There have been seven movies and a Netflix series based on Capcom’s Resident Evil video game series since 2002, but when Zach Cregger set out to reboot the franchise, he ignored all of them. The director of Weapons and Barbarian told a virtual roundtable with members of the press, including Polygon, that all he’s seen of the previous movies is their trailers.
“I was such a fan of the games, and they just didn’t look like the games to me,” Cregger said. “Maybe they’re great. I have no idea. But I just wasn’t interested because what’s great about the games is they’re shrunk down into this single perspective. It’s about pacing and horror, and those movies just didn’t look like horror to me.”
Cregger said the action-focused films pioneered by director Paul W.S. Anderson looked too much like they were trying to be The Matrix, while his adaptation leans into survival horror.
“I’ve played these games so much that they’ve just kind of seeped into me,” Cregger said. “They’re just so naturally cinematic. You have one person on this journey, and the entire world is trying to kill them. What I love most about these games is the slow, creeping dread and the sense of anticipation and the sense that you just don’t have enough bullets for whatever is coming and you have to be really careful and thoughtful. It’s not a big action, bullet-spray thing.”
“There’s basically a climax of the movie every five minutes”
Back in December, Polygon got a feel for how Cregger is building that dread during a visit to the film’s set in Prague. Rather than using an existing Resident Evil protagonist, Cregger’s film follows Bryan (Weapons breakout star Austin Abrams), a medical courier trying to make a delivery to Raccoon City when things start going very wrong. The costume department was packed with racks of Bryan’s khakis and hoodies in an increasing state of disrepair as his clothes get soaked in melted snow and sewer sludge, torn up, and splattered with blood and other fluids. The team took great care to maintain consistency (they used stencils to make sure the rips lined up across outfits) and to give the damage the layered feel Cregger was looking for to represent all the different horrible encounters Bryan experiences throughout the movie.
“There’s basically a climax of the movie every five minutes,” Cregger said. “It’s setpiece after setpiece after setpiece. You could break it into like 10 sections, and each one is its own insane challenge with its own requirements and demands. I had to learn how to make essentially 10 different horror action movies over the course of making one movie, and some of the sequences in here are incredibly daunting, combining both practical and visual effects.”
Resident Evil Requiem was the first game in the franchise to allow players to choose between first-person and third-person perspectives, and Cregger uses a blend of both, though the focus is mainly on third-person, like the early Resident Evil games.
“I’m using video game language to always kind of be behind [Bryan] and swirling around and paying attention to what he’s paying attention to,” Cregger said. “Sometimes I jump to first-person, sometimes I use standard coverage if he’s having a conversation with someone. But I really wanted to embrace that immersive feel that I get when I play the games.”
Among the influences Cregger cites for his Resident Evil movie are Sam Raimi’s camera work in Evil Dead 2 and the relentless pacing of Sam Mendes’ Oscar-winning World War I drama 1917. In other words, don’t expect the nonlinear storytelling and twists from Cregger’s previous films.
“I want to make a celebration of the Resident Evil games,” Cregger said. “It’s going to be a Zach Cregger movie because it can’t not be — it’s coming out of my brain — but everything I’m doing is to honor the games.”
Resident Evil releases in theaters on Sept. 18.
Disclosure: This article is based on a press event held in Prague. Sony provided Polygon’s travel for the event. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
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