Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed or produced a half-dozen Resident Evil movies that collectively made over $1 billion and later made the poorly received Monster Hunter movie, is taking on another video game project. Anderson is making a movie based on Sega’s The House of the Dead series.
The House of the Dead, which debuted in 1997, is familiar territory for Anderson, as the game is focused on an agent fighting against a group of zombies. Specifically, the movie is based on 2002’s The House of the Dead 3.
Anderson told Deadline he’s always been a fan of the series, dating back to the arcade days.
“I was one of the original players, but now I have teenage kids who also play. That is the real attraction for me, that you’ve got a cross-generational piece of IP,” he said.
The story follows a woman, Lisa Rogan, who is on a mission to save her father. The narrative also digs into the life of Daniel Curien, who is the son of the man who started the zombie outbreak in the first place. He has to deal with the “sins of the father,” Anderson said.
“My approach will be to reflect what this hyper-immersive, kinetic video game is, which is why Zack Snyder took these creatures and made them fast moving,” Anderson said. “This is a full-on terror ride.”
Whereas the Resident Evil series features traps and puzzles, Anderson said his The House of the Dead movie will follow the style of the game–which is to drop players “straight into the middle of the action.”
“I’m going to make a movie that mirrors that approach and plays out in real time, dragging the audience straight into the action. It’s not going to be kind of lumbered with a whole bunch of backstory that might exclude people who know nothing about House of the Dead. Everyone’s going to be on the same page,” he said.
In essence, Anderson said his movie aims to be a 90-minute film that aims to be the “most extreme haunted house you’ve ever been in.”
It’s still early days for the House of the Dead movie, and there is no word yet on a cast or release date. Before the Resident Evil films and Monster Hunter, Anderson directed 1995’s Mortal Kombat. This is also not the first House of the Dead film to be made–infamous director Uwe Boll was responsible for the first in 2003.
The House of the Dead movie is Anderson’s second project in the works, joining the fantasy movie In the Lost Lands, which is based on a story from George R.R. Martin and is coming in 2025. Anderson hasn’t released a movie since 2020’s Monster Hunter, based on the Capcom game. It was poorly received and made only $42 million worldwide.
House of the Dead is the second video game in as many days to have an adaptation get announced, following the news of an Outlast film being made at Saw company Lionsgate.
