Paul W.S. Anderson is writing and directing a The House of the Dead movie.
The House of the Dead is a Sega video game franchise that originally debuted in the late 1990s. Originally released in arcades, the games are credited with introducing the world to fast-running zombies, which then inspired films like 2004’s Dawn of the Dead and 2013’s World War Z.
Per Deadline, Anderson has signed on to write and direct a The House of the Dead feature film. The project, which is hoping to kick off production in 2025, is also being produced by Anderson alongside Jeremy Bolt, Toru Nakahara, Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg, and Dan Jevons. Timothy I. Stevenson will serve as an executive producer.
Anderson is best known for working on all six movies in the Resident Evil franchise starring Milla Jovovich. His filmography also includes 1995’s Mortal Kombat, 1997’s Event Horizon, 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, 2008’s Death Race, 2011’s The Three Musketeers, 2014’s Pompeii, and 2020’s Monster Hunter.
What did Paul W.S. Anderson say about his House of the Dead movie?
We’re going to base the movie on House of the Dead three, and if you know the mythology that is all about family conflict, amidst the action and scares,” Anderson said. “It’s about a woman, Lisa Rogan, who’s attempting to rescue her father. And it’s also about Daniel Curien, who’s the son of the man who caused this mutant outbreak in the first place and who has to deal with the sins of the father.”
Anderson also explained how The House of the Dead will be different than the films within the Resident Evil franchise.
“This is a full-on terror ride. It’s different than what we did with Resident Evil, where there were lots of traps and puzzles and things to be figured out. House of the Dead is, at heart, a light rail shooter game, so it drags you 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.”
