If you haven't had a chance to see the new horror film Weapons yet, I highly suggest it.
The follow-up to 2022's Barbarian from writer and director Zach Cregger, Weapons flourishes as a piece of original storytelling in a world where adaptations and sequels are everywhere. And so, inevitably, with some success, he has found himself on that path.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Cregger will be writing and directing a Resident Evil movie reboot for Sony Pictures, which could come out as early as next year. In an interview with Inverse last week, Cregger revealed that his movie will be "a different story" from the games, avoiding iconic characters like Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and other legends of gaming.
And so, I am left not knowing how to feel about this project's promise.
"Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games," Cregger said of his reboot. "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."
That's good to know, at least. As a fan, he should have some expectation of what gamers would like to see, and with his acumen for atmospheric creepiness, it seems like he's a good fit for Resident Evil. But can the movies flourish without their icons? Resident Evil 7 mostly did so without much help from its legacy cast, telling a new and original story in a different setting, so it's possible.
I have little doubt left in Cregger's ability as a horror filmmaker. He's two for two thus far when it comes to telling interesting, original, and creepy stories. I enjoyed Barbarian, but Weapons was a big step up in some ways. Can he continue that trajectory? It's tough to say, especially since he will be pulling from source material and not a place we know works to some degree: his own mind.
With both Barbarian and Weapons, a lot of the appeal relied on the mystery and suspense before exploding into terror and gore. With Resident Evil, there's little mystery left, so I'm wondering how this may end up.
Resident Evil movies have a pretty murky past. Sony released six movies over the course of 15 years with an original character named Alice (Milla Jovovich), with some versions of certain game characters appearing throughout. The movies were mostly commercial successes and were sometimes okay in their own right, but they left fans of the game wanting more.
And then there was 2021's Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which by all accounts was an abomination from all angles. I haven't even seen it yet, and I may have to eventually, but I think I've been avoiding it as a fan of the games.
Resident Evil is in my "big three" of franchises that I grew up with and haven't stopped loving, along with Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy (I was clearly a PS1 kid), so this movie means a lot to me. I think that Cregger can nail it, but I have my reservations.
Cregger said his movie will be "obedient to the lore of the games," and so my excitement now comes from his ability to tell an original story. He's confined to that lore, but what and whose story could he tell within it?
What if he told an isolated story about a random civilian's experience in the Raccoon City outbreak? No sequels, no big budget action, just pure terror. This is something I would love to see, personally. But I have a feeling he'll come up with something unique enough to stand out, while also remaining "obedient" to the source, like he said.
Part of me wishes Cregger could keep on telling his own original stories, but another part of me is excited at what his take on Resident Evil may look like. And so now, we wait.
Let us know in the comments how you feel about Cregger, Weapons, Barbarian, Resident Evil, or anything else on your mind.
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