Zach Cregger has brought an original story to Resident Evil, leaving out the video game series’ established characters in favour of a zombie-outbreak thriller set at Raccoon City General Hospital. The film, Cregger’s first adaptation of existing intellectual property, has faced online criticism from fans over that decision. It has also received glowing reviews, become the top-rated video game movie on Rotten Tomatoes and collected $60 million in its opening weekend.
The reboot follows Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, as he arrives to make a delivery at Raccoon City General Hospital during a zombie outbreak. Cregger’s film is separate from the games’ direct storylines and introduces no legacy characters from them. That choice is a significant break with a franchise that had produced seven films over the last 25 years before this version.
Cregger said the familiar figures had no place in the story he wanted to tell. “The idea that I had just didn't need any of them and I felt like to bring them in would be to invite a lot of problems that I felt like would have been distracting from the central story,” he said.
Fans have pushed back online against the omission of game characters. Cregger has said he expected some resistance from a devoted audience when taking on an established property. “I know that when you dive into an IP you're going to get flack, a certain degree, from the fandom,” he said.
At the L.A. premiere, Cregger told The Hollywood Reporter that the film grew from a personal idea of what the series could be on screen. “I feel like I had a clear idea of what would be my favorite Resident Evil movie and I was lucky enough to have a studio that gave me the resources to make it,” he said.
His approach has been described as “gameplay first”. The film is said to be hugely faithful to the experience of playing the games, even as it avoids adapting their best-known characters. The result presents a test for a director whose reputation has been built on original horror rather than franchise continuation.
Cregger began in sketch comedy with Whitest Kids U' Know and later worked on the sitcom Wrecked. He shifted into stylised horror with Barbarian in 2022, a film about a night in a double-booked Airbnb. It became a breakout success, earning $46.2 million from a $4 million budget and receiving a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Weapons followed as a critical darling and major box-office hit. The film has been described as indebted to John Carpenter and Paul Thomas Anderson. Amy Madigan won an Academy Award for her role as Aunt Gladys, the film’s instantly iconic villain.
Over the last four years, Cregger has established himself as a leading voice in American horror and has been described as one of the most creative and bankable writer-directors working today. Resident Evil asks whether that authority can carry into a franchise with an established audience and a long screen history. Its early commercial and critical reception suggests that Cregger’s gameplay-focused approach has found an audience, even as some fans remain unhappy with the departure from the games’ familiar cast.
Comments (0)