From visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling and terrifying reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise.
Cregger, a devoted fan of the games – “I’ve played it again and again,” he says – is an expert at turning ordinary situations into nightmares and has created a stunning and original take on Resident Evil, through his signature world-building precision and auteur horror sensibilities.
“The games are a great standard for survival horror,” says Cregger. “I’m celebrating everything I love about them by telling a story that could exist on the edges of one of the games.”
To that end, Cregger has eschewed the non-linear narrative acrobatics of his two previous and acclaimed horror films, Barbarians and Weapons, to create what he calls “a rock-‘em/sock-‘em experience that gets crazy with the camera.
“I leaned into the visceral stuff,” he continues. “The movie follows a person from point A to point B; it’s like a real-time journey, where we’re propelled deeper and deeper into the depths of Hell. It’s a constant, ‘Go! Go! Go!’”
Cregger’s everyman protagonist, Bryan, is a medical courier charged with transporting a cooler that contains a bodily organ from hospital A in the flatlands, to hospital B in the mountains of Raccoon City, Colorado. Along the way, he must navigate a treacherous snowy terrain and evade innumerable persons infected with a virus that has been unleased upon the population, turning hundreds of souls into monstrous, mutated creatures.
Early in the process of shaping the story, Cregger knew Austin Abrams, whose nuanced performance as a sneaky, unhoused person in Weapons drew rave reviews, would be Bryan. “Austin is so well-suited for this part,” says Cregger. “We had an amazing experience together on Weapons, and we really connected creatively. So, when it was time to get Resident Evil going, I didn’t have to think too hard about casting Austin.”
Resident Evil 2
Cregger’s goal was to capture the terror, tension, and fight for survival that define the games, while delivering a motion picture experience that is fresh and unexpected.
Cregger and co-screenwriter Shay Hatten (John Wick Chapter 4) have crafted an original story that is still deeply rooted in a world that has captured the imagination of fans around the globe.
“Our film is a roller coaster ride of non-stop action,” adds producer Roy Lee (Barbarian, Minecraft: The Movie), “and it’s set in the world of Raccoon City, one of the game’s most memorable locales. Zach is giving audiences something they have not experienced before in cinema.”
Producer Miri Yoon notes that Cregger amplifies many of the franchise’s most beloved elements, including “extreme threat, survival horror, resource management, and massive set pieces. Both the film and the game have situations with a lot of dark corners and insane circumstances, all the while leading us to figure out if we – or Bryan – have enough bullets, or the right gun.
“Zach is the perfect filmmaker for Resident Evil because he’s a true gamer and knows what it feels like to have lived the narrative of the game,” Yoon adds.
Producer Robert Kulzer, who has been a key player in the Resident Evil franchise for 30 years, recounts his memorable first meeting with Cregger: “Barbarians had just come out, and the town was buzzing about Zach, who was going to single-handedly reinvent horror movies. Zach wanted to recreate the experience of when he and a whole generation of gamers were sucked into the vortex of Resident Evil and seemed just as doomed as the characters. That world’s darkness, claustrophobia, and the inevitability of horrific events unfolding are stacked against the lack of experience, preparation and proper weaponry of the player facing its horrors. Zach pitched a movie that was happening in real time: one guy, one mission, one goal and with every step, the world around him turns more to s***.
“Zach wanted to create a ride, an immersive experience,” Kulzer adds. “He wanted to take the audience by the hand in minute one, take them on this journey, and not let them go till minute 90. Zach delivered all that and more.”
Says producer Asad Qizilbash: “The best Resident Evil games don’t just scare you; they make you afraid of what’s coming next. That’s cinema. Zach is brilliant at weaponising tension, then breaking it with something shocking, strange or darkly funny. That filmmaker instinct he has, is perfect for Resident Evil : you think you know what’s going to happen, and then Zach shows you something you never expected.”
Producer Victor Hadida, who, like Kulzer, has been a part of the Resident Evil world for decades, says he, too, was “blown away by Zach’s take, which will have audiences jumping and cheering and going out of their minds.”
ZACH CREGGER (Director, Written by, Producer) has recently completed post-production on RESIDENT EVIL for Sony Pictures, after coming off a wildly successful box office run with Weapons, which he wrote, directed, produced, and scored for Warner Bros. Pictures. The film became a major critical and commercial success, further cementing Cregger as one of the defining voices in modern horror filmmaking. Along with the film’s commercial success, it received overwhelming critical acclaim, winning the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Amy Madigan and her now infamous performance as Aunt Gladys. The film was also nominated for multiple Critics Choice and Golden Globe Awards including Best Original Screenplay and Box Office & Cinematic Achievement. Cregger also received a PGA nomination for Outstanding Producer of a Theatrical Motion Picture, as well as a WGA nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Cregger’s feature writing and directorial debut, Barbarian, premiered in theaters in 2022 and stars Bill Skarsgård, Georgina Campbell, and Justin Long. Cregger has quickly emerged as one of horror’s defining auteurs, effortlessly blending comedy into genre, alongside intimate character-driven stories.
Cregger was a founding member and writer for the New York comedy troupe, The Whitest Kids U’Know, which he started while attending The School of Visual Arts. The group became known for their anarchic, boundary-pushing sketch comedy and developed a devoted cult following, winning the award for Best Sketch Group at Aspen’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2006. The group’s self-titled sketch comedy series ran for five seasons on IFC TV and Fuse.
SHAY HATTEN (Written by) is an American screenwriter and producer, who quickly solidified himself as a major action and genre writer, having been named one of Variety‘s Top Ten Writers to Watch for 2019, just three years after graduating from Loyola Marymount University.
Hatten first sold his female action feature spec Ballerina (2025) to Lionsgate as a spin-off to the John Wick franchise, which resulted in him writing John Wick Chapter 3 (2019) and John Wick Chapter 4 (2023). Hatten also worked on Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead (2021) and the vampire action film Day Shift (2022), for Netflix.
His upcoming projects include Clue and James Wan’s The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, for Paramount.
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