For a filmmaker who became one of horror’s most sought-after new voices by bending structure into knots, “Weapons” filmmaker Zach Cregger is doing something radically simple next. Speaking on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast from Prague — where he’s deep into production on “Resident Evil” — the writer-director said his new film intentionally abandons the narrative trickery audiences now associate with him.
“The movie I’m in Prague right now working on has no big twists,” Cregger said of the “Resident Evil” he is currently prepping abroad. “It’s not a narrative balancing act. There’s no… it is a pretty straightforward thing. It follows one character from point A to point B. That’s it. And it’s kind of refreshing, you know. I get to kind of just reset and just like play.”
That directness is unusual for Cregger, whose breakout “Barbarian” and follow-up “Weapons” both reshaped their stories with rug-pull turns and nonlinear storytelling. But he says “Resident Evil” simply didn’t call for that approach. “The project I’d like to do after this is a little bit more of a narrative kind of trickery happening,” he noted, though not clarifying what it is, “but not in the same way as ‘Barbarian’ and ‘Weapons.’ It’s not… It’s not going to be like disorienting. I hope.”
Is that “Gladys” the “Weapons” prequel starring the movie’s breakout star, Amy Madigan? It’s possible, but it didn’t sound like it, to be honest, and regardless, Cregger wouldn’t commit to the idea that he was even directing it. “We’re still kind of in the deal-making process for that, so I don’t think there’s much I’m really allowed to say at this point.
Cregger also dug into the creative impulses that tend to shape his more structurally playful work. “I just tend to gravitate towards nonlinear structure,” he said. “I’m so easily bored. I find most… I hate to say this, but I find most things I watch pretty dull. And so my main metric of success is, am I holding my own interest? Am I writing something that I would enjoy watching?”
But when it comes to “Resident Evil”, that instinct took a backseat — replaced by a longtime love for the game franchise. “I’ve played the games religiously,” Cregger said. “I am intimately familiar with ‘Resident Evil’ as a game franchise. And I find it to be inherently cinematic.”
He also described the appeal of translating the games’ pacing into a feature. “There’s something about the structure of those games and the pacing of those games that is so thrilling to me,” he said. “I’ve never seen a movie that really leans in to what those games offer. I love the slow creeping dread that these games naturally kind of exist in.”
That’s why the opportunity feels overdue. “The idea of being able to make a narrative film with the video game structure… I can’t believe it hasn’t happened yet,” he said. “It feels like this movie should have been made a really long time ago, so I’m kind of excited that I get to do it.”
For Cregger, working inside such a massive franchise feels energizing. “The ‘Resident Evil’ game franchise is so huge, so globally well-respected,” he said. “It’s a real kind of an honor to be able to do it… I’m feeling very excited about this.”
As for the nonlinear, mind-bending work fans expect? That comes after this one. But for now, “Resident Evil” marks Cregger’s most intentionally clean-lined film yet — proof that sometimes the boldest move is resisting the twist.
