Zach Cregger, the director of Weapons and Barbarian, is also behind the upcoming Resident Evil movie, and though the film ostensibly takes place during the Raccoon City outbreak in Resident Evil 2, it has some inconsistencies that fans have noticed. Given that many are already annoyed that the movie doesn’t seem to actually include Resident Evil characters, anything that doesn’t feel true to the source material is raising red flags for folks who fear the movie is just using the name of Capcom’s horror series. Cregger definitely seems to know the series and its vibe, but he has come out and said that some of those inconsistencies are just him taking creative liberties.
At a panel at San Diego Comic Con, Cregger talked about his Resident Evil movie and some of the inspirations it took from the games. One cool example he gives is how the camera work in the film is inspired by the third-person camera of Resident Evil games, and that some shots are directly influenced by the intimate movement of a video game camera.
Zach Cregger says a lot of his ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ film is shot in a unique third-person way to resemble the video games.
“When Austin looks right, our camera operator swings to look right… it felt like the camera was being psychically controlled by Austin.” pic.twitter.com/izmDiqZd9p
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 24, 2026
Elsewhere in the panel, he addresses some of the “errors” in continuity happening in the movie. Austin, the main character who’s fighting for his life at the beginning of the Raccoon City outbreak, uses a smartphone in the film despite Resident Evil 2 taking place in the ‘90s, and it’s snowing in the film despite there being no snow in the game. These are small details but, as Hollywood descends upon the video game industry for new stories, it makes sense that folks might be wary of a Resident Evil movie that feels like it doesn’t respect the source material and is just slapping the brand on a poster to increase its name recognition. Lord knows we’ve seen some video game adaptations basically mangle the story or treat the original creators like they’re expendable, so any whiff of insincerity merits some skepticism. Cregger’s response is…well, let’s hear what he has to say first.
Zach Cregger addresses criticisms of including modern phones & snow in his ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ film.
“I took liberties to tell a story that I wanted to tell & make the movie look the way I wanted it to look… I think it looks really fucking cool to see a horror movie in the snow.” pic.twitter.com/SPoIc3UORL
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 24, 2026
“It takes place in the snow and in 2026,” he says. “That’s why he has an iPhone, because I took liberties to tell a story I wanted to tell and make the movie look the way I wanted it to look. I am not doing exactly a one-for-one Resident Evil 2 adaptation. There are differences between this movie and the game, so I just want to acknowledge that. I don’t think it makes the movie any worse. I think it looks really fucking cool to have a horror movie set in the snow. I don’t see enough of those. I like it a lot. The snow is an aesthetic decision. If the barrier of entry is whether I do a one-for-one port, then I guess, in that regard, I have failed. But I think the movie is stronger for it.”
In spirit, I follow Cregger here. Not every adaptation needs to be a direct redo of the original source material, and in some cases, it’s best if they don’t. In the case of HBO’s The Last of Us show, I think trying to tell the exact same story worked against it, as it only drew more attention to the ways the show misunderstood the original work and resulted in an inferior telling. What I think Cregger’s losing here is that the messaging around this movie has been inconsistent and the expectations are getting out of whack. Initially, he said Resident Evil was meant to take place “alongside the events of Resident Evil 2,” which would have ostensibly made it a ‘90s period piece, but now it just sounds like the movie is essentially moving the timeline up so it can take place in the modern day.
Ultimately, this likely doesn’t have any bearing on whether or not the movie is going to be any good, especially if it seems as contained and distanced from the rest of Resident Evil as it appears. I think we’re in an era of people trying to understand where every new entry in a franchise fits into timelines and continuities, and at a time like this, a straight-up vibes piece can be refreshing if it’s pitched as that to begin with. That said, when there’s an attempt to connect it to what’s come before, that’s when the lorehounds take out their magnifying glasses and inspect every frame, especially when there’s a well-founded fear that Hollywood is scraping video games for its next big hit with no actual respect for the work that made those series popular. I don’t think Cregger is larping being a Resident Evil fan; I just think his movie has maybe gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe if the movie is as good as his previous works, none of that will matter. We’ll see when the movie comes to theaters on September 18.