--- name: "Zach Cregger" canonical: "https://film.one/person/zach-cregger" fi1m_id: "zach-cregger" imdb_id: "nm1199107" tmdb_id: 84833 wikidata_id: "Q3574497" roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"] born: "1 March 1981" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 76 average_as: "director" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-25T01:19:12.210750+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Zach Cregger ## Identity Zach Cregger - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/zach-cregger - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** zach-cregger - **IMDb ID:** nm1199107 - **TMDB ID:** 84833 - **Wikidata ID:** Q3574497 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Cregger, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3574497, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1199107/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84833 Director and writer. Born 1 March 1981 in Arlington, Virginia, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer - **Born:** 1 March 1981, Arlington, Virginia, USA - **Active:** 2014–present - **Also known as:** Zachary Michael Cregger - **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 1 acting, 3 directing, 1 producing - **Frequently works with:** [J.D. Lifshitz](https://film.one/person/j-d-lifshitz.md), [Roy Lee](https://film.one/person/roy-lee.md), [Austin Abrams](https://film.one/person/austin-abrams.md), [Miri Yoon](https://film.one/person/miri-yoon.md), [Raphael Margules](https://film.one/person/raphael-margules.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as director, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 63 (1), 2020s 75 (4) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 76 to 79 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 1 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Horror 3, Mystery 2, Science Fiction 1, Thriller 1 - **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $315m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Cregger, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3574497, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1199107/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84833 ## Coming up - *The Flood* (2028-06-10), Writer - *Gladys* (2028-09-07), Characters ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Barbarian*](https://film.one/film/barbarian.md) (77), [*Weapons*](https://film.one/film/weapons.md) (75) - **Apple TV:** [*Companion*](https://film.one/film/companion.md) (70) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Zach Cregger > Zach Cregger makes the joke and the scare arrive in the same breath, and nobody working in horror does it better. He has also not yet made a last half hour to match his first hour. A corridor, held a beat too long. A figure at the back of the frame who has not moved and should have. Then the thing itself, so wrong that the first sound out of you is a laugh and the second is not. That is Zach Cregger's scene, and he has built three films out of it. His camera waits where other horror directors cut away, and when the fright comes it has a joke attached, so you cannot tell afterwards which one made you grab the armrest. The joke is not an accident. Cregger spent his first two decades in comedy, as a founding member of the sketch troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know from 2000, in sitcoms, and co-directing *Miss March* (2009) with Trevor Moore. Sketch comedy teaches you exactly how long to hold a shot before the payoff, and that is the whole of his craft as a horror director. *Barbarian* (2022) was the turn, a film that becomes a different film partway through, and it made his name. *Weapons* (2025) told the story of a class of children who run into the dark at 2:17 one morning chapter by chapter, each from a different pair of eyes. *Resident Evil* (2026) went the other way: one frightened courier, one parcel, one night, 90 minutes. Small is where he is best. In *Resident Evil*, Dariusz Wolski drops the camera to Bryan's eye line so that a corridor becomes the corridor in the game, Joe Murphy cuts the first hour one problem at a time, and Tom Hammock keeps Raccoon City ordinary, all service doors and back stairs. Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay, on their second film with him, keep the score to a hum and let the sounds in the walls do the frightening. Austin Abrams, also on his second, plays Bryan as a man counting what is left in his bag. About forty minutes in there is a sequence involving something that should not be able to move the way it moves, and we laughed out loud and were frightened within the same breath, and the row behind us groaned as one. We had a good time. Then, both times, the film gets bigger and gets worse. *Weapons* is frightening for an hour and clever for longer, and its last act is louder and sillier. *Resident Evil* leaves its small rooms for somewhere larger, the camera pulls back from Bryan's shoulder, and he becomes one more person in a crowd being chased. Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten leave threads hanging; Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis and Zach Cherry each get a scene and a personality and then the film moves on. We checked the time in the final stretch of both, and were cross about it, because the hours before had earned better. He is three films into horror, and the two we have reviewed spend their first hour as well as the genre allows. If he finds an ending to match, we will be telling strangers. Until then, see them for the hour and forgive them the rest. ## Biography Zachary Michael Cregger (born 1 March 1981) is an American comedian, actor and filmmaker. He is a founding member of the New York-based comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. Cregger wrote and directed the horror films *Barbarian* (2022) and *Weapons* (2025). On the latter he also served as producer and co-composer. He produced the 2025 film *Companion*. Earlier credits include co-directing and co-writing *Miss March* (2009), and acting roles in films such as *College* (2008) and *Date and Switch* (2014), as well as television series including *Wrecked*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (5) ### Performed in (1) - *About a Boy* (2014), Fi1m 63, as T.J. — [page](https://film.one/tv/about-a-boy-2014.md) ### Directed (3) — the average rests on these - *Resident Evil* (2026), Fi1m 77, as (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/resident-evil.md) - *Weapons* (2025), Fi1m 75, Original Music Composer, Producer, Musician, Writer, Music, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/weapons.md) - *Barbarian* (2022), Fi1m 77, as Everett — [page](https://film.one/film/barbarian.md) ### Produced (1) - *Companion* (2025), Fi1m 70, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/companion.md) ## Complete filmography (38) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Gladys* (2028), Characters, Producer, Story - *The Flood* (2028), Writer, Director, Producer - *Resident Evil* (2026), as (voice) · Director, Writer, Producer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/resident-evil.md) - *The Famous People Improv Show* (2026), series, as Monologist - *Mars* (2026), as Kyle Capshaw / Various (voice) · Writer, Story - *Weapons* (2025), Producer, Director, Writer, Original Music Composer, Musician — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/weapons.md) - *Companion* (2025), Producer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/companion.md) - *OUT THERE: Crimes of the Paranormal* (2024), series, Executive Producer - *Barbarian* (2022), as Everett · Director, Writer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/barbarian.md) - *Sasquatch* (2021), series, Executive Producer - *The Civil War on Drugs* (2021), as Abraham Lincoln / Ulysses Grant / Various · Director, Writer, Executive Producer - *Doubting Thomas* (2018), as Graham - *AwesomeFunTV* (2017), as Devin - *Nancy* (2016), Actor - *More Than Four Hours* (2016), as Bill Whiting - *Wrecked* (2016), series, as Owen - *Opening Night* (2016), as Micky - *Trevor Moore: High In Church* (2015), as Illuminati - *About a Boy* (2014), series, as T.J. — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/about-a-boy-2014.md) - *Date and Switch* (2014), as Greg - *Love & Air Sex* (2014), as Jeff - *Guys with Kids* (2012), series, as Nick - *The Wolf* (2012), as The Wolf - *The Death and Return of Superman* (2011), as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan - *Friends with Benefits* (2011), series, as Aaron Greenway - *Miss March* (2009), as Eugene Bell · Director, Screenplay - *College* (2008), as Cooper - *Hardly Working: All-Nighters* (2008), series, Actor - *Sam in the Bag* (2007), as Trevor's Mom / Himself - *The Whitest Kids U' Know* (2007), series, as Executive Producer · Creator - *Uncle Morty's Dub Shack* (2004), series, Producer - *Homicide: Life on the Street* (1993), series, as Dean Stamper — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/tv/homicide-life-on-the-street.md) - *Occupant*, Producer - *Craggio*, as Sean - *Torso*, Producer - *Little One*, Producer - *Ness*, Producer - *Siren Head*, Writer, Producer ## Gallery - ![UPROXX Interviews the Cast of TBS's Wrecked Left to right: Asif Ali, Zach Cregger, Jessica Lowe, Will Greenberg. Here's how the cast of Wrecked turns cannibalis (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-0ae1c3932e39.jpg) UPROXX Interviews the Cast of TBS's Wrecked Left to right: Asif Ali, Zach Cregger, Jessica Lowe, Will Greenberg. Here's how the cast of Wrecked turns cannibalis (2017) — UPROXX, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Cast_of_Wrecked_UPROXX_interview.jpg/1280px-Cast_of_Wrecked_UPROXX_interview.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![The Whitest Kids U' Know comedy troupe; (L-R) Actors Trevor Moore, Timmy Williams, Darren Trumeter, Sam Brown and Zach Cregger with the LG Electronics Kompresso (2010)](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-bd75dc2fdc35.jpg) The Whitest Kids U' Know comedy troupe; (L-R) Actors Trevor Moore, Timmy Williams, Darren Trumeter, Sam Brown and Zach Cregger with the LG Electronics Kompresso (2010) — LGEPR, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Trevor_Moore%2C_Timmy_Williams%2C_Darren_Trumeter%2C_Sam_Brown_and_Zach_Cregger_with_the_LG_Electronics_Kompressor_Vacuum_on_25th_Spirit_Awards_Blue_Carpet_held_at_Nokia_Theatre_L.A._Live_on_March_5%2C_2010_in_LA.jpg/1280px-thumbnail.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Zach Cregger at San Diego Comic Con 2026](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-b56883923086.jpg) Zach Cregger at San Diego Comic Con 2026 — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Zach_Cregger_at_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2026-1.jpg/1280px-Zach_Cregger_at_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2026-1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Zach Cregger](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-9ade356907f6.jpg) Zach Cregger — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Zach_Cregger_at_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2026-2.jpg/1280px-Zach_Cregger_at_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2026-2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Zach Cregger](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-3cfd875b134f.jpg) Zach Cregger — Image via TMDB - ![Zach Cregger](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-e2528d7f1b72.jpg) Zach Cregger — Image via TMDB - ![Zach Cregger](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-e0dc4c77377e.jpg) Zach Cregger — Image via TMDB - ![Zach Cregger](https://film.one/media/person/8167/gallery-957d728ce8da.jpg) Zach Cregger — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/zach-cregger