Zach Cregger reveals 'Resident Evil' ending was changed using 'Plan B' footage

Zach Cregger reveals 'Resident Evil’s' ending was changed after test audiences saw original version

Zach Cregger has revealed that the theatrical ending of Resident Evil was changed after test audiences felt the original conclusion left the story with little reason to continue.

Cregger’s Resident Evil follows Bryan, a medical courier trapped in Raccoon City during an outbreak. Rather than directly adapting one of the games, the film features a new protagonist while incorporating familiar locations, monsters and mechanics from the franchise.

The director told Collider that the ending audiences see was effectively his “Plan B”, created using contingency footage from filming.

In the film, the T-Virus begins taking control of Bryan’s body as he attempts to find a cure. His focus remains on a syringe containing the treatment, even as the virus alters his senses and transforms him.

The syringe eventually falls from the upper levels of Raccoon City General Hospital, but Cregger said the original version of the sequence would have removed that possibility much earlier.

“Originally in the script, that scientist pulls the needle out and as soon as Austin grabs the woman’s face, he drops it, it shatters, and then the rest of the movie is just Austin killing the scientists.”

According to Cregger, test audiences responded to the original ending as though the story had already finished. With the cure destroyed, there was no longer a possibility of Bryan saving himself.

Cregger had anticipated that the sequence might need to change and filmed an additional shot showing the scientist putting the syringe in his pocket.

“I shot that shot of the scientist putting the needle in his pocket just cuz I had a feeling. I was like, I feel like I’m going to need that. So then we were able to build a new sequence of the end.

“Thank God I shot for this as a contingency plan. It was like my Plan B,” Cregger said.

The additional footage allowed the filmmakers to keep the cure available for longer before the final sequence. Cregger also said the original ending is unlikely to be released, describing the existing film as the “Cregger cut”.