We nearly got a Resident Evil film from zombie master George A. Romero — and a new documentary will show you what we missed out on

There are more Resident Evil films out there than you can wave a rotting finger at, from multiple live-action adaptations to animated features — there was even a short-lived Netflix series.

But that rotting finger would fall off before you could point it at one that was actually any good, each missing the mark on what makes Capcom’s long-running and mega-popular zombie video game series so exciting.

Which is what makes the missed potential of a Resident Evil movie from a master director of the zombie genre so fascinating, as a new documentary will soon show.

And not just any director — the zombie king himself, George A. Romero, the man who popularised the genre with modern classics like Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead.

As revealed by Bloody Disgusting, a new documentary from Uncork’d Entertainment called George A. Romero’s Resident Evil will show just how close we came to getting an adaptation from the director.

Some of the story here is little known, but already out in the wild — back in the 90s, Romero was hired by Resident Evil owners Capcom to shoot an advert for the second game in the series. You can watch the promotional clip embedded above.

The Japan-only clip was well received by Capcom, which then commissioned a movie script from Romero — fitting, as his films are perhaps the most important point of inspiration for the games. Romero went away with his team and made a script based on the first game, but Capcom decided not to move ahead with the project, getting cold feet on the direction Romero was set to take for his adaptation.

The details of that script, and the wider plans for that production, will be at the heart of the new documentary, including interviews with those that worked on the short-lived project.

George A. Romero’s Resident Evil will stream on digital platforms from January 7th, 2025 — just around the time we all start feeling like post-Christmas zombies…

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