Resident Evil Director On How Test Audiences Helped Improve The Film

Posted in: Games, Movies, Resident Evil, Sony | Tagged: resident evil, Zach Cregger

Resident Evil director Zach Cregger explained that the feedback he got from test audiences was, overall, pretty positive except that the film was too funny.

Published Sun, 13 Sep 2026 15:47:10 -0500 by Kaitlyn Booth |

Article Summary

• Resident Evil director Zach Cregger says early test audiences were largely positive about the film overall.
• Cregger revealed the biggest note was that Resident Evil played too funny, prompting him to trim jokes.
• After reducing the comedy, Zach Cregger said test audiences enjoyed Resident Evil more and he agreed.
• The update suggests Resident Evil may be landing well with viewers ahead of its September 18, 2026 release.

As the release date for Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie approaches, fans online continue to be some of the whiniest people to exist in a hot minute. You'd think some great injustice was being committed, and this was the first time someone had adapted this source material, and not movie attempt number three plus a television show. The first round of movies were connected to the source material by a string, vibes, and references by the end, but this is the thing that they have to pitch fits about. They all seem completely convinced that not only will the movie bomb, but it will also be terrible.

However, according to an interview with Cregger in The Hollywood Reporter, it sounds like audiences might be more on board with this than Resident Evil fans think. Cregger was asked how test audiences helped shape the final film, and he revealed that audiences overall liked the film from the beginning, but the balance between horror and comedy needed adjustment, so he did, and everyone, including himself, liked the movie more in the end.

"I learned that people really liked the movie, but they thought it was too funny," Cregger replied. "So over the course of my testing, I stripped out as much of the jokes as possible. I then found that not only did the audience enjoy the movie more, but I also liked the movie a lot more. A little bit of humor goes a long way in a horror movie, and there's not a single joke I took out of this movie that I miss. So that perspective was really helpful."

When the Resident Evil fans come in saying there was no comedy in the original game, I'm just going to tell them to go back to the kitchen and make me a Jill sandwich.

Resident Evil: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Director Zach Cregger (right) and Austin Abrams on the set of Constantin Film and Columbia Pictures RESIDENT EVIL. Photo by: Dušan Martinček ©2026 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Austin Abrams stars in Constantin Film and Columbia Pictures RESIDENT EVIL, directed by Zach Cregger. Photo by: Dušan Martinček ©2026 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Director Zach Cregger (right) on the set of Constantin Film and Columbia Pictures RESIDENT EVIL. Photo by: Dušan Martinček ©2026 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

From Columbia Pictures and Constantin Film, in association with TriStar Pictures, Resident Evil hits theatres September 18, 2026. It is directed by Zach Cregger and stars Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser.

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