Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger is dropping fresh details about his next feature, The Flood.
While early discourse had fans expecting the film to be something similar to Event Horizon, Cregger's latest comments show he's actually chasing a pretty different vibe for his upcoming sci-fi project.
In a recent chat with Men's Health, the filmmaker revealed he's drawing inspiration from none other than Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
He was quick to clarify he isn't claiming The Flood will match Kubrick’s legend-status scale or execution, he’s just hoping to trigger that same weird, unsettling feeling for the audience.
"I'm not comparing [The Flood] to 2001, because I think 2001 is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word," Cregger stated.
"But there's a bizarreness to that movie that's really undeniable, and it's also a horror movie. I think 2001 is a really thrilling horror movie about human nature, and obviously about artificial intelligence, but it asks big questions. And I think, in that way, there's some similarity with Flood.
Cregger also stated, "It's another bizarre narrative structure in the way that Weapons and Barbarian are, but it's not jumping perspectives. It unfolds in a very unique way that I'm really proud of. It's disturbing, but it's not a horror movie, although there are horror scenes in it. It feels intimidating to me. I'm still not really sure how to make it, but I think that's a good thing. It's hard to talk about it without talking about the story. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to make that movie. I’m in love with that story in a really unique way."
The Flood will be a collaboration with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Pictures.
The Flood was actually going to be a Netflix release, but because Cregger was adamant that the project receive a traditional theatrical run, it went on to find a new home over at Warner Bros. and its New Line division, where it has since been fast-tracked for production and scheduled for a theatrical release on August 11, 2028.
While doing early press for Resident Evil, Cregger previously stated, "Flood, I kind of came up with the idea because I was very excited to work with Steven Spielberg, and we had a weird situation where there was a short window where I could have an idea and we could link up together."
He continued, "So I had like five days, basically, to have an idea. And I entered a mental state I have yet to ever repeat or do prior where I was in some sort of frenzy where I was just like, ‘I’ve got to have an idea for Steven Spielberg!’ I was just in a frenzy."
In that mental state, Cregger was able to come up with an idea while relaxing with his wife.
"And then I was watching this movie, and somebody in the movie I was watching was entering an abandoned spaceship," Cregger stated.
" And my wife was like, ‘There’s nothing scarier than being trapped in space.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. Maybe there’s something here.’ And then this character goes into the ship, and they find something that was pretty weird and scared them. And I was thinking, ‘What would be weirder and scarier than that? What could happen in this scenario that would freak me out more than this?’ And it’s never happened to me before, but in a flash, I had the whole movie explode in front of my eyes. I just knew what it could be; I think I probably stood up and was like, ‘I have it!’ It was a totally ridiculous moment, but I love it."
During his recent Reddit AMA, Cregger also revealed that The Flood isn't a traditional horror pic like most of his previous works.
"Flood is not quite as horror central as the other movies (altho it might be the most unsettling), and it does have horror moments and aspects (this answer sucks), but I think what I meant was that after Barbarian I wrote Weapons and Resident Evil and Flood in kind of a burst of activity," Cregger replied to a fan question.
"Those 3 movies were all ready to go, in fact, there was a world I could have shot Flood first. I had 3 movies, and I was trying to get whichever one was ready to go."
Putting all those clues together, it really sounds like The Flood takes place somewhere in space, likely on a spaceship or a space station, which ends up getting completely flooded. Word on the street is that some kind of mysterious alien artifact is right at the center of the plot.
There's no official cast announced yet, but Cregger usually puts his wife Sara Paxton (Barbarian, Weapons) in his movies, and he works with Austin Abrams and Justin Long pretty often so they might show up too.