Up next from Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons) is a fresh new take on the Resident Evil film franchise with an untitled movie that’ll be the filmmaker’s follow-up to Weapons, which just raised his horror credibility even further. Cregger has teased that his Resident Evil movie won’t be shackled by the video game franchise’s lore, and we’ve got more teases this week.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil will be the eighth live action movie based on the hit video games, but Cregger admits in a chat with Ringer Movies that he’s never actually seen any of the previous movies. His vision for Resident Evil, it seems, is going to be quite original.
Cregger tells Ringer, “It’s gonna be not at all like Barbarian and Weapons. It’s going to be a rock ’em, sock ’em… it’s for me to play. And turn my brain off and just make an… Evil Dead 2… get crazy with the camera. Austin Abrams is gonna be my guy. It’s a weird, fun, wild story.”
“This movie follows a person from point A to point B. It’s like a real time journey, where you just go deeper and deeper into the depths of Hell,” Cregger continues. “And it’s really a love letter to the games. Because I love those games. This is a story that I would’ve wanted to write whether I got the IP or not. I just happen to be able to have these Resident Evil people be down. So I get to play in that sandbox. I’m doing it because I think this movie is going to be fucking awesome.”
“I consider Resident Evil an original thing,” the filmmaker notes. “And I think you will too when you see it.”
What does Cregger mean by that? Well, he recently told SFX Magazine that his movie will not be “completely obedient to the lore of the games,” but rather he’s trying to tell “a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.” And he tells Inverse in a separate chat that the movie won’t feature any characters from the Resident Evil games.
“Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games,” Cregger tells Inverse. “I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games.” Cregger continues in the same chat, “I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.”
After seven live action movies and a short-lived Netflix television series, Constantin Film and PlayStation Productions are bringing Resident Evil back to the big screen, with Cregger writing and directing. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil hits theaters September 18, 2026.
