Cregger reshaped Resident Evil finale to preserve its emotional stakes
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Zach Cregger substantially reworked the ending of his Resident Evil film after deciding that the original version weakened its emotional impact. The film follows Brian, a medical courier infected with the T-Virus, who mutates into a monster while trying to deliver an antidote ingredient; Cregger wanted the finale to preserve the audience’s hope that he could still be saved.
In the original ending, the cure was destroyed early, leaving Brian to lose his humanity and kill the scientists without a clear emotional purpose. Cregger instead used contingency footage showing a scientist hiding the cure, keeping Brian focused on obtaining it until the end and making the sequence more tragic and suspenseful. The film has received strong reviews and performed well commercially, although Cregger currently plans to make another film before considering a possible sequel.
- Cregger changed the finale to preserve Brian’s humanity and emotional stakes.
- Contingency footage saved the cure from being destroyed.
- Cregger may revisit Resident Evil after making another film.
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Resident Evil is a long-running video game series that typically involves characters fighting against deadly mutated creatures. A new film adaptation directed by Zach Cregger has achieved rare critical success, becoming the highest-rated film ever made based on a video game.
Like many films, the version released in cinemas differed from Cregger's original script. He has explained that his initial ending featured the film's main character, Brian, gradually becoming a monster as the story drew to a close, eventually leaving him with no humanity remaining and no clear purpose in the final scenes.
Cregger concluded that this approach did not work, as audiences lost emotional connection once Brian had completely transformed. He reworked the ending using extra footage he had previously filmed, repositioning it so that Brian retained a spark of humanity and hope of finding a cure right up until the film's conclusion. This change kept viewers invested in his fate, turning the ending into a tragedy about a character fighting for salvation rather than a senseless sequence of violence.
More coverage
- GameSpot — Resident Evil Director Reacts To People Who Didn’t Like The Controversial Ending, Says It Was Almost Completely Different
- The Hollywood Reporter — ‘Resident Evil’ Star Austin Abrams Breaks Down the “Risky and Gutsy” Ending
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Originally published by Polygon as “Zach Cregger Reveals How He Changed Resident Evil’s Ending for the Better”.