Resident Evilhas now existed in some form for nearly 30 years. The seriesbegan as a 1996 video game by Japanese creators Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara.The games focus on an environment inhabited by zombies or other non-human and mutated creatures. Six years after the release of the first game, the Paul W.S. Andersonmovie adaptation ofResident Evilwas released. It starred Milla Jovovich in the lead role and had several sequels. The most recent installment, 2021’sResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, rebooted the franchise.
At the beginning of this year, anotherResident Evilrebootwas announced. The film is set to be directed by Zach Cregger, who is best known for his horror filmBarbarian. It later seta release date of August 03, 2025, making it roughly one year away. The movie is also reportedly eyeing Austin Abrams as one of its main stars. While there is a lot of information still to come regarding theResident Evilreboot, the team has made the right choice with its director.
Barbarian Is Actually Scary, Which The Resident Evil Movies Lacked
This Justifies The Big Price Tag For Cregger
In many ways, Cregger is a huge risk for the franchise. Though he is releasingWeaponslater this year,he only has one theatrically released movie that was directed solely by him.This movie,Barbarian, was also made on only a $4.5 million budget, whereas theResident Evilfilm will have a much higher budget as a more mainstream horror movie.Cregger is reportedly being paid $20 millionfor his work as a writer, director, and producer onResident Evil, which is over four timesBarbarian’s entire budget.
Instead, the films leaned a lot more heavily on their action elements, focusing instead on creating thrilling set pieces that also happen to feature zombies.
However, there are plenty of reasons for the studio to take this chance on Cregger. WithBarbarian, the director showed not only that his films had the capacity to turn a large profit, but thathe could make something genuinely scary.Barbarianreally delivers on its horror promise, maintaining a sense of mystery while also being genuinely terrifying.Cregger’s upcoming filmWeaponsalso looks scary based on the trailer, which further speaks to the director’s propensity for strong horror.
Barbarianearned $45 million worldwide, with $40 million coming domestically.
The original Japanese video game series was always heavily focused on the horror elements ofResident Evil. The movies, however, lacked this sense of fear, despite including the constant threat of zombies. Instead,the films leaned a lot more heavily on their action elements, focusing instead on creating thrilling set pieces that also happen to feature zombies. Cregger is unlikely to tone down the violence and gore ofResident Evil, but his ability to create genuine fear will give the movies something they have been missing.
Barbarian Features The Kind Of Unsettling Monster That’s Perfect For Resident Evil
And Cregger Should Mimic This
Though it keeps its antagonist secret for much of the film,Barbariandoes feature a monster character as its main villain. Played by Matthew Patrick Davis,this character is The Mother. Living in the tunnels beneath a Detroit rental house, she is a deformed and violent woman. While this monster is ultimately a human character, unlike the antagonists ofResident Evil,her history makes it such that she has an extremely off-putting look. Her rotting teeth, thin hair, and filthy body make The Mother unsettling, really showing what Cregger is interested in monster-wise.
A monster like this would be perfect forResident Evil.Zombies, by nature, are twisted versions of human beings,and thus have to have some human qualities while still being warped in some significant way. Both the video game and movie franchises have existing models for what the zombies might look like, but Cregger has the opportunity to make them his own. If he designs the zombies to look anything like The Mother did inBarbarian, audiences are in for a treat in theResident Evilreboot.
