Movie Review: ‘Resident Evil’ (2026)

Director: Zach Cregger

Cast: Austin Abrams, Paul Walker, Zach Cherry, Johnno Wilson, Kali Reis

Plot: Bryan is a medical courier tasked with delivering an urgent package to Raccoon City, where he entered into a world of survival horror.

Review: Well, hasn’t the internet been a bit silly this week? Zach Cregger tries to make his own Resident Evil movie, and you all kick up a stink about it ‘not being a real adaptation’ because it ‘needs’ the police station, or the underground lab, or this character, or that character. As much as I’ve been a fan of the original game series since 1996, when 15-year-old me got hold of the genre-defining PS1 classic and was instantly hooked, even with that long history as a fan, I wanted to see Zach Cregger’s take on the material, not an ‘accurate’ adaptation of the game.

The reason for this is simple. Copying a game beat for beat — the dialogue, the pacing, the narrative, the thin characters — isn’t going to translate well to a movie. That’s been seen time and time again. Cinema and games are just different mediums, and changes need to be made. Having accurate characters didn’t make the original film series any better. With such a sprawling franchise, it’s easy to drop a new, unknown character into the world and tell their own story. On top of that, Cregger has proven that he can deliver some very interesting horror movies: dark, weirdly funny, memorable characters and unexpected turns. If he wants to make a Resident Evil movie, let him have it.

As expected, this was a great Zach Cregger movie. What we weren’t ready for was how much of a Resident Evil movie it was. This is deeply, deeply embedded in the Resident Evil universe, from the brightly coloured serums to the diamond padlock and key to the eyeball-sprouting mutant zombie monsters. It couldn’t be more Resident Evil. It also doesn’t limit itself to characters, locations and creatures that we’ve seen before.

There’s an amazing escalation through this movie. It starts slow, with scenes that made up the bulk of the marketing, setting up Bryan (Abrams) taking on a medical courier gig to Raccoon City. On the road, he hits a woman and crosses paths with a patrolman, and the situation slowly escalates as the injured woman reveals herself to already be zombified. From here, we get to the farmhouse, where Bryan upgrades from a pistol to a shotgun and encounters some more dangerous monsters.

As we go from scene to scene, it becomes clear that we’re locked into a series of escalating encounters, not unlike the video games that inspired this movie. There’s a bit of lampshading here when Bryan complains about his progress constantly being impeded by seemingly indestructible padlocks. A few items, like First Aid Sprays and Typewriters, are available, but Bryan is consistently incompetent and fails to take advantage of these boons. Characters appear briefly, but can just as quickly be dispatched before they can provide any real help or character development. Fortunately, we get a collection of great character actors to make these small roles really pop in the time they have.

What’s brilliant is the way we build from an extended encounter with a single zombie to some absolutely insane monstrous creations that only make sense in Resident Evil logic. Without spoiling anything about what’s in store for you, let’s just say that they wouldn’t look out of place in the silliest of survival horror games. It never felt like we’d taken a jarring step from a crazy lady to giant eyeball monsters.

Carrying the whole adventure is Austin Abrams, a young standout in Weapons, who takes centre stage as the cheeky rascal avoiding his responsibilities and suddenly finding himself in a nightmare. He brings plenty of charm and humour to the part, and consistently feels like the everyman having a constant panic attack throughout this ordeal. Given how useless Bryan is with everything from guns to driving, Abrams manages to maintain a manic, seat-of-the-pants energy.

We get moments of high tension, scenes of grotesque mutant horrors spilling their guts over the floor, and laugh-out-loud line deliveries, all in the same scene. Cregger’s got a deft hand and eye, and we cannot wait to see what comes next.

Rating: NINE out of TEN