Zach Cregger’s take on the legendary survival horror franchise with his Resident Evil film has received plenty of praise for not only being a love letter to video games, but also the horror genre as a whole with its unrelenting mix of grotesque body horror and suspense-driven action.
While several of Resident Evil’s most chilling moments and monsters could only be achieved through the use of computer-generated visuals, some recent behind-the-scenes footage has popped up that has been blowing fans away with its implications. While some of these frightening moments had already been teased earlier, one of the biggest reveals sheds an entirely new light on the film’s main antagonist.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Heavily Relied On Practical Effects
Initially shared in the now-viral post by NexusPointNews on X, Resident Evil’s ‘Merged Monster’ that harasses Bryan throughout the film started off as a fully practical creation, with footage recorded by Jakub Hudlický showing off four actors tied together with vests and forced to move as one.
Although the film’s version of the Merged Monster gets quite a bit more advanced and leans into the CGI side of things as the film progresses, the reveal has caused countless fans to be utterly blindsided by the fact that “It wasn’t all CGI but real people?!?!?” as one viewer says, while others praise the “absolutely awesome” sight considering how frequently movies rely on digital effects nowadays.
While the fact that Resident Evil’s mutant monster was real is more frightening on its own, another behind-the-scenes detail is even scarier when it comes to the safety of its actors.
Resident Evil’s Practical Effects Nearly Killed Its Leading Actor
In one of the most memorable sequences of Resident Evil that was plastered over its reveal trailers and mentioned in its glowing reviews is the street chase halfway through the film, which almost exclusively relied on practical effects for its filming, which you can see in a video shared by JuviCineflio on X.
Although the bodies and a few extra explosions were added in post, more behind-the-scenes shots show that all the impacts and most of the blood crashing into the cars around Bryan were entirely practical, with 50-pound blood-filled body bags being dropped from cranes.
While it doesn’t have the same body horror as the Mutant Monster, Zach Cregger said in an interview with Dread Central that the actor playing Bryan nearly died during filming when a blood bag dropped too early and landed inches away from his head, which you can even see in the final cut of the Resident Evil film.
- Release Date
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September 18, 2026
- Runtime
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90 Minutes
- Director
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Zach Cregger
