Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has been a hit with critics and audiences alike, earning rave reviews and setting box office records for the long-running horror franchise. You’d think the filmmaker’s big-budget reboot would be the highest-rated Resident Evil adaptation to come out this year, too.
But you’d be wrong. According to IMDb, another adaptation is currently scoring higher — and it’s a fan-made project led by a star of another major zombie franchise.
The top project is Biohazard, a short film from Chandler Riggs, best known for playing Carl Grimes on The Walking Dead. Inspired by Capcom’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Riggs’ passion project has earned an IMDb rating of 8.3 out of 10, putting it ahead of Cregger’s Resident Evil, which currently sits at 7.6 out of 10.
What is Biohazard about?
Released online on Oct. 14, Biohazard is a roughly 20-minute fan film that adapts one of the most memorable encounters from Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, the garage fight between protagonist Ethan Winters and the terrifying Jack Baker.
Riggs stars as Ethan, with Jason Douglas (The Walking Dead, Preacher) playing Jack Baker. The short follows the game’s encounter in which Ethan finds himself trapped in a garage with Jack, a seemingly unstoppable threat who turns an ordinary space into a brutal fight for survival. Rather than attempting to adapt the entire game, Riggs zeroes in on a single sequence, aiming to bring the game’s distinctive blend of tension, violence, and grotesque horror to live action.
The supporting cast includes Mary Rachel Quinn (Outer Banks) as Marguerite Baker, Eugenie Bondurant (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) as Eveline, Johnathan O’Neil (The Pitt) as Deputy Anderson, and Sam Coyles as Lucas Baker.
Riggs isn’t ruling out doing more with Resident Evil. In an interview with IGN, he said he’d love to make a feature-length adaptation of Resident Evil 7 someday — and would welcome the opportunity to work with Cregger on another project set in the franchise.
“If [Cregger] wants to continue in the universe, I’m all for it,” he told IGN. “Listen, my phone is open. Hit my line!”
Whether that collaboration ever happens is another question. Cregger has expressed reluctance to make another franchise film after facing backlash from some Resident Evil fans, although he has also discussed ideas for a possible sequel.
The fan film is available to watch for free on YouTube.
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