Posted in: Movies, Sony | Tagged: resident evil, Zach Cregger

Resident Evil: Zach Cregger Says This Film Is "A Different Story"

Resident Evil director Zach Cregger says this is "a different story" and it is "not going to tell Leon's story because Leon's story is told in the games."

To say that writer and director Zach Cregger is on a hot streak is an understatement. After exploding onto the scene with Barbarian, his follow-up film Weapons hit theaters this weekend to a lot of hype and some very positive reviews (mostly). These two films should be enough to keep the fans of Resident Evil happy after some trepidation from all involved when it was announced that Cregger would be taking on yet another adaptation of the video game property in January. We've been getting little bits of information here and there and even one casting rumor, but everything is pretty nebulous right now. However, something that we've known for a while has officially been confirmed in a new interview with Inverse. Cregger confirmed that, despite being a massive fan of the games, this film will not be an adaptation of any of the stories from the games.

"Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games," Cregger explained. "I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I'm telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games. It is obedient to the lore of the games, it's just a different story. I'm not going to tell Leon's story, because Leon's story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that."

He's not wrong that these stories have been told not only in the games, but also in different variations on the big screen as well. However, fans have never been 100% happy (or even mostly happy) with any of the adaptations so far. The first run of films became its own thing very quickly and became beloved in a high camp kind of way. The Sony reboot was here and gone so fast that everyone probably forgot it happened, and the Netflix series was also a here-and-gone moment. The change from interactive to inactive medium seems to be tripping people up, but maybe Cregger is the one who can figure out the right combination of horror, using the source material, and just a little bit of camp (yes those games are camp, no I'm not taking disagreements, go eat a Jill Sandwich) that everyone has been chasing for over two decades.

How Many Resident Adaptations Is Too Many Resident Evil Adaptations?

It's almost comical at this point how many times someone has tried to make a Resident Evil something happen, constantly reviving the corpse of this IP in movies, television, and even the game series again and again, trying to capture the couple of times everything has fallen perfectly into place. And that "couple" changes depending on which corner of the fandom you're talking to, but the list is small, and you might be able to add the overall buckwild nature of the films to the list once they jumped the shark, but that was an accident.

The last ones to attempt were Netflix and Sony, which tried the year before, both of which were failures from the top down. Before that, we had the six-film series from Paul W.S. Anderson, in which each new release was just Anderson reminding us how insanely hot and badass his wife is (we don't blame him). In January, it was announced that Barbarian director Zach Cregger will write and direct the film for Sony. Sources are still a little vague about what this movie will be about, but according to THR, it " is decidedly on the horror track. It is also said to have elements of a wilderness survival thriller." So that's fun.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!