Zach Cregger says his next film is the most disturbing thing he has made — and it isn't a horror movie
Cregger is casting The Flood now, with filming planned for next summer and a 2027 release at the earliest.
Right, so Zach Cregger – the fella who ruined a fair few nights’ sleep with Barbarian and is about to do a number on the Resident Evil franchise – now reckons his next film might be the most disturbing thing he’s ever put out there. Considering this is the bloke who happily chucked people into underground tunnels and served up a load of body horror, that’s not a claim to be taken lightly.
The new project is called The Flood. According to Cregger himself, the team is actively casting and in what he calls 'soft prep' – which, for those not up on industry lingo, essentially means they're getting the chess pieces in place before the real work kicks off. He’s expecting a proper ramp-up ('hard prep', apparently) come February, and is aiming for shooting next summer. Work backwards from there, and you won’t see this thing until 2027 at the absolute earliest, if the schedule doesn’t slip – and let’s be honest, it probably will.
The Flood is now greenlit and casting, with hard prep in February and filming planned for summer 2027.
Not Quite Horror – But Should Be
Cregger's angle this time: science fiction. But not that spaced-out, phasers-set-to-stun stuff. He’s insisted it isn’t a horror movie, though apparently it’s proper loaded with horror elements. In a chat with ScreenRant about The Flood, Cregger claimed, 'It’s science fiction, and it’s probably my most disturbing film. It’s not a horror movie, but it has a lot of horror in it. I love it. I think it’s really, really special. I’m excited about it.'
Read more: Cregger's Resident Evil doubled the franchise's best-ever opening — and beat his own Weapons
Frankly, you have to take that sort of pitch with a pinch of salt, especially when the director’s best-known work to date is the unpredictable sort, and he’s already gone full gore-nastiness in Resident Evil. But if he genuinely thinks this tops even that, expectations will absolutely shoot through the roof.
So, What Exactly Is It?
If you’re after plot details – tough luck. Cregger’s keeping absolutely shtum. Not a word on the premise, or what’s supposed to make it quite so disturbing. He’s shrugged off the horror label, floated vague comparisons to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (let’s see if that’s ambition or hubris), and hinted the film will push boundaries on how sci-fi stories can be told. That’s the long and short of it for now.
The real point is, after mucking about in existing worlds like Resident Evil, Cregger’s clearly keen to get back to building something from scratch. Barbarian and Weapons both thrived on keeping the audience guessing, pulling the rug every time people felt safe. With The Flood, he’s got a blank slate and no franchise rules, so expect him to take the gloves off.
No word yet on a release window beyond the earliest-possible 2027 – at which point, who knows what state the world will be in by the time we actually see it.