Resident Evil (2026): What Worked, What Didn’t & Zach Cregger’s Vision

[00:00:00] And he was like, oh shit, I spent way too much time on this first part, which was great, but we need him to get to the hospital and we need to have some resolution to him bring the antidote up to the lab.

[00:00:26] Welcome back to The Physical Cut where films live beyond the stream. My name is Carlos and today I am joined with Professor Rick, host of the Phrytology degree podcast. How are you today, Rick? Thanks for having me. Doing well. I was actually thinking about how to introduce you know, so let me just put a professor in front of us. Wasn't it Phrytology 101 or was that something you guys were doing?

[00:00:51] Yeah, so the Phrytology 101, so Phrytology degree is the overall podcast and Phrytology 101 is season one. The podcast concept is I'm ramping up my friend who's new to horror. So 101 and then you move on to the next class 102, etc. Okay, yeah, because I did catch the podcast and Phrytology 101. I don't know if it was an episode of the podcast or if it's one of the clips that you post here on Instagram.

[00:01:16] And I think you were trying to move him up to something that was like a little bit more gory, more scary. By the way, what's the name of your co-host? Tom. Has there been something that Tom hasn't been able to make? Like a movie that he hasn't been able to get through?

[00:01:30] Tom. We've been able to get through them. We try to watch them together and it's, I mean, he's done well. I feel like I've done a pretty good job of ramping him up. And if it's something a little bit too much, he might avert his eyes a little bit or wince at it. But he's, so far he's made it through. Tom. But he's not a horror viewer, right? No.

[00:01:52] Tom. He just, you introduced, okay, you're introducing him to horror now. Yeah, that's a pretty interesting concept. I was like, is he actually a full horror version and you're just putting him through all this shit? But then I knew you were trying to push him to watch something more scarier. You guys don't do necessarily reviews in what you watch overall. So what made you come up with this concept of the podcast?

[00:02:14] So the podcast concept is I'm a big horror fan and I watch a lot of horror. Most of my friends don't. So I just thought, you know what, why not? Like some of them have expressed a loose interest. I was like, let's get them into it. And Tom, I feel, is the one that I feel would be the most fun to get into. And he's more expressive, I think for the purpose of a podcast. And he'll also be the best co-host among my friends to voice his opinions and his reactions to the movie.

[00:02:42] But yeah, I mean, that's kind of the genesis of the concepts. On the episodes, review the movie as best as can. That's kind of what I do regularly. And for him, he's getting into that as well, reviewing the movie beyond just how scary it was and how he reacted, but analyzing the film and learning about horror.

[00:02:59] And I think now that we are a good amount of movies in, he's actually picking up tropes and picking up things about what makes different horror movies, what makes certain horror movies different and similar. So he's definitely picking it up and from a kind of more analytical framework too. Is there one that kind of like stands out that he's probably preferred any specific genre of horror?

[00:03:23] I would say his least favorite, we know, are anything that's very gory. We watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That was our latest episode. And that was probably the goriest movie he's seen. But otherwise, we haven't gone because I know that's something that's more sensitive to him. I want to ramp him up a little bit. But that's probably what he's least looking forward to every time I reveal something in the subgenre.

[00:03:48] And then the second one would be paranormal, just ghosts, demons and stuff's always kind of scary. But the other genres that he likes psychological stuff, because a lot of psychological horror are really more psychological thrillers or sort of on that boundary. So that's more, it's a little easier and palatable for him.

[00:04:06] Oh, yeah. Because yeah, if you are new to the genre of horror, it takes a while. For me, I'm more into slashers. I do love possession movies. I'm, you know, was raised Catholic. So anything that is like religion and possession, that's my go-to. But it's kind of reinventing the wheel every time. So it's just over and over the same concept. This kid gets possessed and maybe they die, maybe they don't. 50-50 chance.

[00:04:34] I do love The Conjuring 1 and 2. I prefer the second because I do love the atmosphere in the second more than the first. But the first obviously has a better, a much better script, I would say, than the second part. So those are usually my genres. You guys haven't covered The Conjuring yet, right? We've not. That's a little bit too high of a level for him. Oh, really? We'll get there. Because I think... I would think that would be more basic.

[00:04:59] Because my view is for some of the paranormal categories, like we did Poltergeist for the first one, which is very kind of more... It's almost like slightly humorous in a way. But I think Conjuring, there's more jump scares and it's more serious. So we'll get there eventually. But so far, I'm trying to be a little bit lighter on the paranormal because I know that's his least favorite.

[00:05:26] When you get there, it'd be interesting to know his opinion. Obviously, once you get to the third, I don't think that's even scary. I think that's just a joke at that point. But that's just my opinion. But you also do your own horror writing. I think I met you on Substack, if I'm not mistaken. And then I added you to Instagram. So what got you into the horror writing as well?

[00:05:48] Yeah. Horror writing, this is definitely my main thing. I write both short stories, bite-sized short stories on sort of a weekly to bi-weekly basis based on how much time I have to actually write them. But they're generally short. They're all under a thousand words. And so as I post those on Substack and also tease them on social media, and then I'm also writing a novel right now, which has been slowly progressing because in that horror romance genre.

[00:06:14] But writing is kind of, because I got into horror through reading, actually. I think for maybe a lot of people, especially if you go through the reading route, is you're reading Stephen King. And that's the gateway horror from a literary perspective. So I just love Stephen King, his writing style, and a lot of his non-horror, more like sci-fi oriented. Some of those novels that are on the border of horror. And then I got deeper into that.

[00:06:40] So like I wasn't reading The Shining or anything like that until a little bit later when I was saying, you know what, let's go a little bit deeper into what he's truly known for. And then from there, that's when I realized horror is interesting. I don't have to be scared of it because it's pretty fascinating. So then that's really my way into horror. So I was always going to come back into writing in some form, shape or form. And so short stories and novel writing are the way that I'm doing it now.

[00:07:08] I think eventually I would be interested in writing something for film. So, you know, whether it's scripts or something like that, like writing for short films, there's probably something down the line that I will do. A lot of my stories, I do have a visual concept in mind when I'm writing them. So a lot of them could be adapted into a short film format that maybe one day I will pursue. But so overall, it's, you know, writing is the center of what I do. And obviously I love horror movies.

[00:07:36] So that's just a lot of social media content ends up being horror movie oriented. But in terms of what I'm doing actively, a lot of it is writing. And you also have the route that you can do. For example, you have your book that you're currently developing. And you already have a collection of short stories that can easily be translated to an anthology novel, basically. Also, you do have shows like Creepshow. Those are short stories.

[00:08:04] Most of them are from short stories. So you can adapt into that. And there's a lot of indie producing going on right now, which is amazing. Because I feel like people are now giving a chance to those people that are like, oh, yeah, no, I don't want to work with anybody new. And I said, no, find me somebody new. Like, you literally have studios scouting for new people. And it's like, oh, yeah, but you didn't want them when they were doing good stuff already. Now it's like you want them because they can make you a $700 million movie surprise.

[00:08:34] So, yeah, that's the only good thing that's happening right now, at least for indie content creators. That's not your background, right? Like, you don't have a day job that is accounting. Exactly. Yeah, I have kind of a boring corporate day job. So this is truly something totally separate from what I do day to day. So, yeah, I mean, like film, like if I ever end up getting into film, it would be more of a character as a serious hobby, the way that writing is for me. Yeah, we'll see. I love found footage horror.

[00:09:04] That's one of my favorite subgenres within the horror landscape. And that's a great way for indie filmmakers to get into it is it's just slower budget. There are a lot fewer requirements you need. So I think some point down the line, I have some visions of certain things that I think I can do maybe even in the near term. That is through that found footage angle, like maybe like five to 10 minute found footage short film. So that's something I could see myself producing.

[00:09:31] And, you know, yeah, I mean, to your point, a lot of what is backrooms, obsession, a lot of those are started from smaller concepts, short film concepts that ended up growing. And that's really exciting, I think, for horror overall. Yeah, I do hope that more, at least like some of the content creators that I know, I hope they at least take that step. My least favorite genre is found footage, but it's like because it's the one that scares me the most, I guess. Because I'm more afraid of what I can't see.

[00:10:00] And when you've got a shaky camera, it really does hit my anxiety. It activates my anxiety so bad. My knowledge is very limited when it comes to fountain footage. I think paranormal activity is probably the closest, the only one that I know of that I, I mean, there's some more, but I just really can't think of any. One of the girls that I was talking to recently from Spain, she recommended REC, I think it is. And I'm like, girl, I can barely get through paranormal activity. You think I'm going to jump into REC? There's no fucking way I'm doing that.

[00:10:29] I'm not that stupid. And I go to Madrid a lot. They have nice boxes for REC. I'm like, but I'm not, I'm not that masochistic. I'm good. I'll stick to what I like. I'll stick to exorcisms and all that kind of stuff. But Rick, I hit you up this week on Instagram because I wanted to get someone's opinion on the blockbuster hit that we got this fall season. Technically, it's already fall. Like leaves are falling. It's fall for me.

[00:10:58] So we got the sleeper hit. I don't know if it was expected to be a hit or if it was just another sleeper hit that audience was just craving for something fun to watch. But I did hit you up and I said, I want to talk about Resident Evil, the new 2026 Resident Evil. I know you had your opinions. That's why I hit you up. You had your opinions. And you did say you gave it a constructive criticism, which I like, but you did make some great points.

[00:11:28] And I wanted to go through some of them here. Were you expecting or at least what were you expecting going into this film? First of all, are you a Resident Evil fan from not just from the games, but from the OG franchise? Yes, both. I love the video game franchise. I played most of the video games and loved all of them.

[00:11:54] And we won't get into it because the video games are quite different from Kreger's Resident Evil. As he himself has already said, he's not trying to replicate it, but it is very different. And the OG Resident Evil franchise, that was just like a very classic early 2000s action, somewhat cheesy action franchise, which if that's what you want, it's fantastic. It's not supposed to be like crazy good or anything, but it's supposed to be really fun.

[00:12:21] And it's got some of that like Kill Bill influence, which I think for that era of action movies, it's just extremely fun to watch. So I liked both. So going into this, I was very much looking forward to the movie. What was your expectation at least going into the film? Were you expecting something like the first or just because we've had so much time to at least develop better CGI? Were you expecting something more faithful to the game?

[00:12:47] Full disclosure, when I go into movies, I try to know as little as possible because I don't want to spoil it for myself. I want to evaluate it and enjoy it totally fresh. And so I had no idea that Kregger's goal was to make something more satire and horror comedy and something that's his own unique take, which I do appreciate. And I think it's very creative the way that he executed it.

[00:13:13] But I was personally expecting and hoping for a serious adaptation of the video game and something that is more faithful from a tone and atmosphere perspective. So I was in other words, I was not expecting a comedy and I didn't want a comedy. So like, I don't know if you watched the prior Resident Evil adaptation, Welcome to Raccoon City. That film was lower profile from a filmmaker.

[00:13:42] Zach Craig, obviously a very well-known, well-established horror filmmaker and kind of lower on the scale in terms of the cast in a way as well. But that one was an attempt to be a more faithful adaptation to the video game, at least from a plot perspective. It just wasn't very well executed. And I think they tried to do too much to cram the story. So I was hoping that Kregger would have done a faithful adaptation, but executed a lot better because he has a great track record of making great horror films.

[00:14:12] So my expectation going in was very different from what the movie ended up being. What was your immediate reaction coming out of the theater? I did enjoy it, but I couldn't help feel as slightly disappointed. Again, because my personal preference was if it was serious. And that's why in my review that I posted, as well as the video you referenced where I talk about like a criticism for the film,

[00:14:36] I needed to separate my personal bias and preference for what I wanted the film to be from assessing the film on its own merit on what Kregger intended. Because coming out, I did think it was funny. The jump scares worked for the majority of the film. I thought it was really well executed. The balance was great. But I thought the ending, like the whole final third act, that was just, you know, subjectively or objectively, I didn't like it that much.

[00:15:03] So I think exiting the film, I was slightly disappointed. But overall, I did think it was a good movie. And I understand why a lot of people really loved it. But I would say I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. Okay. First of all, I went in and I saw the trailers. I thought the movie was going to be maybe a little scarier. I thought it was going to be like scare after scare.

[00:15:30] Let me just go back a little bit because there's been a lot of stuff this week that I've been listening to about Resident Evil. Not just preparing for this today, for this recording. But I've been listening to SAC and different podcasts, different interviews. And he did mention that he cut out a lot of the jokes. He cut out tons of jokes.

[00:15:55] The problem is that Austin, he's very comedic already. So you can peel back a few jokes, but you still have somebody who is genuinely funny. I know him as a funny person from weapons. He did an amazing job. He was probably my second favorite character out of the two that I like. I feel like he was very good in that.

[00:16:18] So now you have him, that idea that I have of him, of that crackhead being funny throughout the entire film. And now you're putting him in this situation. It's like I felt like it was the same character in a way. I mean, yes, he gave it a little bit of a different performance. But I'm still going to see him as the crackhead that make me laugh. And right now he has that kind of face that always works.

[00:16:45] Steve Buscemi has that kind of face that you kind of recognize and you put into the same role, even though he's doing different roles. So I don't know if it's a curse or a blessing that he's very talented when it comes to comedy. But I like the situation where he put the character in. And he mentioned that, Sack Gregor mentioned, that it was kind of a real-time thing. Obviously, like, it's not from one hour and 30 minutes from the moment. Not that kind of real-time.

[00:17:13] But it is something that's happening supposedly in real-time. It did feel that way. The fact that he puts him through these situations, there was, I don't know if it was you or someone else that was mentioning that after he leaves the house that he gets into Raccoon City. That's when it kind of went downhill. And I had to agree with that. For me, I like the atmosphere of the movie.

[00:17:39] If he were stuck inside the house, I would probably take it more seriously. And it would have been more scarier, to be honest, than just going through this whole city. There was parts that didn't work for me. And I just kept thinking that it kept getting messy. And it kind of lost its plot a little bit. And then he just, spoiler, gets into the hospital. And I'm like, why is this taking so long? It just got a little messy. And we kind of lost the humor there.

[00:18:09] I would have preferred if it would have been maybe within the house limits the entire time. I did like the atmosphere during that time. And also, it was snowing. And then I realized it was not snowing in the city. So I'm like, I don't know the continuance there. I'm like, wait, what? I'm like, how is it not snowing here? How far is this city? But I was like, yeah, no, you're right. After he goes out of the house and he walks into the city, I feel like that's where the movie goes downhill.

[00:18:36] And yeah, that's the point I made in my video constructive criticism is I think there is a very, very clear delineation in both the tone of the movie. And there are two things I would say is the reason why I think it goes downhill. Because I think before that, you mentioned the atmosphere. And the reason why the atmosphere really works is, first of all, it's really dark. So for the majority of the park, before he gets into Reckham City and emerges out of the tunnel.

[00:19:04] And Kregger takes his time with a lot of the horror scenes. I do wonder if I go back and check the time stamp, how much time the character Brian spent on the highway, on the road, and then off the road when the police car crashed, that scene. And then the farm scene. All of those, if you time stamp it. I feel like those segments is like two thirds of the film. And where the hospital lab stuff, that, I don't know, that felt like it was like 10 minutes long. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it felt a lot faster.

[00:19:33] Because I think Kregger really took his time to set up the horror. There were a lot more jump scares in that beginning part before Reckham City. And before all of those, he used the time to set up the anticipation. And that's why I thought that whole section was a lot scarier. And that was fine when he made jokes. There were one-liners, one-liners. There were satire video games. You see different references to the Resident Evil video games, like Easter eggs and stuff like that.

[00:20:00] Those are all fun and funny, but it was still predominantly a horror film. And you mentioned Austin as an actor. He is a funny person, which I think works. Because he can be that comedic factor without going over the top. You can just have him be himself. And it works. And the problem is that once they got to Reckham City, things just got really fast. I think he rushed through a lot of the scenes. It almost felt like they had a hard cap on how long this movie needs to be.

[00:20:29] And he was like, oh shit, I spent way too much time on this first part, which was great. But we need him to get to the hospital. And we need to have some resolution to him bring the antidote up to the lab. So we got to speed this stuff up, which I think just doesn't quite work. And I don't know if that's supposed to be a reference to how video games work. But that's not really how video games work either. Because video games, the climax segments of video games do take really long. And the idea is that's supposed to be long.

[00:20:58] The final boss fights are supposed to be long. So I think there was just a misexecution there. And then the second reason is now you're starting to meet new characters. And the new characters he meets are all over the top. Whether it's the guy that is the Umbrella Corporation guy in the car. Everything he says is ridiculous. He's supposed to be a satire of a corporate employee. I thought that was just kind of unnecessary to make it that funny. And then you mentioned the lab.

[00:21:28] All of them are just kind of stupid scientists doing ridiculous things. Again, I think that just completely kills any horror. And that's just a pure comedy at that point. I think the combination of how they wrote the new characters, the side characters, and then how everything felt more rushed through. That's why I felt the final third was a letdown. And it just totally felt totally different from the beginning. It was just way too much comedy and very little horror.

[00:21:58] Yeah, I agree. I feel like the guy in the car that's escorting him to Raccoon City, it felt like when you meet one of those annoying characters in the video game, and they're just like talking their ass off and you're like, shut the fuck up. Where do I hit the X? What do I click next? And it felt a little bit pushed. And I don't know. I don't think you needed those characters there. When she goes, the one that's driving, when she goes and she kind of disappears, there's so much waiting time.

[00:22:28] At first it's funny, but then it's just kind of like, can we please move on from this? It just stalled for like a second. And I'm like, what's going on? Like, how long are we going to be in this scene? And then it picks up again quickly. And like you said, it felt like, oh, you have to wrap it up. Wrap it up. I think they recorded in Czech Republic, if I'm not mistaken. So they were, yeah, I think he said they recorded it. So maybe that's why. But I'm like, you're bringing all these people because it's not a small cast at the end of the day.

[00:22:57] Like you do have enough people for a movie that I feel could have been maybe less. Maybe five people at most you could have had in this movie and it would have worked the same way. Because everything else is CGI. Most of the monsters and stuff like that. So I feel like it was a lot of characters for no reason. And I don't know what was the purpose of rushing through the second half. It felt first half was, like you said, it was very well developed.

[00:23:26] Everything was well thought out. There was a few nuts here and there that, or at least shots, directing options that he took, that it felt like a video game. Especially the first scene when she's running in the house. It felt like a video game at that point. And he said that he wanted that to show just like that. Like the whole, what happens to her with a shotgun and all that.

[00:23:54] So he said he wanted that to actually happen like that. He needed the visual. And there's another scene that he's also going down and always sees the gun. So we just see from his point of view. I don't know if you're mixing too much at the same time. You know, you can do a little nod here and there to a video game. But if you're not going to necessarily re-replicate a video game, then why do we have these cool shots, by the way? Because it felt kind of cool.

[00:24:25] Because when you're in a POV of the character, that's how you're playing. And it felt like that. So I'm like, okay, well, if we swap that the entire time, I could get into it. This is what the movie's going to do when he's about to shoot someone. We're going to go to POV mode. Meanwhile, when he's not attacking or something, we're going into a general. Because it happens in video games. You can go POV when you're fighting someone. And then you just exit out of it. So I could have gotten into it.

[00:24:54] But it was just maybe one or two situations. And then the rest of the time, we don't have that POV. It would have been great maybe seeing that POV from the monster as well towards the end when he's becoming. It would have been better. Because then at least we probably see his thoughts. Because at this point, we know he's trapped. But what are the thoughts inside of that? How is things processing? I feel like that would have been a better POV than just seeing the monster go in there. I'm so confused when it comes to Resident Evil.

[00:25:24] There's a lot of questions about that. That they... I'm not a big fan of them. I do like the first one. It's very campy. And the second one too. I think those are the best far as I've gotten. And my knowledge is very limited to that. But I feel like there's so many loose threads when it comes to the movies. They don't really pick up. But moving on a little bit from the movie, let's talk about the creator himself. Because obviously, we know he's a big fan of the game.

[00:25:51] And every interview that he's been doing, he's been defending his point. Which I think we could... I don't know if I feel bad for the guy because... Well, I shouldn't because he has millions of dollars. But I think it's the fact that it's like... He was trying to give us something. And did it work? As a casual movie viewer. Putting in the situation of a casual movie viewer. I think it did. It's the same thing with Obsession.

[00:26:20] Like if you're a casual movie viewer, yeah. Obsession is the best horror movie you've seen. Since, I don't know, Trolls. And I'm talking about the animated. So I guess Resident Evil might be the scariest thing. For example, like you, your show is about teaching your friend or educating your friend of horror. I think that's probably something he's going to be like, oh shit, that's scary as hell. Because he's not used to horror. I guess he was trying to give us something.

[00:26:47] Was it fateful adaptation or just a side quest? Because let's be honest, this feels more of a side quest than an actual video game adaptation. And I feel like a lot of the gamers were pretty harsh on him. They were pretty harsh on the movie. And I'm like, you can cut the guy some slack. The movie looks great. I got to give him that. The movie looks great. The movie sounded great. I don't know about anything else that I could say good necessarily about it.

[00:27:16] Because again, I'm not a big fan of the games. But if I was a casual viewer, yeah, I did like the movie. Would I watch it again? Yes, I'm going to watch it again. Because I'm probably going to buy it. But I don't know how you feel towards him directing the movie. Do you think he was a good fit? Do you feel like he was probably a little bit stepped out of the box a little bit? Like he was out of his lane? I like Zach Kragger as a director. He is very creative. I always welcome that in film, in horror, in anything. Anything creative.

[00:27:45] You want to see someone come in with a fresh perspective and try to make something different. So I think he's great at that. And we see that with his past films. They're all unique in a way now, whether you like them or not. Most people do like them. Most of his films do extremely well. So I don't have a problem with him being the director for this. I don't think it was like a bad fit. Obviously, he chose an angle that he wanted. But that certain people don't agree with. And a lot of people seem to like. So I don't have a problem with Kragger himself.

[00:28:12] And I think he's also just a masterful director in terms of cinematography and how he executes scenes and shots. Again, I was criticizing how he executed the final third. But generally speaking, on a scene-by-scene basis, he is very good at setup, atmosphere, the way that he shoots it. So on that part of your question, I don't have any problem with it.

[00:28:34] And on your point about what some of the Resident Evil video game fans, like I think a lot of video game faithfuls wanted something more faithful and did not like the way he did it. But to your point about casual viewers, I think Kragger went into this really trying to make something that has mass appeal.

[00:28:56] And if you make something that's pure a video game adaptation, we've seen a lot of faithful video adaptations fail because they try too hard to include too much of the video games. Like you mentioned, one of the podcasters said he adapted Resident Evil 2. Welcome to Raccoon City tried to adapt RE2. But the thing is that that game is really long. You can't adapt it. You have to choose.

[00:29:20] You have to rewrite the plot that is related to that video game, but that you can work for a horror movie, for a movie setup. I think a director of his caliber could have done that if he chose to. But I think he ended up going with something more original, something that I think people would enjoy because it's funny. So you can bring in someone that is new to horror, even though there are scary jump scare scenes and gory monsters, body horror and stuff, but you can laugh at it. And I think that just brings a new different audience.

[00:29:49] I think this movie would definitely, I mean, as a big box office success, it would not have been nearly as successful if it was a faithful video game adaptation. And even though it would definitely appeal and make video game fans like me very happy. But for the financial aspect, I think he made the right decision to make this a horror comedy. I agree. Like you said, there's things that work. There's things that don't. I feel like the comedy does ease up a little bit.

[00:30:18] A new audience, someone who is afraid to go into a horror movie, it's like, oh, and I could laugh at this too. It's not so scary. But then all of a sudden I can laugh at it again or I could laugh at myself being scared. So it does have that little ebb and flow a little bit. So it does kind of work for that mass appeal. And again, to be an hour and 30 minute movie, keeping it tight, I think it worked. Had it run a little longer, I probably would have started complaining about why is it running so long?

[00:30:46] But it does have that massive appeal to a new audience. I do love the fact that it's a box office hit. At least we've had some horror this year that has been a little bit of a letdown box office wise. I don't even think it's movie wise. I think it's just a box office. And there has been a lot of successes. And the fact that this one was one, which I wasn't expecting it to. I wasn't expecting it to recoup within the first week.

[00:31:13] But that's what happens when you have a budget that you create this masterpiece, if you want to call it like that, at least for the casual viewer and for the critics that are loving the movie, for a budget that could be reasonable. And you're not overblowing budgets. You're not creating the odyssey here. Or, you know, you're creating this more practical.

[00:31:38] You know, that's why I have to say I have to go back to Project Hail Mary at the beginning of the year. I don't really know the cost of the movie. I never looked into it. But it was something that was very practical. The sets and everything was very practical. Obviously, the odyssey was in the same vein. But the odyssey was probably double of what Project Hail Mary is.

[00:31:59] And I feel like this movie, for being a lower budget of a blockbuster and recouping, is hopefully something that shows, would I say producers, studios, or directors. I don't know who's going to be making that decision at the end of the day. But to at least keep it at a lower budget and give us better quality, because that works more than giving us this doomsday or whatever Marvel's going to bring up next.

[00:32:28] And it's going to be a $200 million movie and another $300 million in promotion. And now it's a $500 million movie that it made $1 billion. So is it really a win when you're spending at least half of it to get half back? I don't understand the obsession with making such higher films and then lower quality. Because we know that a lot of these movies, especially the Marvel ones, they're not even in the same studio recording.

[00:32:58] The actors are not even together. So you see one person's blank face expression because, yeah, they're not interacting with a real human. They're interacting with a green screen and then you have Black Hawk or whatever their super name is. And another studio, three months later, recording that scene, it doesn't make sense to me. Why invest so much? And then, but again, that goes into the casual viewer. They're probably so sick and tired of this. If it has to be a blockbuster, it has to be a $100 million movie.

[00:33:26] And we've proven that it doesn't have to. We've proven that it could be a $300,000 or $750,000 movie. It could be how much, I don't even know how much Undertone costs. But there was movies that are way lower cost than that. And audience want that. Audience want fresher ideas, original ideas, which I would have to give this one the win for that, for the originality of the idea. Did it work entirely? No, maybe not.

[00:33:55] But at least it was an original idea that audiences, you don't have to have any knowledge of the game. You don't have to have any knowledge of the previous movies. And you can just go in and sit and enjoy it. But I want to know how you feel. A small comparison with some of his previous films. Recently, Barbarian, I never seen it. It had a 4K release. It looked amazing. The 4K looks beautiful.

[00:34:23] And I told you, I've been wanting to talk about that 4K transfer for a while. The Dolby Atmos was doing its thing. And then I paused it. When I came back to it, the audio was like very low. I don't know if it was just me, but I never seen that movie. A lot of people have recommended the movie. And I saw it before I saw Resident Evil. I liked it. I really enjoyed it. I actually liked it better than Weapons.

[00:34:49] There was that sack comedy, like dark humor and dark comedy that he brings sometimes that he had in Weapons. And I honestly, I didn't enjoy Weapons. I'm not going to lie. I did like Austin's part. I did like Gladys's parts. I didn't know much besides Weapons when it came to sack. And watching Barbarian gave me a little bit more knowledge of what he does.

[00:35:17] And yeah, he is very good at building atmosphere, suspense. He's very good at that. How do you feel at least his other filmography about Weapons and Barbarian? And I'll add Companion as well, which is a little different tonally, but still something that I think a really, really good movie that he made from last year.

[00:35:44] But the way I would rank those four movies is I'll rank Weapons, one for me, Companion, and then probably Resident Evil and Barbarian kind of tied. And the way I say that is I enjoy Barbarian, but I have the same problem as Resident Evil where I thought the first half of Barbarian is excellent. And then I just did not like the whole monster mom thing. Yeah, the whole monster mom. It was too campy.

[00:36:10] Yeah, I just like, again, I think with both Resident Evil and Barbarian, the first half was scary. It was creepy. You don't know what was going to happen. Strong suspense. Strong atmosphere. Everything was great. And then, I don't know if that's, maybe that's a double-edged sword when you make a movie that is just so good to start. Like, how do you finish it? Sometimes it just is hard to finish a movie. Like, you have to reveal the suspense at some point. Who's the villain? You have to reveal it.

[00:36:38] And oftentimes, when you start so strong, it could be a disappointment. Once you see, once the suspense is gone, once you see who the villain is or you find out the plot was revealed to you or the final showdowns revealed. So, that's why it's both Barbarian and Resident Evil at the end. It's just, I thought it was not finished strong. And then, the reason I like weapons is because I thought it was more consistent. I personally did like the POV shift because I like to read that way.

[00:37:07] This is moving from my writing and reading background because I love point of view shifts. From a literary perspective, you get a lot, really strong insights into characters that way. Obviously, for him, for a movie, it's a little bit different. Like, the POV shift. It gives you character insight, but it's really more of a plot device. But I think maybe I just enjoy it. I just like that style. So, it works for me. I thought it was more consistent throughout in terms of the tension building.

[00:37:32] And I thought the finish was just crazy when, obviously, Gladys got absolutely destroyed by those kids. I thought it was just that the ramp was more, whereas I wasn't let down, in other words. Companion the same way. I thought it was just very consistent throughout. And now, one thing I think Resident Evil was different from those three is the comedy aspect. Because you see Zack's comedy background and how much he likes satire and subtle humor in all of his movies.

[00:37:58] There are funny bits, one-liners, and a lot of things going on. But they're just way subtler in other movies. Like, in Barbarian, I think it was there. It's throughout kind of the underlining the entire film. I forget the guy's name, but the guy that drives the car, that owns the house. Like, he's a funny character. The Latino one, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy, the guy that drives the convertible. I know him by the show What We Do in the Shadows.

[00:38:27] I haven't seen that. You've never seen the show? No. The movie's good, but the show is way better. I like the show more. But he's in the show. And that's, I only know, is it Diego? I don't know. Maybe he's just Latino and I'm putting another Latino name. I don't call him Carlos because it's too obvious. But no, I think his name is Diego or something like that. I forgot his name. But he's a good actor. He's funny as hell. Naturally funny. So, like, that is, that works. He's a funny character, but they don't overdo it. So, I think that's why Barbarian was okay for me. It was, from that perspective, Resident Evil, I thought, was too much comedy.

[00:38:57] And then, same thing. Like, weapons has funny parts, absurd parts. Obviously, the ending when Gladys gets killed, that is supposed to be absurd. But it's not, like, hilarious where it just destroys the horror. So, that's why I kind of, there's, like, something I don't like about Resident Evil. It was just, I think it was a little too much comedy. I think Zack obviously likes it because he's made a lot of comedies in the past.

[00:39:20] I think he probably just wanted to make something that blends his new horror passion or his new horror filmography with the comedy aspect. Maybe that's why he did it that way. I did like Companion. I was surprised. I didn't know anything about the movie besides that she's a robot. But there was a lot of surprises in the movie. And I was like, oh, shit. It really took me by surprise. It was pretty good. It was well-written as well.

[00:39:44] There's something that's been bothering me a little bit lately because, and you said that he's done comedy also in the past. Because I think he did Miss March, right? I actually have not watched any of his comedy stuff. I don't know if he wrote Miss March. But did he direct Companion? I'm pretty sure he, I mean. I asked because there's something that he keeps going around. He's like, oh, this is my third movie. But I've seen people post. It's his producer.

[00:40:13] He produced it, yeah. So, he didn't direct it, but he produced it. Yeah, because I know it did say from the creators of Weapons. They were kind of promoting the movie like that. Okay, yeah. Because it makes sense because he's going around saying like, oh, this is my third movie. I was like, I thought it was like his fourth or his fifth. But he's like, but I think directing-wise, I think this is his third movie. But I think he either wrote or directed. I'm not too sure. Miss March. I know some people have been posting it saying this is his background in comedy. I haven't seen it, to be honest. I don't know.

[00:40:43] Do you think if, God forbid, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But do you think like stepping into Resident Evil could be a good step for him? Or should this just be a one and done when it comes to Resident Evil? Like, should he make another one? Mm-hmm. I know your answer on this. I guess the ending sets up a sequel. I think if he makes another one that's a direct sequel, my expectations would be different. Because if he makes a sequel, I'm going in knowing it's a horror comedy.

[00:41:12] So I'm going to orient my expectations and my preferences and my subjective view to now I know what he is trying to do going into the movie. So I think I would enjoy the sequel better. I think that's how I would feel. What would be something that you would change so you would like the movie more? I think you just pull back on absurdity of the side characters of, like even Brian as a character.

[00:41:37] Just let him be a little bit, he can be funny more naturally without overdoing some of the ridiculous things that he's, like his one-liners and some of that. I think just pull back a little bit there. And the lab scene, honestly, if he just made the lab scene, like make all the scientists reasonable scientists. Like reasonable people, not funny people. Like tone the lighting down. Make it jump scarier. Like the whole hospital scene as well.

[00:42:06] Like there's just, towards the end, just slow it down a little bit. Make it more horror oriented. Keep up the same balance and tone he did in the first half and just do it again in the second half. I would have enjoyed it. I would have liked it. Even though it's not a video game adaptation. That's totally fine. 30% comedy. I'm 100% game for that. I think it was just a little too much comedy. There's a fine line between horror and comedy. When you're trying to put them together, like it works in Chucky. Child's Play works pretty well.

[00:42:36] It works in Scream. But yeah, when you have movies like Scream and Child's Play that have a good balance. Even Nightmare on Elm Street. Nightmare on Elm Street have a good comedy. And he does have his one-liners and all that kind of stuff. And they're funny. But there's a very thin line. And there's a good balance. Like you said, a 30% works. And I do feel like this one is a little bit unbalanced.

[00:43:04] Because it's, like you said, the one-liners are fine for me every now and then. But sometimes they kind of escape. And I'm like, oh, was I supposed to laugh at that? I didn't get the joke. Can we go back and rewatch that scene? And there was like two moments that he did a joke. And I didn't get it. And I was like, is this like a movie thing? Like a video game thing? Was I supposed to guess something here? So that kind of put me in a headspace. And I'm like, okay, now I'm confused. Am I supposed to understand the rest of the movie from now on? Because I did not understand that part.

[00:43:33] Everybody's gagging over the typewriter. I was like, oh, I just saw a typewriter there. I never played the game, so I wouldn't know. But do you think he should go ahead and greenlight another one? He wrote this with his friend, I believe. He wrote it during Weapons, he said. And then he has another project coming up. Another directing project that he already has written. And he said he was trying to do that one first. That he was trying to do the other project first.

[00:44:02] And then do Resident Evil. But he was kind of afraid also that if the other project didn't work, Resident Evil might not happen. Also, it was a licensed thing. So he had to push Resident Evil out. So he did tell Austin like during Weapons, like, hey, take a look at this and read it. And they started recording right after. So it was kind of like jumping from one to another, which is great. Do you think he should go ahead and greenlight another Resident Evil? I think he should. I mean, people liked it. Why not?

[00:44:33] Just do another one. I think everybody would know going into it what to expect. So for the people that didn't enjoy this version, they're not going to watch the sequel. But just given how much success it has, I think a lot of people will watch it. And I think the sequel will do quite well. Let's do a quick fire round. Ali, what was your favorite part of the movie? Favorite part is probably the jump scare in the barn when the dog burst it out.

[00:45:02] I actually know. I'm going to change mine. Mine was not that part because I kind of expected that because I know the dogs from the movie. And I was expecting something to happen. I'm like, that's too cute of a dog. That dog is not that cute. Cannot be that cute. But I think the part that I actually liked was when he's in the house and you know there's someone else inside the house. And you're like, come on. Come out already. You're just sitting there agonizing, waiting for that person to just jump.

[00:45:32] And he's so casually. I'm like, dude, you hear someone upstairs. Why are you so casually going through drawers? Like someone is going to pop up at one point. And when they do, I'm like, oh shit. That was probably like the one jump scare that I had. Because at the beginning, it felt very funny with the infected lady, especially when she's putting her hand in his face. And I was expecting to have a little bit more of a jump scare at that point.

[00:45:59] At least like somewhere in the highway or around the car. And they were, but not for me. But I feel like the one in the house, that's the one that got me. I was like, because I was already expecting somebody to come out. I was like, the point is, when are they going to come out? Well, I already know your biggest issue. I was going to ask you, what's your biggest issue with the movie? I already know your biggest issue. Too much comedy. But let's take away the comedy part. Is there anything else that you think your biggest issue would be if it wasn't just a comedy? I guess it would be the one that I mentioned earlier. It's about the side characters.

[00:46:29] I guess that's kind of related to comedy point. But I think he could have rewrote, just rewrite the side characters. Make them serious. Because I think you can keep the comedy for the overall. That's obviously one of my issues. But make the side characters specifically less comedic. Will you make this like a theater recommendation? Yeah, especially people who are not like diehard Resident Evil video game fans, which none of my friends are. I think this is like a fun movie. Just go in kind of naive to it. And you'll laugh. You'll jump because of the jump scares.

[00:46:59] I think it's a fun theater experience for sure. Yeah, I want to see it again on IMAX. Not going to lie. I usually don't repeat movies unless I really like them. Or I want to see a different format like The Odyssey. But the more I listen to Zach interviews. And he's talking about, the last one was about the IMAX experience. And he said that there's one point that the screen kind of opens up. And I love when that happens in movies.

[00:47:26] And not necessarily IMAX, just in general. So I kind of want to give it another chance. And I think I'm very limited on time on that. Because it's been out for two weeks now, I think. Or probably like a week and a half. So they might be pulling it out of IMAX this soon. I was going to ask about physical media vibe. This would be something that you'd be into. For me, a lot of my listeners do collect films. I'm expecting a lot from this. I'm sick and tired of steelbooks.

[00:47:54] But if they do make a steelbook, I do hope it's the actual poster that they have. I do love that art poster. But I would want it to include a lot of his thoughts as commentaries. Not just commentaries, but additional bonus content. Because again, every time I hear him speak about the movie, I want to see it again. And I want to see it again with that mindset of, oh, this is what I want to create. Is there any final thoughts on the film that you would like, want to throw out there before we close up?

[00:48:24] No, I think this is, again, if you take the film on Kreger's intention, I think it was overall well done. And it's a good film, even though I think the final third could be executed better to make it an even better film. So I would say overall, I do recommend people checking it out if you haven't watched it in the theater to watch it at home. Are you guys planning anything for Halloween? Do you have anything for your podcast?

[00:48:53] Are you going to make your friend watch any Halloween movie specifically? I don't have anything specific planned for the podcast. I will have like a Halloween thing where we'll definitely watch a horror movie, but undecided yet if it will be for the podcast. Is there any titles that you would recommend? Yeah, I mean, I would say my favorite overall horror franchise is the Alien franchise.

[00:49:15] And I like all of them from the original, the first Alien, Aliens, the second one, to even some of the newer ones that I think people have more mixed opinions on. But like Prometheus, Covenant, that series. I love the entire Alien franchise. So that would be my recommendation is to watch all of the Alien movies. And even though it's not like Halloween-y, like stereotypical Halloween, it's just a fun sci-fi horror franchise. It's fantastic.

[00:49:46] All right, Rick, before we go, just please let the listeners know where they can find you on Instagram. You are a writer, so give them also your sub stack. And I will be posting all those links here below. So go ahead and check those out. And also, what do you have coming up for Frightology and also where they can listen, where they can find you? Yeah, so you can find me on my Instagram, Rick's Horror Flicks. That's really my main account. I have my podcast content.

[00:50:14] I interview a lot of filmmakers. So that's like a big part of my podcast. So a lot of that is on my main account, my writing. So every time I have a new story coming out, you'll see it on my account as well. So that's the main place. And then Frightology Degree Podcast. So we have Instagram and TikTok for Frightology Degree. In terms of my writing, the best place to go is my sub stack. That is my headquarters of all of my writing, my entire archive of everything. I've written 30 stories at this point.

[00:50:43] And I do also post them on threads. And obviously, I sneak peek it in Instagram. And I do post them on Reddit as well in certain subreddit. Sub stack is the place to go if you want to know when the story comes out. And then in terms of what's coming next for the podcast, we're halfway through Frightology 102. Basically, our second season, the second level of horror for Tom. We finished Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So that episode is out now. And I'm posting clips from that podcast on my account.

[00:51:12] So you'll see clips from that. But the one that we're doing next is Hellraiser. The remake from 2022. Not the original one. The Bloodlines? The very recent. 2022. It's a reimagination of the original Hellraiser. Is that the one with the girl? Yes. The woman who does it? Yeah, exactly. Oh, I thought it was called Bloodlines. Which one is Bloodlines then? Bloodlines is before that. Just before that. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah. Okay. That's a good one though. I do like Bloodlines. Bloodlines is good.

[00:51:39] I had the box of it, but I don't remember. But you covered all of them or just the first one? Because I know you kept the first one. I saw that one on your list. The third is pretty good. It's pretty decent. Yeah, so we're just covering the reimagination, the remake, 2022 Hellraiser. Because it's newer. So I think the original one from 1987 would be a little bit like not as scary. I think try something a little bit newer, just with the new practical effects and new special effects.

[00:52:08] So that will come out in the next couple of weeks. So that would be our newest episode. And so in level three, he'll get into Resident Evil. I'll have time watch it. Once we wrap up the season, we can maybe check that one out. Thank you so much, Rick, for being here with me today. I appreciate it. I hope we get together again for the next Resident Evil or for the next Sat Gregor movie. Go ahead. Absolutely. You can follow the Physical Cut podcast on Instagram at thephysicalcutpod.

[00:52:37] Also, you can check us out at krpotlab.com. All episodes are available there. And you can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for being here with us today. This has been the Physical Cut, where films should be on the stream. I will see you guys next time. Thank you.