Early Reactions to Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Film Are Extremely Positive
Here’s a story I’m thrilled to report to you today at Life After Gateway.
I remember playing Resident Evil on the first PlayStation. What an experience. The mystery and horror were so immersive it’s hard to describe. I identify this game with Sony’s PlayStation as much as I identify Goldeneye with Nintendo 64 and Halo with X-Box. Those years saw the explosion of consoles and immersive, cinematic storytelling with marvelous narratives — for me, at least. Another great game of the era on the PlayStation was Metal Gear Solid, which I just wrote about here.
Zach Cregger is a filmmaker who has just come off of the huge success of Weapons, a movie I cited as the best of 2025. You can read my post about it here. It is a universally-acclaimed film, culminating in Oscar nominations and Amy Madigan’s win for her role as one of the great villains in movie history, portraying Aunt Gladys. After I finished watching Weapons, by myself and late at night, I admit I had chills walking through the dark house on my way to bed. The film is creepy as hell, extremely well made and told, and Madigan’s performance was just … iconic.
Then came word that Cregger was working on a Resident Evil film. I found this news odd, because those films have (so far) had a B-movie quality to them. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; they certainly have a large fanbase. They have starred Milla Jovovich; she has been in six of the films so far. I’m assuming Cregger signed for this job because he is passionate about the material and is a fan of the video games. Regardless of his reasoning, it is very good news for Resident Evil fans and the franchise in general.
Zach Cregger started filming this movie in Fall of 2025, and from news reported at World of Reel, a test screening to gather first opinions just occurred. These are very, very important. They help filmmakers refine aspects of the story, characters, relationships, and more. Please note that authors do this too, when they work with their story editors. It’s important to get the best version of the story possible, and sometimes creators are too closely connected to their stories and find it difficult to be objective. This stage of the product development, be it film or book or video games, is crucial. Objective opinions are so important.
Some movies suffer from horrible test screenings. Films can recover from this. Filmmakers fix mistakes, conduct reshoots to add and change scenes, cut entire sections (and characters) and add others. If memory serves, World War Z went through this, and filmmakers reshot the entire third act to improve the film, which worked out.
Some films can’t recover from bad test screenings, however.
In the case of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, however, the news is stellar. The test screening ended with extremely positive and powerful responses from the audience. World of Reel reports:
“I come with promising news. A test screening recently occurred for Resident Evil, and it went very well, with reactions strongly positive. Early word is that Cregger hasn’t just made another video game adaptation — he’s delivered something lean, mean, and very confident. The runtime is 90 minutes, and it’s apparently all gas, no brakes. The film is said to be almost entirely built around tension. One attendee I spoke to called it a horror version of Fury Road.”
Well. To compare a film to Mad Max: Fury Road is high praise indeed.
As more news arrives, I’ll be sure to report it here at Life After Gateway.
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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.
— Timothy S. Johnston, 15 April 2026
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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite
“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories
“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest
“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels
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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!
WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.
Book Cover & Jacket Copy:
AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!
A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …
Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.
Taunting him.
Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.
If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.
But the assassin could be anyone …
Watch your back, Mac.
A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:
The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007
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TSJ’s Awards
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THE WAR BENEATH: FIRST PLACE 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Action / Adventure Category Winner, 2019 Silver Falchion Award Finalist, 2018 CLUE Award Semi-Finalist, 2019 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist, & 2019 CYGNUS Award Shortlister
THE SAVAGE DEEPS: FIRST PLACE 2020 CYGNUS Award Winner, 2019 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards Finalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist; 2019 CLUE Award Shortlister
FATAL DEPTH: FIRST PLACE 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Winner, 2022 Silver Falchion Award Finalist (Best Action Adventure), 2021 CYGNUS Award Semi-Finalist
