Weapons Proves Why Zach Cregger Is Perfect For The Next Resident Evil

This post contains spoilers for "Weapons."

There was a time when putting a bullet in the head of the "Resident Evil" franchise might've been considered by some as a mercy killing. After the swift decline in its six-movie Milla Jovovich-starring franchise, a woeful attempt at a reboot in "Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City," and a Netflix series adaptation, it felt like there wasn't a hope in hell for the likes of Leon Kennedy or Chris and Claire Redfield getting a universally loved outing. That might all be about to change, though, now that the T-Virus is being placed in the hands of none other than "Weapons" director, Zach Cregger.

After a breakout horror that flourished thanks to frightened word-of-mouth, and now his newest film earning a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time of publication), it almost seems a match made in heaven that Cregger is being tasked with a brand new "Resident Evil." Why is a video game franchise that's had so many slip-ups over the years worth the attention of a director who is thriving on his own with original and immensely unsettling stories? Well, after seeing the twisted, funny, and scary story that "Weapons" turned out to be, it's a clear indication Zach Cregger wouldn't just be a good fit for the next run at that beloved survival horror property, he'd be a perfect one. Indeed, as the growing trend of actually good video game adaptations continues to flourish, Cregger has it in him to not just add to the pile but be at the top of it as one of the greats.

To look at Cregger's horrors up to this point is to see what feels like escalating phases of terror and a growing extension of reach for those enduring it. "Barbarian" kept things small, keeping us within the confines of an Airbnb that became more unspeakable the deeper it took us. When he finally did let our hero and the film's nemesis loose, things only got as far as a few blocks. Now, in "Weapons," the horror at the center of this story takes over an entire town. Much like "Salem's Lot," it feels like a secret that stays within the area and does not spread further. It's this kind of communal conspiracy that makes an entire city the next perfect spot for Cregger to head next. Perhaps even Raccoon City.

Cregger has confirmed that the upcoming film will be set outside the lore of the games and the characters that inhabit it. Instead, we'll be following a courier played by "Weapons" star, Austin Abrams, who is making an organ delivery to a hospital. Of course, the trouble with hospitals is that they house all manner of diseases, and inevitably, one that leads to patients and staff getting a tad bitey and hungry for human flesh. While it's not confirmed if the story goes beyond the hospital doors, it'd be great to see if it did so simply to further test Cregger's capabilities on increasing the scale of terror on a city-wide level, and the fallout can come from the franchise's well-known monsters running rampant in it.

By the time Cregger has emptied his full claret-covered clip in "Weapons," the film heads into a territory even more bonkers than "Barbarian" dared to venture. It's in its final act that demonstrates just what kind of energy Cregger could bring to the table with "Resident Evil's" most memorable adversaries. After Alex (Cary Christopher) turns the tables on Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), it leads to 17 zombie-like school kids chasing her down and ripping her to shreds in head-splitting detail. This alone works like a visceral show reel of how well Cregger could handle zombies when he's let loose in the "Resident Evil" universe, particularly with the star that they'll be chasing down.

There are plenty of memorable chapters that make up "Weapons," but perhaps one of the most frenetic is the one focusing on James, played by future "Resident Evil" star Austin Abrams. His drug-riddled nightmare that sees him dragged into the terror is one loaded with wild camera shots that zip around the doomed local deadbeat more than any other. This is the kind of energy that Cregger could inject into his take on the survival horror franchise that could put it apart from the woeful attempts that came before it. If he does, "Resident Evil" will also demand that the "Barbarian" and "Weapons" director will need to go against his usual moviemaking modus operandi and cut to the chase, simply because his audience will already be prepared for what's coming.

The great thing that Cregger has delivered so far in his two ridiculously clever horror movies is that the third act ratchets things up to a fiendishly fun level. In the case of both "Barbarian" and "Weapons," how things begin and end are so far away from one another that they might as well be completely different films. The issue, if you really want to call it that, is that with "Resident Evil," even non-gamers have an idea of what's waiting around the corner, which might require Cregger to cut to the chase faster than he has before. It's this risky maneuver for a filmmaker who has relished in a slow reveal that should make us even more excited for whatever he has in store to bring the video game world to life.

Imagine spending more time with that thing in the basement in "Barbarian," or a lengthier break into the Lilly household. That's what his next project will demand simply because we'll already be up to speed on the kind of world we'll be walking into and the evil that'll be waiting there. The second someone looks a little green around the gills, shuffles down a corridor, or takes a bite out of someone they shouldn't, Cregger will likely turn things up to horrifyingly fast levels that we had to wait around for with "Weapons." That's a change of pace for the director we're all for seeing. We just hope there's enough green herbs on standby for when he does.