A new teaser trailer has revealed the first terrifying look at Resident Evil, director and writer Zach Cregger’s ode to the beloved horror franchise. We had the chance to sit down with Cregger to dive into how he’s crafting an original story that stays true to the series.
PlayStation Blog: What is your earliest memory of Resident Evil as a series?
Zach Cregger: My earliest memory of Resident Evil had to be playing [Resident Evil] 2. I think I played 2 before I played 1, and I don’t think I played anything like it, it’s the first survival horror game that I remember playing. I definitely played it before Silent Hill, and I just loved this new mechanic of resource conservation. You had to be completely aware of how many bullets you had, and how many healing items you had. You’d make these tough decisions about – what am I going to carry with me? What am I going to leave behind? It was such a unique mechanic. And it felt for me, with all the Resident Evil games, or with most of them, some of them get a little too arcade-y for my taste, but I really like the survival horror mechanics of moving slow and with deliberation. That was something that was really important to me to bring into the movie.
Everybody has a favorite moment from the games just jumping out of their skin terrified. What is your favorite scare in the Resident Evil series?
Now, I have to say I was playing it in VR, so I’m gonna put that out there, but it was in [Resident Evil] Village. It’s when you go into the doll house, and you go down in the basement, and you’re assembling that giant doll on the table, and you get hunted by this giant baby. There was something about the sounds that baby made, and the lights cut out, and you’re running through these halls and you have to hide under a bed.
It was the only time playing a video game I’ve ever actually just noped out and taken a break. I was just like, “This is too intense.” I took the headset off, I had a cup of coffee or something, went back in and finished it later. But I mean, that really got me, it’s honestly terrifying.
What initially sparked your interest to create a Resident Evil film?
I wanted to do a movie that was following a character from point A to point B, because that’s what those games do so well. You go on this crazy journey, and you go through all these different environments, and things just seem to be escalating and escalating. That feels so cinematic to me. So I wanted to tell a story that could take place in the Resident Evil world, but wasn’t telling a story that the games had already told. To me, I would feel like there’s kind of no winning there if I were to tell Leon’s story, because the games do such a great job. It would just be kind of redundant, and ultimately, I think, disappointing. So I would rather just kind of celebrate everything I love about the games by telling the story that could exist on the sidelines of one of the games.
So the world of [Resident Evil] 2 is kind of where this takes place, even though I’d make a couple of little shifts for dramatic license. It’s just following a different person who’s on a mission in this horrible night when things are going wrong in Raccoon City, and they’ve got to get something from point A to point B. And as they go, they encounter all of the same sorts of things you would encounter in the games. I wanted to keep true to like [in the games], you start with a pistol, you graduate to a shotgun, and then eventually you find an MP5. You’re always worried about how many bullets you have, and you’re getting injured and all those things. So it was such a fun challenge for me to try and write a game as a movie.
As you mentioned, this is not a retelling of the games, this is something set in the world of it. What would you say is essential to the world of Resident Evil?
Well, the world of Resident Evil is that this T-virus that the Umbrella Corporation is responsible for has caused a terrible zombie mutant breakout. And so things are going completely amok everywhere you look, and that’s a fun playground for me.
We’ve seen the heroes in Resident Evil games – Leon, of course, is tactical, he has training, he knows what he’s doing. But we’ve had newer characters like Ethan Winters (Resident Evil 7 and Village) and Grace (Resident Evil Requiem) in the games that are sort of dropped in this world and they don’t know what they’re doing. Is Austin [Abrams, who plays lead character Bryan] following that tradition of trying to figure out what to do?
Austin is very much like an avatar for me, or what I expect the average video game player would react if they were thrust into the game themselves. So he’s just a normal guy. He’s not particularly good at combat in any way, shape, or form. He’s athletic, but he’s not an athlete, he’s just a guy. He’s just a good natured, hapless dude who gets sucked into a nightmare. And so it was really fun to just think, how would I react authentically if I saw a mutant dog attack me? What would that gamut of emotion look like? And Austin’s just so fun to watch, he’s perfect for it.
In the Resident Evil games, the environments themselves feel like a character. What are some of the environmental setups that you feel are going to be the most important for a movie like this?
I think the key for the environment to make a movie out of Resident Evil, is it has to keep changing. Even though, [Resident Evil] 2 famously, most of it takes place in one location, the police station. Still, you’re always kind of unlocking new areas within and then you eventually go down into the parking garage, and then you go to other places. So the environment has to keep changing, and you have to be able to keep discovering new places. That’s something that this movie really leans into. You’re on a journey, and you really don’t spend too long in any one spot. And every new location that you go to harbors a new, unique danger.
As you mentioned, this movie is something that exists outside of the games. But did you feel a call to include easter eggs from the games?
Yeah, there’s a lot of easter eggs for the games, and that goes beyond things like the weapon progression and the resource management. [Resident Evil] 4 is probably the game I played the most, so I took a lot of healing items, I mimicked them exactly, I put them in the film. I don’t want to say [too much], gamers will see it and they’ll recognize it. But there’s a lot of little visual things and thematic things, there’s lots of the games in there, for sure.
Is there anything that you would like to say to fans before the movie comes out?
I feel so sensitive about talking about the movie on behalf of the game fans, because I think some of the fans are only going to be happy if I tell the story of the games. And I’m not doing that, because I feel like I wouldn’t do it justice. I feel like the games do such a great job of telling that story.
If you were personally stuck in the world that you have created, which Resident Evil gaming character do you wish was there to help?
Oh, well, that’s easy. If I was stuck in my movie and I could pick any Resident Evil character, I would bring Leon because I would just bear hug myself around him, close my eyes, and just let him protect me.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie hits theaters September 18.