Zack Cregger adapts Resident Evil with an immersive and horrific approach

American director Zack Cregger is a big fan of the Resident Evil franchise. So, when he was chosen to direct his new film adaptation, he wanted to “stay true to the spirit of video games”. The director of Vanished and Barbarian achieved this by drawing inspiration from the visual language of video games, by shooting the film from the point of view of the protagonist, played by Austin Abrams. The filmmaker felt that it was more important to reproduce the atmosphere of Resident Evil than to repeat the characters or the plot of the series. "It's a new character, but the story has to feel the same as the gaming experience," he told AFP in an interview.

This new film, which is released Friday, September 18 in American theaters, follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a courier who accepts a night delivery from a hospital, a mission that quickly turns into a nightmare. By placing the camera behind Abrams so that it "swivels to see what he sees", the shots are orchestrated to make the film "feel like a video game" through this first-person perspective. Zack Cregger was also inspired by the game by modifying the progression of the weapons available to the hero. “You start with a pistol, then you get a shotgun, then a machine gun,” the director explained. “I think players... will recognize many aspects of the games in this film. »

While previous film adaptations of Resident Evil, including those starring Milla Jovovich, were more action films, Zack Cregger focused on horror. “I really wanted to emphasize the horror and that slowly building sense of dread that games have been so good at creating in all of their games,” he explained.

This doesn't mean the film lacks action scenes, however. Austin Abrams also had to undergo intensive training, even if he wanted to not give the image of a superhero. “Part of the challenge was that (...) I wanted the character not to seem like someone capable of doing that,” he told AFP. The 30-year-old actor admits to having never played Resident Evil before landing the role. Now familiar with the universe of the franchise, however, he doubts that he would be able to survive the ordeal experienced by his character, Bryan.

Zack Cregger acknowledged that Resident Evil fans might not be entirely happy with the absence of certain characters or details from the video games, but that he preferred to stay true to his vision. “For me, the best thing is to tell an original story that celebrates everything I love about games. »