Zach Cregger is a funny guy. Literally. Long before Barbarian and Weapons made him one of horror’s most interesting filmmakers, he spent years doing sketch comedy with The Whitest Kids U’ Know. That sense of humor followed him into his horror work, and I’ve generally loved the strange laughs that sneak into his movies when you least expect them. Turns out, test audiences had one issue with his 2026 movie calendar release, and I’m so glad he listened to their feedback.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the writer-director revealed that test audiences generally liked his take on Resident Evil, but kept raising the same complaint: it was too funny. The director listened, went back into the edit and started killing jokes. He explained:
I learned that people really liked the movie, but they thought it was too funny. So over the course of my testing, I stripped out as much of the jokes as possible. I then found that not only did the audience enjoy the movie more, but I also liked the movie a lot more. A little bit of humor goes a long way in a horror movie, and there’s not a single joke I took out of this movie that I miss.
I am very glad he took that note. That may sound strange coming from somebody who thinks Barbarian is frequently hilarious. Justin Long measuring his creepy basement for additional square footage remains one of my favorite jokes in a modern horror movie. Weapons also knew when to let something absurd break through all the dread. I still remember snorting when Josh Brolin drops that perfectly placed F-bomb.
But Resident Evil has a different job. Cregger’s movie follows Bryan, played by Austin Abrams, a medical courier whose routine delivery turns into one extremely bad night in Raccoon City, with all the biohazardous nastiness that comes with it. To some fans' chagrin, the video game adaptation is a new story within the franchise rather than another adaptation centered on the game’s familiar heroes. For that kind of survival-horror setup, too many jokes could start poking holes in the tension. In other words, a little comedy goes a long way.
This is where Cregger’s comment about not missing a single deleted joke gets me. He was not reluctantly hacking out material he loved because a test score told him to. He watched the movie, realized those jokes were not helping and cut them himself.
Stephen King puts that part of the creative process pretty bluntly in On Writing: “If it works, fine. If it doesn’t, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.” That is basically what happened here. The screening pointed Cregger toward something he could not fully see while making the movie, and once he made the cuts, he preferred the leaner version, too. All in all, that is exactly what test screenings should accomplish when they work.
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Resident Evil has always had room for ridiculousness, though. We are talking about a franchise featuring giant pharmaceutical-mutated monsters and characters delivering dialogue while dressed like they wandered in from the world’s most heavily armed drag show. A completely humorless adaptation would feel weird in its own way. But there is a difference between letting the absurdity breathe and deflating a scary scene because the script cannot resist another punchline.
Based on the early audience response and critical reception for Resident Evil, Cregger seems to have found that balance. RE opened to $60 million domestically, the biggest debut in franchise history, and earned $108.3 million worldwide during its first weekend. The movie has already racked up a ridiculous number of impressive stats, but its 96% Rotten Tomatoes score after two weeks in theaters may be the clearest sign that audiences and critics are on board.
Obviously, cutting a few jokes does not single-handedly produce those numbers. Still, I love hearing that Cregger was willing to kill perfectly good comedy when it got in the way of the monsters doing their job. Knowing when to hold back is one of the instincts that separates decent filmmakers from the directors behind the best horror movies.
Resident Evil is still playing in theaters, so check your local listings for showtimes. Also, keep your eyes peeled for updates on upcoming horror movies.
