Before the Resident Evil franchise ended up in the hands of Paul W.S. Anderson, the filmmaker who was developing a cinematic adaptation of the zombie video game series was the one who first brought us the concept of flesh-eating zombies: Night of the Living Dead (and Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead) director George A. Romero. For decades, fans have been pondering what it would have been like if Romero had been able to bring his vision of Resident Evil to the screen – and that’s the subject of the upcoming documentary George A. Romero’s Resident Evil. We’ve been waiting for this one for a while, and now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that it’s set to receive a Digital and On Demand release on January 7th!
Directed by Brandon Salisbury, George A. Romero’s Resident Evil is being produced by Key 13 Films in association with Point Five Films. During an interview with the Resident Evil Podcast, Salisbury revealed that he didn’t want George A. Romero’s Resident Evil to be your average “talking heads” documentary. So he had the idea to shoot interviews in an abandoned mansion that has been made up and lit to look like the mansion from the Resident Evil video game. He also got permission from the game rights owners at Capcom and the film rights owners at Constantin Film to film some scenes from Romero’s script that were based on iconic scenes from the game, but it’s not clear if they were able to shoot those.
George A. Romero’s Resident Evil received some input from Romero’s personal assistant Jason Bareford. As the story goes, Romero had an assistant play through Resident Evil so he could watch the gameplay while writing the adaptation – and Bareford was that assistant. When the project was first announced, Bareford said the mission with this documentary was to set the record straight on what really went on behind the scenes when Romero’s version of Resident Evil was in the works. He was in the room when decisions were being made, and when Romero was informed that Constantin Film no longer intended to make the movie with him.
Salisbury provided the following statement: “George Romero gave birth to modern horror, the modern zombie, and ultimately Resident Evil. I am honored to bring fans the untold story of his most important unmade project, to celebrate the legacy of the man that inspired me to pursue filmmaking as a career. I hope fans enjoy this ultimate experience in survival horror.“
Will you be watching George A. Romero’s Resident Evil when Uncork’d Entertainment gives the documentary a Digital and On Demand release in January? Let us know by leaving a comment below.