Director Zach Cregger said a practical stunt on his forthcoming Resident Evil film came close to fatally injuring star Austin Abrams. The incident highlights the risks involved in pursuing realistic in-camera effects, although Cregger said the sequence remained in the finished film and praised the crew’s work.

Abrams was filmed running through a street as zombie figures appeared to fall from surrounding rooftops, using cranes to drop 150lb body-sized blood bags that exploded around him. Cregger said the action was extensively rehearsed but that one bag narrowly missed Abrams, who he said would have died had he been a step to the right; the Sony film is due in cinemas on 18 September.