utilised the over-the-shoulder camera angles now synonymous with third-person shooters to mimic gameplay, and Bryan’s dialogue is mostly a soliloquy of disjointed profanities. “That’s how I talk to myself when I’m sitting on the couch playing Resident Evil,” says Cregger. “I mean, I basically only say ‘fuck’ and run away from things.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/20/zach-cregger-director-interview-resident-movie-evil-weapons-barbarianOpen linkView original on sh.itjust.works
8 replies
This is the first Resident Evil movie that has actual Resident Evil vibes (as per the trailer).
Saw this and it’s a pretty great Resident Evil esque thrill ride. Some new and genuinely scary ideas. What really dragged the whole thing down a few notches for me though was how funny the movie was. Cregger’s previous films knew how to balance the comic relief and the horror, and I’d seen a number of interviews where he said he removed a lot of jokes from the final product, I’m not sure if someone slipped them back in before the movie went out though because the movie just doesn’t let up with the gags for a single moment. Some genuinely terrifying scenes, and exactly one scene with emotional weight given the Marvel treatment where he couldn’t just let the moment breath, it had to have a punchline.
Besides that though it’s still a worthwhile watch.
I absolutely loved all the funny parts
Problem is that every part was funny. Even the ones that could have been really scary, or heartfelt.
This is the most Resident Evil of any Resident Evil movie.
If he loved the games when younger there is NO WAY he didn't at least watch the first movie.
This is the most "no true Scotsman" I've seen in real-life yet!
Seriously: please give people the benefit of doubt - I actually know people who refuse to watch any movie that relates to something they like already. I could fully understand the opposite extreme m: no one who truly loves these games would watch a movie about them."
Personally I don't follow either extreme, people enjoy stuff very differently
it's an ok movie. It's essentially like if you found a note or journal in Resident Evil 2 and they decided to turn that into a movie. It's in the same setting, same time, Leon and Claire are out there somewhere while this guy is running around the city but doesn't affect the overall lore of the series what so ever.
I was skeptical at first of it but if you come out of it thinking "ok this is just a side quest for RE2" then you can appreciate it. I kinda wish more movies did this with game franchises. Instead of making a movie that is an adaptation of the games story just do a film like this which is basically just a side quest. Something that tells a story in the same setting and time that the game takes place but doesn't affect anything at all. this is literally a movie about an NPC.