Netflix's 'Resident Evil' stunt turned a man into a virus-infected zombie

Six-hour live event sent monster onto streets of Santa Monica and was captured for TikTok

Published On
Jul 22, 2022

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The idea of a man infected with a horrible virus imprisoned in a glass cage might feel a little too close to home after the past couple of years. But that didn't stop Netflix, which promoted its new "Resident Evil" video game-inspired horror series with an installation depicting just that. 

Created by U.S. creative agency Founders, the activation took place this past week in Santa Monica, Calif. and saw an actor playing a man infected with the deadly "T Virus" that drives the plot of the series.

He was placed in a huge glass cage, and over a period of four hours slowly turned into a "Zero" (the frightening infected creatures from the show), before breaking free from the cage and into the crowd, in search of blood. 

The six-hour performance was achieved using four similar looking actors that were made up to look as though they were at various stages of the Zero transformation. The glass cage was made of tinted glass, and along with the use of smoke enabled the actors to switch places in a hidden room built into the cage.

The whole thing was captured as a TikTok film that has already received more than 15 million views. It's also airing on other Netflix social channels.

“We decided to show the effects of the T-Virus on a regular guy," said Martin Alfred, creative director at Founders, in a statement. "The challenge? To develop a smart glass cell that would allow us to transform the same person into a Zero at a live event happening in front of people's eyes”.

“Seeing the reactions of the people was incredible," added Felipe Rostagnol, the project's other creative director. "These days it is very difficult to capture the attention of the audience and there were people who stayed for the six hours that the performance lasted for, and went from being scared to standing in line to take a selfie with the Zero."