Zach Cregger is a filmmaker responsible for some of the best horror movies in recent memory. Namely Barbarian and Weapons (both of which are streaming with an HBO Max subscription). He's got another new horror movie in theaters with his Resident Evil film, and I can't get over the literal "hot" take he had about the franchise as a whole. Let's break it all down.
Given how wildly successful Weapons was in theaters (including Amy Madigan's Oscar-winning performance), folks were eager to see what Cregger would do with his own take on Resident Evil. In a clip from ET's Instagram, he confirmed he's never seen the previous Resident Evil movies, and revealed one big difference he was passionate about. In his words:
I don't want any hot people, no offense. This guy's a smoke show. We frumped him up. I don't want them to be sexy, I want them to be gritty and terrifying.
Well, that was honest. While Cregger was careful not to insult his frequent collaborator Austin Abrams (who plays protagonist Bryan in the new movie), it's clear that he had a very different vision for Resident Evil. It's a horror movie, and he didn't want his cast looking fabulous like they did during the Milla Jovovich films. He dropped the mini skirts in favor of blood and guts, and made sure that the Euphoria alum looked "frumped up" as well.
The Resident Evil trailer looked like it was ripped straight from the games, rather than the action-heavy tone of the previous films. In the same interview, he went on to share his vision, offering:
I am less interested in the glossy action aspect that those movies seemed to offer. When I think of Resident Evil I think of 'Oh I have a shotgun with two shells in it. I'm hurt. I gotta go down this long, dark hallway and something's gonna attack me. What do I do?'
Indeed, the Resident Evil reviews praised this pivot, with many of them claiming that it brought new life to a suffering franchise. Cregger is trading in action for tension, horror and dread, and it should be interesting to see how audiences receive the project during its opening this weekend.
While the filmmaker might be taking bold new swings with the Resident Evil IP, he's got good will with horror fans thanks to his last two movies. At the end of this same interview, Zach Cregger reaffirmed his focus on his adaptation, saying:
I am trying to be completely focused on the game experience as opposed to the previous.
This pivot will likely please video game fans, who have played the Resident Evil titles for decades. We'll just have to see how the new movie fare at the box office, and if it ends up kickstarting a new franchise directed by Cregger. Fingers crossed.
Resident Evil is in theaters now as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully this is just the start of a new, game-accurate series of films, with Zach Cregger continuing to work with Austin Abrams in the process.
