Resident Evil Director Sets Fourth Video Game Film Adaptation With Another Classic Horror Franchise

After an infamous and disastrous release in the early 2000s, House of the Dead is getting a second chance in an adaptation by Paul WS Anderson. SEGA’s action-horror franchise puts players in the shoes of a variety of protagonists as they make their way through a house full of zombie-like creatures, utilizing an on-rails system to keep the player moving through each level. House of the Dead it was previously adapted by Uwe Boll in 2003, but is considered one of the worst films of all time, with a 3% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Deadline announced that Anderson is teaming up with SEGA for an adaptation of House of the Dead. The filmmaker of Resident Evil Fame will write, direct and produce alongside his partner Jeremy Bolt, SEGA’s Toru Nakahara, Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg and Dan Jevons, while Timothy I. Stevenson will executive produce. The team will start pitching the film to the studios.”immediately“, with plans for filming to begin in mid-2025 for the adaptation.

Anderson also shared his enthusiasm for the original House of the Dead franchise, remembering to be a “big video game player in arcades“in the 90s and expressing his admiration at seeing his own children still playing:

I’ve loved video games since the 90s. Back then, I was a big video game player in arcades, and that’s how I discovered Mortal Kombat. And pretty much at the same time, I was also playing a lot House of the Dead. It’s a title I’ve always loved. IP has grown from strength to strength and is now truly intergenerational. I was one of the original players, but now I have teenage children who play too. That’s the real attraction for me, that you have intergenerational intellectual property.

Anderson also confirmed that the film will be mainly based on House of the Dead IIIexplaining that the “family conflict“at the heart of this game’s history and lore makes it the perfect starting point for it:

Let’s base the film House of the Dead IIIand if you know the mythology that deals with family conflict, amidst the action and scares. It’s about a woman, Lisa Rogan, who tries to rescue her father. And it’s also about Daniel Curien, who is the son of the man who caused this mutant outbreak and who has to deal with his father’s sins.

When reflecting on the Resident Evil films and what his new film will be like for them, Anderson explained that he is bringing an approach that will allow the public to “Get sucked right into the action“:

My approach will be to reflect what this kinetic, hyper-immersive video game is, which is why Zack Snyder took these creatures and made them move quickly. This is a total terrorist trip. It’s different from what we did with Resident Evilwhere there were many traps, puzzles and things to be solved. House of the Dead is, at its core, a light rail shooter, so it drags you right into the middle of the action. I’m going to make a film that reflects this approach and unfolds in real time, dragging the audience straight into the action. Won’t it be kind of complicated with a bunch of backstories that might exclude people who don’t know anything about House of the Dead. Everyone will be on the same page. Everyone will be sucked right into the action and learn about the characters and plot as they have 90 minutes to basically escape the most extreme haunted house you’ve ever been in.

When it comes to the zombies themselves, Bolt explains that they will be much more capable monsters than typical zombiesremembering how the director of the original House of the Dead game refused to call them that term, as they are “more like weaponized mutations“:

The video game’s original director, Takashi Oda, was very specific and never referred to them as zombies. He called them creatures. Resident Evil, for example, it was clearly based on the Romero Zombie films. House of the Dead It’s something different. They’re more like weaponized mutations, these incredible figures on steroids that have chainsaws built into their limbs. Everything has a very Japanese design aesthetic, related to manga and films like Tetsuo: Iron Manwhere you have bits of metal and technology embedded in mutated human flesh. And these creatures are extremely intelligent, another thing that defines House of the Dead separate. They won’t just attack you slowly. They’re coming from the sides, they’re coming from behind. They are trying to trick you. They are trying to arrest you. And the level of intelligence differs. And they are all being led, ultimately, by Dr. Curien, whose life force and intelligence lives on, almost like AI. The flesh is dead, but the mind lives on in a character called The Wheel of Destiny. And he, like all the big villains in House of the Dead and Creatures, are all named after Tarot cards. Then the Wheel of Fate, Death, the Magician.

Nakahara, head of SEGA’s film/TV production team, recalls the publisher had long been hesitant about another adaptation of the gamewith SEGA feeling that Hollywood producers were “sharks“and would”rip us off“, only for Nakahara to successfully convince them. Check out what Nakahara shared below, along with the film’s first concept art:

Sega was a little skeptical about getting involved in big Hollywood productions, with the idea that “they’re sharks, they’re going to trick us.” But I convinced them, and working with Paramount on Sonic It changed the dynamics of our transmedia policies and since then we have actively developed many productions, viewing this as an initiative to expand the entire Sega brand. I met Paul and Jeremy, they’re legends when it comes to zombie films, and Dmitri from Story Kitchen. They have a rare understanding of video games and how to bring them to the screen. We want to add a cool zombie movie to Sega’s transmedia basket.

What This Means For The House Of The Dead Franchise

Anderson could breathe new life into the property

While Resident Evil may remain the most popular due to the fact that it spawned a franchise of five sequels and a reboot, Anderson has now been involved in four different adaptations of video game franchises after The House of the Dead. Before the zombie action hit, Anderson also directed 1995 Mortal Kombat film while reteaming with Capcom for the 2020 adaptation of Monster Hunter. Although none of the films received positive reviews, almost all were box office successes, as can be seen in the graph below:

Considering Anderson’s string of financial success in both video game adaptation and the action and horror genres, having him at the helm House of the Dead Could breathe new life into the overall franchise. Aside from Boll’s infamous 2003 film and its 2005 direct-to-DVD sequel, there have been no new installments of the game for six years, while the last release was in 2022. House of the Dead redo. Although there are plans for a remake of the second game, similar to what the Resident Evil franchise has done, nothing has been made official lately.

Having a new film released could spur SEGA to start developing a sequel suitable for home consoles rather than arcades, if Anderson’s House of the Dead prove to be a success. However, considering that he claims that House of the Dead III will be the basis of adaptation, it seems more likely that the publisher intends to produce a remake of the 2002 title to match the film.

In development…

Source: Deadline

The House of the Dead

Systems

Franchise

The House of the Dead

Platform(s)

Arcade, PC, Sega Saturn

Released

October 15, 1996

Developer

Wow Entertainment

Engine

Unit

CERS

M for 17+ due to animated blood and violence, animated violence

How long to win

1 hour