Zach Cregger Reveals Exactly Which ‘Resident Evil’ Games Shaped His Reboot

Video game adaptations have struggled for decades to capture what actually makes their source material compelling, often stripping away the mechanics and pacing that defined the original experience in favor of a more conventional movie structure. Zach Cregger’s approach to rebooting one of horror gaming’s most enduring franchises has taken the opposite path entirely.

Rather than simply borrowing character names and settings, Cregger has spent months in the press explaining exactly how deeply he’s woven actual gameplay elements into his film’s DNA. That commitment to authenticity has extended all the way down to which specific entries in the long-running series shaped his creative vision most directly.

Zach Cregger says ‘Resident Evil 4’ and ‘Resident Evil 7’ gave him the most inspiration when developing his ‘Resident Evil’ movie, according to DiscussingFilm. “I like the idea of borrowing the rhythm and scale from 4 and using some of the character elements from 7,” Cregger explained.

That blend makes sense given how differently those two games approach their protagonists. ‘Resident Evil 4’ followed the tactically trained Leon Kennedy through a sprawling, set-piece-driven gauntlet, while ‘Resident Evil 7’ introduced Ethan Winters, an ordinary civilian thrust into a bioweapon nightmare with none of the combat experience players had come to expect from the franchise’s earlier heroes.

Cregger has leaned heavily into that Ethan Winters-style vulnerability for his own protagonist, Bryan, played by Austin Abrams. Speaking about his approach to the character, Cregger has previously explained, “I had this idea for a story in the world of Resident Evil, but it’s kind of like me, like if I was dropped into a Resident Evil game. I’m terrible with guns, I wouldn’t know how any of them work, I would miss 99% of my shots.”

The ‘Resident Evil 4’ influence, meanwhile, shows up more in the film’s overall structure and pacing. Speaking with Empire, Cregger described the movie’s relentless momentum, saying, “It feels like one gigantic sequence. Things pop off about five minutes in and it basically stays like that until the end. What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge. So again, I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet.”

That structural borrowing extends into specific gameplay mechanics as well. Cregger has previously detailed how his protagonist’s weapons escalate from a pistol to a shotgun to a machine gun as the story progresses, mirroring the franchise’s traditional weapon-upgrade system, while the environment shifts roughly every seven to eight minutes to keep pace with the games’ level-based progression.

‘Resident Evil,’ co-written by Cregger and Shay Hatten, is set during an alternate version of the events depicted in 1998’s ‘Resident Evil 2,’ though it deliberately follows an original character rather than series mainstays like Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield. That choice, Cregger has said, allowed him to celebrate what he loves about the games without inviting direct comparisons to established characters and their previously told stories.

With ‘Resident Evil’ set to hit theaters on September 18, Cregger’s detailed breakdown of his influences offers longtime fans a clear roadmap for exactly which Easter eggs and gameplay callbacks to watch for once the film finally arrives.

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