Zach Cregger's "RESIDENT EVIL" Is NOT A "Zombie Movie" Says Director [Trailer]

Zach Cregger's "RESIDENT EVIL" Is NOT A "Zombie Movie" Says Director [Trailer]

Written by: Sam Santiago

It's been tried a few times with varying success but here we are again, another "RESIDENT EVIL" film is set for release, and director Zach Cregger ("Weapons", "Barbarian") swears up and down it's going to be a love letter to the original Capcom games. The official teaser for the new take on the franchise just hit the web, and you can be the judge of it below. 

Official Synopsis: From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling and terrifying reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself caught in an action-packed, nonstop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Cregger mentions to IGN that his new film will show how the infected interact with each other and zombies aren't the main focus of the film. Cregger notes: “Believe it or not, this movie doesn’t really rely on zombies all that much. It’s much more focused on the stranger creature elements than traditional zombie horror."

The film takes place in conjunction with Resident Evil 2 the game, and as the director states "Shit just went south, It's day one of what's going on in Raccoon City and our main character has to deal with all that."
Cregger continues: "There are only about two, maybe three scenes with what you’d call proper zombies, and two of those are actually in the trailer, one where you see them directly, and another where he’s running through the city while they’re practically detonating around him. Beyond that, I wouldn’t even really call this a zombie movie. When you have something like the T-virus, there’s an opportunity to explore all kinds of disturbing and fascinating transformations in the human body and the world around it, so limiting it to zombies alone just feels like a missed opportunity.”
That makes a lot of sense to us. Why show only the base-level creatures when there are nightmare-type configurations of abominations all over Raccoon City? He also mentions that the new film is not following the games and that might be a bit of a slight to some fans but we get that too. Why keep retelling the same story? We know what happens to Leon and Claire and the fate of Raccoon City, why not venture out and see what other stories are there? That's what Cregger brings to this new film. 
Our main character isn't a trained agent or rookie cop; he's a medical courier who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and has to deal with all the madness and horror going on around him. 
Directed by Zach Cregger from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 and 4), Resident Evil hits theaters on September 18, 2026 from Sony Pictures.