Video game movies are usually a mess. Let's be real. When Crackle—remember them?—decided to adapt Capcom’s zombie sandbox into a feature-length film in 2015, expectations were hovering somewhere around the "straight-to-DVD" bargain bin level. But then the Dead Rising Watchtower cast started leaking out, and people actually paid attention. You had a legitimate comedy legend, a couple of TV heavyweights, and a lead who looked like he actually knew how to swing a lead pipe.
It wasn't just a low-budget cash-in.
Zach Lipovsky, the director, clearly wanted to capture that specific Dead Rising vibe. You know the one. It’s that weird, uncomfortable mix of genuine horror and "I'm wearing a servebot mask while hitting a clown with a kayak paddle." To pull that off, the actors couldn't just play it straight. They had to be in on the joke without winking at the camera so hard they broke character.
Jesse Metcalfe as Chase Carter: Not Just a Pretty Face
Most people knew Jesse Metcalfe from Desperate Housewives or John Tucker Must Die. He was the "pretty guy." So, seeing him as Chase Carter, a gritty, ambitious online journalist trapped in a zombie-infested Oregon town, was a bit of a pivot. Chase isn't Frank West—and the movie is very careful to make that distinction early on—but he carries that same "do anything for the scoop" energy.
Metcalfe actually did a decent job of looking exhausted. Most action heroes look like they just stepped out of a salon even after fighting fifty ghouls, but Chase looks like he’s about to collapse. He’s joined by Crystal Lowe, playing Becky, his camerawoman. Their dynamic is the engine of the first half of the movie. It’s cynical. It’s fast. It feels like real local news people who are way out of their depth but can’t stop filming because, hey, Pulitzer, right?
Becky, played by Lowe, provides the grounded perspective. While Chase is hunting for glory, she’s hunting for an exit. Lowe is a veteran of the Vancouver acting scene—you’ve seen her in Final Destination 3 and Smallville—and she brings a much-needed "can we please just leave" energy to the Dead Rising Watchtower cast.
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Rob Riggle as Frank West: The Piece That Made It Work
Honestly, if Rob Riggle hadn't been cast as Frank West, this movie probably would have been forgotten three weeks after it hit Crackle. Frank West is the face of the franchise. He’s covered wars, ya know?
Riggle doesn't spend much time in the actual quarantine zone. Instead, he’s in a news studio being interviewed by a very serious news anchor played by Carrie Genzel. This is where the movie gets its satirical bite. While people are being torn apart on live television, Riggle’s Frank West is busy plugging his book and being an absolute narcissist. He’s perfect. He captures that middle-aged, slightly out-of-shape, "I’ve seen it all and I’m over it" attitude that fans loved in the first game.
The brilliance of Riggle’s inclusion is the pacing. Every time the tension in the streets of East Mission gets too thick, the movie cuts back to the studio. Frank makes a crude joke, insults the anchor, and reminds everyone that he’s the only one who actually knows what’s going on. It’s a meta-commentary on fame and tragedy that the games always toyed with but the movie actually leans into.
The Supporting Players: From Parks and Rec to 24
The depth of the Dead Rising Watchtower cast is surprisingly deep for what it is.
- Meghan Ory (Cinnamon): Known for Once Upon a Time, she plays a survivor who is actually infected. She needs Zombrex. Her character, Jordan, is the emotional stakes. Without her, it’s just people hitting things. With her, there’s a ticking clock.
- Keegan Connor Tracy (Jordan): Another Once Upon a Time alum. She plays a straight-laced journalist who realizes the government is lying. Her role is mostly exposition-heavy, but she sells the "corporate whistleblower" trope well.
- Dennis Haysbert (General Lyons): Yes, the Allstate guy. The man with the most authoritative voice in Hollywood. He plays the military commander who may or may not be the villain. Haysbert can play this role in his sleep, but his presence gives the film a level of "prestige" it probably didn't deserve.
- Aleks Paunovic (Logan): He plays the leader of a biker gang. In the Dead Rising world, you need "Psychos." You need humans who have absolutely snapped. Paunovic is a massive human being, and he brings that terrifying, unpredictable energy that makes the human enemies often scarier than the undead ones.
Why the Casting Worked (and Why It Didn't)
Casting a video game movie is a tightrope walk. You have to satisfy the fans who want pixel-perfect recreations and the general audience who just wants a good zombie flick.
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The Dead Rising Watchtower cast succeeded because they didn't try to imitate the game characters too closely, with the exception of Riggle. Jesse Metcalfe’s Chase Carter is a new protagonist. This was a smart move. It allowed the writers to tell a fresh story without being beholden to the exact plot of the first game.
However, some fans felt the "Psychos" were underutilized. In the games, these bosses have elaborate backstories and tragic ends. In the movie, Logan and his bikers feel a bit more like generic post-apocalyptic thugs. It’s a minor gripe, but for a movie that got Frank West so right, the villains felt a little "walking dead-lite."
The Production Reality in Vancouver
If you look closely at the backgrounds, you can tell this was filmed in British Columbia. The Vancouver film community is tight-knit, which is why you see so many actors from shows like Continuum, Battlestar Galactica, and Supernatural popping up in bit parts.
This gives the movie a "Canadian Genre TV" feel. That’s not a bad thing. It means the production value is higher than a standard indie film, even if the budget was tight. The stunts are handled by professionals who have been working on action sets for decades. When you see Chase Carter wielding a "Sledge-saw"—a combination of a sledgehammer and a circular saw—it looks heavy. It looks dangerous. That’s because the prop and stunt teams knew exactly how to translate game mechanics into physical reality.
Standing Out in a Saturated Market
By 2015, we were already drowning in zombie media. The Walking Dead was the biggest show on the planet. World War Z had recently hit theaters. How does a movie like Dead Rising: Watchtower compete?
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By being weird.
The cast understood the assignment. They knew this wasn't Schindler's List. It was a movie about a zombie outbreak where the government is using a drug called Zombrex to keep people compliant. It’s cynical and a bit gross. When you watch Virginia Madsen—an Oscar-nominated actress!—show up as a grieving mother, you realize the production took itself just seriously enough to matter, but not so seriously that it became boring.
Madsen’s role is actually one of the more grounded parts of the film. She plays a mother who lost her daughter and is now caught in the bureaucracy of the quarantine zone. It’s a small role, but it adds a layer of genuine sadness to the Dead Rising Watchtower cast that balances out Rob Riggle’s fart jokes.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to revisit this era of the franchise or want to dive deeper into the lore established by the Dead Rising Watchtower cast, here is how to actually engage with it today:
- Watch the Sequel: If you liked this cast, most of them return for Dead Rising: Endgame. It’s a bit more of a traditional action thriller and loses some of the "Crackle charm," but Jesse Metcalfe stays committed to the bit.
- Look for the Easter Eggs: The film is littered with items from the games. Look for the orange juice containers and specific weapon combinations in the background of the pawn shop scenes.
- Follow the Digital Series: Before it was a movie, there were various digital tie-ins. The film actually functions better if you view it as a long-form pilot for a series that never quite fully materialized in the way fans hoped.
- Physical Media: While it started as a streaming exclusive, the Blu-ray contains some decent behind-the-scenes footage of how they built the "combo weapons." For fans of practical effects, it's a solid watch.
The movie isn't a masterpiece. It won't win any "best of" awards. But as an adaptation of a notoriously difficult-to-adapt game, the Dead Rising Watchtower cast did the heavy lifting required to make it a fun, bloody, and surprisingly self-aware ride. It remains a weird artifact of the mid-2010s streaming wars and a testament to the fact that sometimes, you just need Rob Riggle in a flak jacket to make things work.