Zach Cregger movies in order
Three horror films in four years, no connection between any of them, and a bigger opening every time.
Updated 26 September 2026 · 5 titles tracked
Three films as sole director: Barbarian (2022), Weapons (2025) and Resident Evil (2026). They do not connect. No shared characters, no universe, no setup for the next one.
Watch them in release order anyway. He is doing the same thing at increasing scale each time, and Barbarian is where the method is easiest to see before it gets buried under budget.
Zach Cregger films, in order
Release order, which is also the order to watch them in.
- 1Barbarian2022 · Major work
- 2Weapons2025 · Major work
- 3Resident Evil2026 · Major work
- 4Miss March2009
- 5The Civil War on Drugs2021
Start with Barbarian
A woman arrives at a rental in a gutted Detroit street and finds it double-booked. Saying more than that spoils it, and the film depends on you not knowing.
Made for around four million dollars. It is the cheapest thing he has directed and the most efficient, and it establishes the move he has run ever since: tell the audience what kind of film they are in, wait for them to relax, then change it.
Then Weapons, then Resident Evil
Weapons (2025) takes the same trick and spends real money on it. A classroom of children walks out of their houses on one night at the same minute, and the film works through what happened in chapters, handing the story to a different character each time. It is his longest film at 128 minutes and the structure is the reason.
Resident Evil (2026) is the fourth attempt to film the games and the first that treats them as horror rather than action. It runs 94 minutes, opened to sixty million dollars, and is comfortably the biggest thing he has made.
Do they connect?
No. Barbarian and Weapons are original stories that share nothing, and Resident Evil is an adaptation of a game series with three other unrelated film continuities already behind it.
If you came here from the games, the Resident Evil watch order covers all four continuities and which one to pick. The 2026 film needs none of them.
The two films before Barbarian
He co-directed Miss March (2009) and The Civil War on Drugs (2021) with Trevor Moore, his Whitest Kids collaborator. Both are comedies, neither is remotely like the horror films, and nobody needs to see them first.
They are listed on his director page for completeness. Barbarian is described as his solo debut for a reason.
What he is directing next
The Flood, a science fiction thriller with Amblin and Warner Bros, dated 11 August 2028. It is the only upcoming film he is attached to direct.
This page will list it in order once there is something to say about it beyond the date.
What he is not directing
Two projects get attributed to him that he is not directing. Gladys, the Weapons prequel dated September 2028, he is expected to co-write but not direct. Siren Head he is writing, with Brian Duffield directing.
Only Barbarian, Weapons and Resident Evil are his as sole director, plus the two co-directed comedies above.
Common questions
What order should I watch Zach Cregger movies in?
Release order: Barbarian (2022), Weapons (2025), then Resident Evil (2026). They do not connect, but he builds on the same method each time and Barbarian is the clearest version of it.
Are Barbarian, Weapons and Resident Evil connected?
No. They share no characters or continuity. Resident Evil is a separate adaptation of the game series and needs nothing watched first.
How many movies has Zach Cregger directed?
Five, but only three alone: Barbarian, Weapons and Resident Evil. He co-directed Miss March (2009) and The Civil War on Drugs (2021) with Trevor Moore.
Do I need to play the Resident Evil games first?
No. The 2026 film is a fresh start and assumes nothing, from the games or from the three earlier film continuities.
What is Zach Cregger directing next?
The Flood, a science fiction thriller dated 11 August 2028. He is writing Siren Head and co-writing the Weapons prequel Gladys, but directing neither.