Last year, we got word that Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger's mysterious sci-fi horror movie, The Flood, had stalled at Netflix due to the filmmaker insisting that he wants the film to debut in theaters.
Whether the situation is resolved and the movie ever gets made obviously remains to be seen, but it's looking increasingly likely that Cregger's next project after his Resident Evil reboot will be that Aunt Gladys-focused Weapons prequel we've been hearing about.
Now, Daniel Richtman has shared the first plot and character details for The Flood, which is described as a "survival horror thriller set during a catastrophic flash flood in a modern city."
"As water rapidly engulfs an apartment building, a group of residents becomes trapped inside, forced to fight rising water, collapsing infrastructure — and a deadly creature lurking beneath the surface."
Main Characters:
Kate – The protagonist. Smart, guarded, and resourceful. Gradually becomes the group’s leader.
Ben – Quiet and practical. Helps keep the group grounded and calm.
Rachel – A desperate mother separated from her child, driving risky decisions.
Marcus – Confrontational and distrustful, causing internal conflict.
The Creature – A fast, unseen predator moving through the flooded spaces; its origins are left ambiguous.
This sounds like an old-school creature feature in a similar vein to 2019's Crawl, which could really turn out to be an edge-of-the-seat blast in Cregger's capable hands. Hopefully, The Flood doesn't stay in Limbo for too long.
If Netflix sticks to its guns, this wouldn't be the first time the streamer would lose a filmmaker over its strict no-theatrical policy. Joseph Kosinski turned down an initial offer to helm F1 for Netflix, and Greta Gerwig reportedly threatened to walk unless her Narnia adaptation was given a big-screen release. Emerald Fennell is said to have rejected a higher bid from Netflix for Wuthering Heights, and Stranger Things co-creators The Duffer Brothers left the streamer for Paramount for the same reason.
As for Cregger's Resident Evil movie, Constantin CEO Oliver Berben tells Deadline that the reboot will be “far away from everything that is connected to Resident Evil, only because Zach Cregger has his own style.”
From New Line Cinema and Zach Cregger, the wholly original mind behind Barbarian, comes a new horror/thriller: Weapons. When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.
Cregger directs from his own screenplay, and also produces alongside Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, with Michelle Morrissey and Josh Brolin executive producing. The filmmaker’s creative team behind the camera includes director of photography Larkin Seiple, production designer Tom Hammock, editor Joe Murphy and costume designer Trish Sommerville. The music is by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay and Zach Cregger.