If there’s one thing I know about the upcoming Resident Evil film it’s that the director Zach Cregger is doing the utmost to stay true to the series’ roots. “I happen to worship these Resident Evil games and pull a lot of inspiration from the experience of playing them,” Cregger reminds fans in a recent interview with DiscussingFilm.
I’ve already explained why this means he knows ball. But authenticity is a moving target for a series which just turned 30 years old, and has made some pretty monumental changes over the last three decades. Exactly what Cregger chooses to remain true to isn’t as clear cut as some may think.
Zach Cregger reveals what gameplay elements are included in his ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ movie.“He’s constantly coming up against these padlocks that stop him from progressing. [There’s also] healing spray cans, the green herbs.” pic.twitter.com/H2mICigeBHAugust 24, 2026
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Apart from that little hiccup at the start of 2000, 2017 was the first time Resident Evil scrapped the third person perspective with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, with Capcom opting for a first-person perspective instead.
It was initially met with a negative knee-jerk reaction as players (myself included) feared that Resident Evil was about to be taken down a gimmicky FPS road, but we were wrong, and Biohazard managed to pull it off so well that first-person has now become a staple for the series with Resident Evil 8: Village and Requiem having both first and third person options. And dare I say, first-person suits Village better.
New look at first-person POV in Zach Cregger’s ‘RESIDENT EVIL’.Multiple shooting action sequences in the film have first-person POV inspired by the games. pic.twitter.com/MuZkReoiJTAugust 24, 2026
“This is an opportunity for me to be loyal to the games in spirit and in tone, and build a story that just puts you in that scenario again, and again, and again, with increasing stakes,” Cregger adds, again reminding players that this adaptation isn’t meant to be a 1:1 shot recreation of any of the games, but instead an amalgamation of ideas, traits, and vibes that the games employ.
In the same way, Cregger has explained that he’s tried to recreate the game’s progression by keeping “the environment changing every seven or eight minutes” always pushing the protagonist forward as if he’s “moving onto another level.” This is also helped by the fact that Bryan will move through weapons much like a protagonist in one of the games would: “You start with a pistol, and then you graduate to a shotgun, and then you graduate to a machine gun.”
In the grand scheme of things, camera perspectives will play a small part in how successful the film is. But all these little nods to the games combined will serve as a solid foundation if Cregger manages to pull it all off, which I really hope he does.
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