Netflix caged a man turning into a zombie in Santa Monica for its Resident Evil launch

The series follows Jade Wesker years after a viral outbreak caused a global apocalypse, fighting the infected. The marketing challenge: show the T-Virus's effects on a regular guy, live, in front of people's eyes.

Four similar-looking actors in progressive stages of Zero makeup swapped places through a hidden room in a tinted-glass cage, with smoke masking the switches, on one of Santa Monica's busiest streets. Behind-the-scenes transformation footage followed on Netflix social channels.

The TikTok film attracted over 15 million views and counting; spectators stayed nearly the full four hours — some lining up for selfies with the Zero.

For the launch of its Resident Evil series in July 2022, Netflix installed a live horror set on one of Santa Monica's busiest streets: a man infected with the T-Virus, imprisoned in a huge glass cage, gradually transforming into a Zero — the series' infected creatures — before breaking free and chasing into the crowd.

The activation, created by US agency Founders (part of By The Network) with Netflix's marketing team, was played by four similar-looking actors in progressive stages of Zero makeup. The tinted-glass cage hid a room where the swaps took place, smoke covering each transition, so the same man appeared to mutate over roughly four hours before spectators' eyes.

The payoff was shareable fear: the TikTok film passed 15 million views, and creative director Felipe Rostagnol reported people who stayed nearly the whole performance, 'going from being scared to standing in line to take a selfie with the Zero'. Behind-the-scenes footage of the man-to-Zero transformation continued rolling out on Netflix's social channels after the one-day event.

The stunt staged the show's premise literally: the T-Virus transforming a regular guy, watched live rather than described.

Duration was the hook — a four-hour slow-burn transformation kept a street crowd in place far longer than a typical stunt.

The craft trick (four actors, hidden room, tinted glass and smoke) made an impossible transformation read as continuous.

The payoff was designed for TikTok first: the crowd's panic and the Zero's chase became the ad, with 15M+ views.

A launch stunt earns its reach when the crowd watches something happen in real time: four hours of slow transformation gave passers-by a reason to stay and a story to film.

The activation ran for one day in July 2022 for the series premiere. Netflix continued releasing behind-the-scenes transformation content on its social channels as the series launched.