With "Resident Evil," Zach Cregger may have just changed the game for video game adaptations.
When popular games are turned into movies and TV shows, filmmakers have often felt it's necessary to retain recognizable characters. In some cases, like 2021's "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," the goal seems to be packing in as many game references as possible for players to eat up. But with the new "Resident Evil" movie (in theaters Sept. 18), Cregger, director of "Weapons" and "Barbarian," went the other way with what he describes as a "gameplay first" approach. The film doesn't feature a single established character or storyline from any of the "Resident Evil" games, but it's hugely faithful to what it feels like to play them.
"There's a timing
and a deliberate pacing that is so unique to the games, and that's what I wanted to lean into with this," he says. "It's not even necessarily about all of the details of the games. It's about that spiritual essence of the games."
Austin Abrams stars in "Resident Evil" as a medical courier, Bryan, hired to transport a package, only to find himself fighting for his life in a zombie outbreak. Despite the lack of game characters or storylines, "Resident Evil" game fans will find plenty to recognize: The way Bryan moves from one horrifying monster encounter to the next, getting progressively better weapons and being forced to conserve his limited bullets, is modeled after what a player goes through when they pick up a controller for a "Resident Evil" game.
Cregger even based Bryan, who is hilariously ill-equipped for the situation and frequently screams in terror, off of what it would be like if an average gamer was thrust off their couch and into this world.
"The conceit was this is more so someone that should be playing this game, that's dropped into it," Abrams says.
For the lead role, Cregger turned to Abrams after working with him on "Weapons" and being impressed by how the star made audiences fall in love with a "thieving junkie." But for Abrams, going from part of an ensemble in "Weapons" to playing a character who's in every scene of "Resident Evil" was "daunting."
The 30-year-old actor also wasn't prepared for how exhausting it would be to shoot a movie that has him constantly running for his life.
"You read it, and you don't fully grasp the scope of what you're going to be doing," he says. "For some reason, you think maybe you're going to be walking a lot more. And then you start to get into it. You're like, 'Oh no. This is much more physically demanding than I thought it was going to be.' "
But Abrams' lack of preparation fits a character equally unprepared for such a hellish night.
"For this particular guy, you don't want to be in shape," he says. "You almost don't want to be ready to do anything that you're going to do."
Cregger's choice to tell an original story in the "Resident Evil" world sparked a surprising amount of online chatter: Some gamers were outraged, claiming the film is "Resident Evil" in name only. The filmmaker was taken aback by the scale of the reaction.
"I did not expect it to be what it was, which was the all-consuming public face of this thing," he says. "So that was an interesting development. But people seem to think that I was way more upset about all of that than I was. I'm a grown-up, you know? And I don't really take internet chatter too seriously, because I don't think it's representative of a greater sentiment."
Some have even claimed the backlash soured Cregger on making another franchise movie, citing an interview where he said he planned to focus on original films going forward. But he stresses "that was my attitude before I did 'Resident Evil,' " and it has nothing to do with feeling "bullied" by gamers.
"I have a lot more sympathy [now] for people whose job is to stand in front of the public and try and convey something important," Cregger says. "I'm just trying to talk about a video game adaptation; I cannot imagine the frustration that must come when you are trying to argue a public safety policy and people are willfully misrepresenting you, which I now realize is so easy for people to do. It gave me a whole new appreciation for that."
So far, Cregger's creative choices have paid off big time: "Resident Evil" has received glowing reviews from critics and is now the top-rated video game movie on Rotten Tomatoes. Its success could usher in an era of more movies that capture the feeling of games, but without being direct adaptations. Cregger, though, will leave it to others to decide what it means for video game movies.
"I don't think I've actually ever seen another video game movie adaptation," he says.
For Cregger, who had "a lot of insecurity" during the filmmaking process, the reception has been a relief: Coming off his narratively complex, "more sophisticated" films "Barbarian" and "Weapons," he feared critics would say he had "regressed" by making a movie with a straightforward story and focus on non-stop thrills.
"I started getting nervous that like, man, am I going to just get eviscerated for this?" he says. "It's nice to see that people are meeting the movie on the movie's terms. You know, it's 'Resident Evil.' It's not some art house thing. That's not the point."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Zach Cregger feared he'd be 'eviscerated' for 'Resident Evil'
