“Resident Evil’s” Stunt Coordinator Says Austin Abrams Took the Four-Storey Elevator Himself — and the Acid Eating the Car Was Real Acetone

• A new behind-the-scenes clip from the "Resident Evil" home release breaks down the elevator sequence.
• Stunt coordinator Jan Petrina says star Austin Abrams performed his own stunts, which is rare on a film this size.
• The elevator dissolving around him was a practical effect, not CG: acetone eating through panels built for the shot.

Posted: November 5, 2026

Two clips pulled from the home-release featurette Anatomy of a Scene: From Storyboard to Splatter put the stunt department on camera for the back half of Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil." Production designer Tom Hammock says Cregger wanted to go full bore on the sequence, so his team built a four-storey set for it — which is what makes the elevator work a stunt problem rather than a plate problem. Stunt coordinator Jan Petrina, working out of the Czech Republic, says it is unusual on a production of this size for the lead to do his own stunts, and that Abrams was able to carry all of it. By the end of the sequence the elevator has gone out from under him and he is hanging off one arm.

The corrosion that takes the elevator apart is the other thing worth the look. Visual effects supervisor Alessandro Ongaro says the melt was achieved on set, with acetone dissolving panels built specifically to come apart on camera — a practical gag the performer has to work inside of, with real timing and a real floor disappearing, rather than a post-production effect played against a clean set. Cregger adds the obvious working note for anyone prepping a sequence like this: the storyboards existed, and the team still changed things every day.

The second clip covers the final-act fight in which Bryan turns the Puker's acid back on a creature climbing the shaft — including the staging problem of aiming a vomiting creature performer in the right direction take after take. The creature's costume changed mid-shoot: a day had already been filmed with it in a flannel shirt and jeans when Abrams suggested a hospital gown, so the clothing was altered digitally in the footage already in the can and an IV bag added.

"Resident Evil" is on digital now, with 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on December 29.

Source: Dread Central — Exclusive Clips: Inside the Puker and Elevator Scenes · Nintendo Wire

Learn more on IMDb: Resident Evil (2026) · Jan Petrina