I’ve been going back and forth on my opinion on the upcoming Resident Evil film reboot. On one hand, Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger, who is helming the project, is one of my favourite directors working right now. He’s an incredible pick to reboot this franchise.
On the other hand, there are reasons to feel uneasy about his approach. Cregger has been upfront about the fact that he’s not going to be “obedient” with the game’s lore. He’s a self-professed “gigantic” fan who’s played “thousands of hours” of the series, but he’s trying to emulate the “experience” of playing the games instead of adapting them whole cloth.
Leaks have revealed that the main character won’t be from the games, and instead will be a “down on his luck courier who’s tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital” – that hospital presumably being Raccoon City General Hospital.
The original Resident Evil movies were critically panned and disliked by fans, partly because they were mostly divorced from the source material. We’ve never gotten a real live-action adaptation of the games, and with Cregger at the helm, we still won’t. Cregger’s reboot having this in common with the original film series, understandably, has raised some hackles.
The Reboot Will Follow The Tone Of Resident Evil 4
I was pretty put off by the idea of an original movie being the premise of a reboot, especially considering the baggage that entails. But in a recent interview with Double Toasted, Cregger turned me around to side with him once again. He pointed out that he knows people think he should be making an original film instead of working on an IP, but said, “I don’t think that those people will have that complaint when they see this, because it is an original. It’s very much a movie that feels in line with my sensibility, has my kind of sense of tone.”
Cregger went on to say that the film “probably lives more in the world of [Resident Evil] 2 and 3, but I’d say it adheres more to the tone of 4.” He said that since the franchise itself takes place across different locales and eras, the lore isn’t as rigid as fans say it is. “I don’t think I’m taking any more liberties with this than the game franchise does at all,” Cregger said. “I’m colouring within the lines.”
Cregger Is A Master Of Hilarious, Ridiculous Horror
While some fans are going to be disappointed that this isn’t a true adaptation, Cregger’s vision for RE is entirely in line with his strengths. The director has made a name for himself because of his skill in writing horror movies that are also incredibly funny, even campy, and his highlighting of Resident Evil 4 in particular proves that he really knows what he’s talking about.
As TheGamer Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley wrote in 2023, Resident Evil 4 is a funny, stupid game, and that’s its greatest strength. It’s not self-serious, and at times is completely ridiculous, and that tone is exactly what Cregger nails in Barbarian and Weapons.
That scene in Barbarian where Justin Long picks up his phone and cheerfully greets his friend with a slur, and the ending of Weapons where we watch an extended sequence of an old, bald lady sprinting through a neighbourhood in an attempt to escape a horde of violent children – these ridiculous touches are exactly in keeping with the tone of Resident Evil 4.
And quite honestly, Cregger’s talent would be wasted on a straight adaptation. Considering his original movies are so strong in their characterisation, I’d argue that it would be a missed opportunity to force him to adhere to any one storyline instead of allowing him the freedom to treat the franchise as a sandbox in which to tell a more interesting story. Maybe we’ll eventually see the reboot spawn more faithful adaptations, but for now, I’m happy to let Cregger cook.