MOVIEWATCHIN' PSYCHOPATH

RESIDENT EVIL:

AFTER TWO DECADES OF MISFIRES, ZACH CREGGER FINALLY CRACKS THE CODE OF THIS VIDEO GAME FILM FRANCHISE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Something terrible has been unleashed in Resident Evil (2026)

Director Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons) brings his take on Resident Evil to the screen in…well, Resident Evil, the second reboot of the Resident Evil film series based on the popular Capcom video game franchise of the same name. Resident Evil hasn’t always had the best luck outside of video games; there were seven live-action movies released between 2002 and 2017 starring Milla Jovovich, a few CG animated Resident Evil films that were decent, a CG animated series, Infinite Darkness, that I barely heard anyone talk about, a terrible Netflix series, and a 2021 live-action movie reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,y that tried to recapture the spirit of the source material, but failed in a lot of areas.

For the longest time, it seemed like Resident Evil only truly thrived as a video game and couldn’t quite be adapted in other forms of media, but then, Zach Cregger stepped in. I have been very impressed with Cregger’s work. I enjoyed Barbarian a lot and freaking adored Weapons, with the latter being one of my favorite films from last year. I was confident that he’d be able to finally give Resident Evil a proper film adaptation…and he did.

While I don’t think it’s as good as Barbarian or Weapons, this is an exceptionally crafted movie that’s in equal parts frightening and funny and both honors the source material and injects it with some fresh blood of its own. This isn’t a straight-up adaptation of a specific game or storyline from the universe; it’s its own thing with different characters that just happens to be set in the Resident Evil universe, which was a bold choice, but Cregger pulled it off.

The film follows a medical courier named Bryan (Austin Abrams-The Kings of Summer, Paper Towns, Weapons) being tasked with delivering a mysterious time-sensitive package to Raccoon City Hospital. However, Bryan soon finds himself stuck in a terrifying fight for survival as he is attacked by zombies and other monsters created by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, The Umbrella Corporation.

The film also stars Zach Cherry (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Severance, Fallout) as Dr. Carl, Kali Reis (Asphalt City, True Detective: Night Country, Mercy) as Dr. Maxine, and Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Naked Gun (2025)) as Dr. Paul.

Overall, Resident Evil (2026) is an exhilarating ride that more than makes up for the sins of the past and finally delivers a Resident Evil movie that’s worthy of the name. One thing I really like about this movie is how it technically does the same thing as the first Milla Jovovich film, where it revolves around a character that’s completely made just for this movie and not one of the main characters from the game, except unlike Resident Evil (2002), this one does it correctly.

Get this: instead of using the movie as a vehicle for the director to show how hot his wife is, there’s actually a character to get invested in here and makes you want to see them overcome their obstacles. Austin Abrams was already a standout in Weapons, and he’s great here too; he is funny and has great comedic timing without it ever feeling out of place in the film, and they make him very endearing as someone who’s trying to support his pregnant girlfriend (Who only appears through phone conversations) and survive all this chaos.

The first Milla Jovovich Resident Evil film is a guilty pleasure of mine, but there are very few characters I actually gave a shit about in that; this film just follows one character throughout the entire thing, and I cared more about Abrams than any of the characters from the previous movies,s including the video game-based ones. Just having a regular guy stuck in a zombie outbreak is more engaging and suspenseful than some badass superheroine with genetically enhanced powers; there are actual stakes in this.

The movie also looks great and really captures the look and feel of what it’s like to play the games, with a lot of care and attention to detail that fans of the source material will surely appreciate. Honestly, the way the film is structured is just like playing a level from the game, with Abrams upgrading to a better weapon, searching a house to find ammo, and even some first-person perspective. As someone who freaking adored Sonic the Hedgehog 3 a couple years ago, this might be the best example of a video game movie that honors both the game and the people who have played it.

The designs of the creatures are very imaginative and weird, and yeah, there are definitely plenty that are ripped straight from the game,s like the zombie dogs. But then, you have zombies and monsters that are absolutely bizarre even by Resident Evil standards, like a bunch of dismembered bodies forming together into a giant bloodthirsty abomination, a zombie that pukes acid in an elevator shaft, and a Substance-style body horror climax that I dare not ruin.

The gore is cranked up and definitely flaunts its R rating like a badge of honor: people getting squashed, ripped apart, devoured, shot, and an entire sequence where zombies jump off rooftops and smash into the ground with puddles of blood and flesh. Leave it to Zach Cregger to succeed where Paul W.S. Anderson failed because even though the first Resident Evil film did earn an R rating, it barely utilized it to the point where it could have been PG-13.

I also found the movie surprisingly funny in both the absurdness of the situation and Austin Abrams’ reactions to said situation. There’s a great running joke where he’s terrible at using guns and constantly misses his shot, which I was worried was going to get old really fast, but it ended up being one of the funniest bits in the film.

Resident Evil (2026) finally gives fans a Resident Evil movie that honors the source material and gives a creepy, bloody, and fun movie in its own right. Between this, Exit 8, and Mortal Kombat II, this was a pretty solid year for video game-inspired cinema, which for the longest time was considered cinematic poison, and I’m genuinely excited to see where this new franchise goes and whether or not it will introduce characters from the game like Leon Kennedy, Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, etc.; only time will tell.

As for right now, we finally have a Resident Evil movie that’s worth seeking out and deserves your money. Zach Cregger did well with this.