Scare in the community … Austin Abrams (left) and Zach Cregger on the set of Resident Evil. Photograph: Dusan Martincek View image in fullscreen Scare in the community … Austin Abrams (left) and Zach Cregger on the set of Resident Evil. Photograph: Dusan Martincek Horror films Interview ‘Resident Evil movies? I’ve never seen one’: Weapons director Zach Cregger on resurrecting the beloved zombie franchise Ellen E Jones Raised on punk, alt-comedy and the church, Cregger’s Lynchian approach to horror is anything but typical. After two wildly original hits, his pivot to a 30-year-old video game has caused a storm among protective fans
Sun 20 Sep 2026 11.00 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google W hen Barbarian , Zach Cregger’s debut film as a solo writer-director, came out in 2022, it was a big success, creating a buzz among horror connoisseurs, garnering good reviews, and grossing $46m. Then his second film, Weapons , came out in 2025 and did even better. Mounting industry buzz around the project crystallised into a fierce bidding war; Jordan Peele was reportedly desperate to produce and, incensed by his failure to secure the rights, allegedly fired his managers. The rumours went viral, resulting in a wave of incredible PR that saw the film wildly outperform box office expectations and win an Academy Award (for Amy Madigan ’s blunt-fringed, bonsai-pruning best supporting actress turn as instantly classic villain Aunt Gladys).
Even if Cregger had not had a box-office smash that crossed over into awards contention, there would still be an atmosphere of hushed expectation around his next move. Both Barbarian and Weapons addressed hot-button issues – sexual assault and school shootings, respectively – while resisting easy interpretation. Both, too, started out seemingly heading in one narrative direction, before thrillingly careening off elsewhere. Thus, with just two features, Cregger had established a reputation for totally terrifying, utterly unpredictable and – most importantly – genuinely original movies.
Yet the real shocker from this nascent horror auteur is still to come. For his third film, Cregger has taken inspiration from existing intellectual property – or IP, those two little letters bound to strike fear into the heart of even the most stoic cineaste. Zach Cregger has made a Resident Evil movie.
View image in fullscreen Motivated cellar … Barbarian. Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy “Look, I could make a different movie now if I wanted to,” he says, when I put to him the obvious question: why? He is talking to me via video call, from a warmly furnished but ominously low-lit room, wearing a crumpled navy T-shirt, and sounding much less defensive than his words might suggest. “I understand how people could be like: ‘Why IP?’ But to me, that’s just such a secondary concern because the IP is not the point. The point is the story. The point is, it’s an original movie, even though it is Resident Evil.” He sighs. “And now I can’t wait for everyone on the internet to be like, ‘He admitted it!’”
Cregger is referring to the stick he’s been getting online from more obsessive gamers ever since the first teaser trailer launched in April . “I feel like there’s been so many people taking what I say about this exact thing out of context and saying: ‘He just wanted to make the movie that he wanted to make, and then slap Resident Evil on it, so he could get a bigger budget.’ Which is not the case. It was conceived to be a Resident Ev…