RESIDENT EVIL Director Zach Cregger Cut the Comedy After Test Audiences Said It Was Too Funny

Zach Cregger apparently had a little too much fun making Resident Evil. Early test audiences responded well to his new adaptation of the iconic survival horror game series, but they also gave him one pretty clear note: this thing is way too funny.

Considering Cregger came out of sketch comedy before jumping into horror, it makes sense that some of that comedic instinct found its way into Resident Evil. The director listened to the audiences, though, and started cutting jokes. As it turns out, he thinks the movie became better and scarier because of it.

Cregger explained: "I learned that people really liked the movie, but they thought it was too funny. So over the course of my testing, I stripped out as much of the jokes as possible," Cregger told The Hollywood Reporter.

"I then found that not only did the audience enjoy the movie more, but I also liked the movie a lot more. A little bit of humor goes a long way in a horror movie, and there’s not a single joke I took out of this movie that I miss."

Humor can work great in horror, especially when it gives the audience a brief release before things get nasty again. Too much of it can also drain the tension from a movie that needs viewers to feel like something horrible could happen at any moment.

Based on the trailers, Cregger appears to have landed on the scarier side of that balance. The footage has leaned into dread, violence, monsters, and the kind of incredibly terrible night you'd expect from a trip through the Resident Evil universe.

Cregger's comedy roots go back to the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know, whose series regularly pushed its humor into some very dark territory. That background made his move into horror feel pretty natural. His previous films have also shown how easily he can slip humor into disturbing situations without completely breaking the tension.

His second horror film, Weapons, even featured a touching callback to a Whitest Kids U' Know sketch involving Cregger's late friend and creative partner Trevor Moore.

Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams, who previously appeared in Euphoria and Weapons, as a medical courier making a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital. Unfortunately for him, an outbreak hits and turns what should have been a routine job into a fight for survival.

Cregger directs the movie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten, a frequent collaborator of Zack Snyder. The cast also includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser.

We'll see how jacked up his trip to Raccoon City gets when Resident Evil hits theaters September 18.