If you haven’t seen Chandler Rigg’s Resident Evil 7 short film, you absolutely should fix that as soon as possible (embed below if you so choose). Whether or not you’re a fan of the game it’s based on, the fan film is a pulse-pounding 20-minute romp adapting one of the most intense scenes in an extremely scary game: Ethan Winter’s gruesome struggle with the terrifying Jack Baker. We already knew Riggs could act thanks to his eight season run as Carl from The Walking Dead, but now we know he’s also a talented horror director, perfectly capturing the relentlessly dreadful tone of Resident Evil 7 while adding a more action-adjacent flair. It’s also jam-packed with subtle and not-so-subtle references to the game it’s adapting, which is a treat for fans of the series.

Anyway, you don’t have to take my word for it, as the short film has earned itself the single-highest honor a Resident Evil movie can get. As captured by Genki on Twitter (and verified by yours truly), Koshi Nakanishi, the acclaimed director behind both Resident Evil 7 and this year’s Resident Evil Requiem, shared his reaction to Rigg’s film on his personal Instagram account. In a clear supportive gesture, Nakanishi shared a screenshot of the movie’s YouTube thumbnail with a colorful banner reading “Wow” with two hands drawing a rainbow in-between them.

Obviously, it’s not the most detailed review, but Nakanishi was clearly, well, wowed by Riggs’ work. I’ve long said that Resident Evil 7 is the scariest game in the series, and I don’t think that’s changed with Resident Evil Requiem. In fact, Resident Evil 7 is quite possibly the scariest game I’ve ever played, especially in VR when it becomes frankly unbearable. To get such an explicit seal of approval from the person behind such an iconic horror game must feel like a potential catalyst for a long and successful career in horror filmmaking, which seems like a pretty natural next step for Riggs.

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