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Title: George A. Romero’s Resident Evil (2025) Director: Brandon Salisbury Writer: Brandon Salisbury // Robbie McGregor Studio: Key 13 Films // Knights of the Dead IMDb Plot: A documentary that brings to light the vision that director George A. Romero had for an adaptation of Resident Evil, using newly filmed interviews with those who were there, and unravels the secrets behind why it was never produced. Joe Says: The documentary tries to sell the tumultuous creative tensions but instead unearths the shallowest of graves. The celebration of Romero’s work aside, this Resident Evil docu is a plodding zombie crawl.

When the announcement hit that zombie godfather George Romero would be helming the upcoming adaptation of the mega-hit video game Resident Evil, the horror community exploded like vampires in the sunlight. Yet before the shrieks of the undead fandom could be silenced on MySpace, Romero’s Resident Evil plans were DOA.

That story is finally unleashed in the documentary George A. Romero’s Resident Evil. Where whispered secrets are broadcast, dark incantations brought to light, and the undead give up their graves again.

Or not.

Belying its 110 minute runtime, the meager George A. Romero’s Resident Evil does not offer enough salty flesh to sink your teeth in. The celebration of Romero’s work aside, this Resident Evil docu is a plodding zombie crawl.

Writer/Director Brandon Salisbury has a general love of all things horror and a specific taste for Romero’s zombie oeuvre. His Resident Evil documentary is a fanboy spotlight of his love and admiration. He bookends his project with interviews from members of the George A. Romero Foundation, actors from his films, and filmmakers Romero directly inspired, Salisbury provides an entertaining overview of Romero’s work, primarily the Night-Dawn-Day of the Dead trilogy, and his overall legacy to horror pop culture. Looking at you, Robert Kirkman.

However the actual specifics detailing Romero’s on-then-off involvement with the video game adaptation is less compelling than teased. Although Hollywood drama is like blood in the water, rarely do backdoor decisions garner any magic insight. As is often the case with Hollywood productions – even pseudo-Hollywood like Resident Evil backers Constantin Film – writers, filmmakers, and stars can be seen as interchangeable parts to producers. Spoiler Alert. That is really all that happened here. Romero’s absence was a blow to fans but the film (finally released in 2002) went to make five sequels anyway. The Resident Evil movie did not need Romero, nor George the adaptation.

But if fate had allowed such conjuring? The end result might have been spectacular.

Or it might have simply been Land of the Dead.

Salisbury’s documentary has access to some unique resources. Unfortunately the movie feels too lightweight. Transcribed articles and narrated blocks of text – without a filmed performance or even staged as dialogue – makes for dull viewing.

The tone flips between a Romero commemoration and an investigation into the why. Yet that examination is not as mysterious as hyped. Even the Romero retrospective was too lacking. The absences of Romero acolytes Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero certainly did not go unnoticed. Same with the aforementioned Kirkman as well Daniel Kraus, who worked on a novel Romero had started prior to his death in 2017. Perhaps the other grand slight was not interviewing director Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed four of the Resident Evil movies. A film franchise with half-a-dozen movies, the quality of said franchise notwithstanding, probably should have had a larger coda.

Salisbury’s documentary tries to sell the tumultuous creative tensions but instead unearths the shallowest of graves. Romero will always be revered by his fans. His Resident Evil involvement was a mere fragment in an otherwise stronger body. Reanimated or not.