New Resident Evil Removed Jokes Following Test Screenings - News
by William D'Angelo , posted 3 days ago / 1,786 Views
The director for the upcoming Resident Evil film Zach Cregger in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter revealed the original version of the movie had more jokes, but many were removed following test screenings.
"I learned that people really liked the movie, but they thought it was too funny," said Cregger. "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."
He was also asked if he was worried about Resident Evil fans reacting poorly to the fact the movie doesn't revolve around the characters from the games.
"There are different kinds of Resident Evil fans," he said. "There are fans like me who love the experience of playing the games and think there's never been a movie that has represented what it feels like to play Resident Evil. That's how I categorize myself as a fan.
"Then there are fans of the games who specifically love the lore and the characters and the nitty-gritty details of the backstory. But my movie is not spending a lot of currency on those things. I'm not putting any of the legacy characters into this movie.
"So if that is what you love about these games, then you're going to feel a certain way about it – 'here comes yet another Hollywood movie, and they're once again not doing Leon and all the characters I was hoping they were going to do.'
"I understand that perspective, but at the same time, I can't let that affect my output. I have to make the best version of this movie that I'm capable of making and devote myself entirely to it. I cannot be worried about whether I am pleasing enough of every spectrum of fandom. If I tried to please everybody, I'd end up pleasing nobody. That much is obvious.
"I just have to be okay with people voicing their opinion. I'm a grown-up. When I took this on, I understood what I was walking into. So it would be weird for me to act surprised or bent out of shape that the thing that was obviously going to happen is now happening."
The upcoming Resident Evil film will premiere in theaters on September 18.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Why is every film filled with jokes now a days?
I've never gone to see a horror movie and wished it was funnier...
There seems to be a gravitation to classimg things as comedies in general.
Take The Bear, which despite obviously being a drama is always nominated in the comedy category.
Zach Cregger has a comedy background. He makes horror movies that are both genuinely funny and genuinely scary. Just liek Jordan Peele. And what makes Cregger films so interesting is just how easily they can hope between well executed tones and feel like multiple movies taped together and still somehow work. You get it when you actually watch them.
There's a weird fear of sincerity, nothing is taken seriously and if there's a moment of gravity in there somewhere, it needs to be quickly overturned with humor.
But I love millennial humor.
horror and comedy are not that far apart, and very frequently combine well (Obsession, Weapons, Scream, etc )
And you know, Weapons is by the same director.
