For fans of Zach Cregger, the fact that he is making a popular video game franchise movie doesn't matter. His name alone is enough. The maker behind acclaimed horror hits "Barbarian" and "Weapons" has already begun promotions for his upcoming "Resident Evil" movie — his third feature-length directorial. The new entry is a complete reboot. It completely disconnects itself from the narrative of all previous live-action adaptations to start fresh. There were 7 live-action "Resident Evil" movies released before Cregger's version.
Interestingly, it was simply a case of Cregger, who is a huge fan of the games, approaching the studios instead of the other way around. In an interview with Empire magazine, he says, “They were kind enough to hear me out and let me run with it. It’s really a Zach Cregger movie that just happens to be a Resident Evil movie.”
Austin Abrams plays the lead, the medical courier Bryan, who is seen by the filmmaker as an "audience surrogate."
“The concept here is that we’re following an idiot. Not that he’s stupid, but he’s not your typical game character, with no combat skills whatsoever and completely inept at survival," adds Cregger. "Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything. It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor.”
Given his palpable excitement, it seems Cregger has something really special for us. This is what he teased in the same interview: “It feels like one gigantic sequence. Things pop off about five minutes in, and it basically stays like that until the end. What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge. So again, I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet.”
