Resident Evil Director Zach Cregger Reveals The Movie's Hardest Scene To Shoot

Rebooting "Resident Evil" for a second time was always going to be tough for director Zach Cregger. Since debuting in 1996, Capcom's classic survival horror game series has grown into a worldwide phenomenon that has yielded seven live-action films, including one attempted reboot with 2021's more horror-focused "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City." Sadly, that film failed to restore the franchise's fortunes, and after more than two decades, fans are yet to receive a truly worthy live-action adaptation. All of which means "Barbarian" and "Weapons" director Cregger is now tasked with delivering a "Resident Evil" reboot that's actually successful. As if that wasn't enough, he had to endure some tough moments during filming, including dealing with an unruly dog in a moment that had the director asking, "What have I done?"

Cregger is pretty much starting from scratch with his movie's timeline. Set around the events of the 1998 game "Resident Evil 2," the film follows medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams), who's tasked with delivering a single package to Raccoon City only to find himself in the midst of a T-virus outbreak.

/Film's Bill Bria attended an event where footage from the movie was shown, and Cregger participated in a Q&A, during which he was asked about the difficulties of shooting during winter in the Czech Republic. Cregger highlighted a scene in which Bryan visits a farm where he's chased and attacked by a dog. "I'm out in the middle of nowhere, it's freezing cold," he said. "I am wrangling a psycho dog to try and do what I want it to do. Working with animals is hard, and this thing was f****** terrifying. And I was sick." Needless to say, the director wasn't having the best time, and even found himself wishing he was anywhere else in the world.

Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" understands the appeal of the best games in the series, pitting a lone survivor against increasingly grotesque undead creatures with only a limited inventory at his disposal. It could be the first truly great "Resident Evil" adaptation. But making it sounds like it was a real slog at times.

Filming for the movie kicked off in October 2025, with the crew shooting scenes in the town of Litoměřice. But as Cregger went on to explain during the Q&A event, by the time he got to the farm scene he was on the verge of what sounds like a personal crisis. "It was just one of those things where it's just like, I've been ... You're nocturnal for months making a movie that takes place at night, and I just run out of gas," he explained. "I just remember thinking I would rather be anywhere in the world but here, and you're freezing, but I'm trying to get this dog to do what I want it to do. But I think everyone who makes a movie probably has a moment like that." 

We'll see whether it was all worth it when "Resident Evil" hits theaters on September 18, 2026. In the meantime, the film certainly looks to be an improvement on previous attempts. Not only do the "Resident Evil" test screenings have us fully hyped for the movie, but the first "Resident Evil" trailer also gave us a chilling first look at the film and appears to feature shots from the farm scene that almost had Cregger quit production. It also surely sent a simultaneous jolt of nostalgia and terror through fans who remember being similarly terrified by Capcom's original games in the late '90s.