Resident Evil
★★★ · 3/5 · 2026
Watched on November 4, 2026
Starring: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry
Director: Zach Cregger
Cinematography: Dariusz Wolski
Writers: Shay Hatten, Zach Cregger
Editor: Joe Murphy
Composer: Hays Holladay, Ryan Holladay
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil was mostly a positive experience, but I think it'll be the biggest disappointment of the year for me.
Ever since I started playing the Resident Evil games 6 years ago, I've been hooked. I'm a big fan of this series, at least the mainline games and some of the spinoffs. They do an excellent job of balancing horror and over-the-top action, and many games and films have been inspired by the series since the original's release.
I always thought it was funny that no one could seem to make a truly great Resident Evil movie. The Paul W.S. Anderson films have become a guilty pleasure series of mine, but they are by no means Resident Evil movies, with the exception of the first one. I would say the first movie just manages to capture the campiness and ridiculousness that makes every game up to RE: 0 iconic while throwing in some references and story similarities that don't feel cheap. I enjoy that movie, but the rest are shoddy attempts at fan service that put forth very little effort. Welcome to Raccoon City, which I haven't seen, seems to be a similar level of fan service. Many writers and directors of the existing films are unfamiliar with the story and character motivations from the games and go in thinking they can do whatever they want with the game elements, and people will love it.
All of that being said, I don't need a Resident Evil movie to be an exact 1:1 of any of the games. In fact, I think it would be smarter to take an original approach. I feel that the games are too cheesy and exaggerated to be taken seriously in a movie format. Additionally, the characters are so iconic at this point that no matter who gets cast in the roles, people are going to be disappointed. I don't need to see Leon, Chris, Ada, Jill, Claire, or anyone else. The plot doesn't even have to be anything special, just as long as they keep the spirit of the games intact. I had a lot of faith in this being the first great adaptation of this franchise.
Zach Cregger very likely made the best Resident Evil movie (the bar was low), but I still have some issues with it that could have been easily avoided. My biggest issue is that this is a comedy movie first and a horror movie second. I liked Austin Abrams in Weapons, and he's great in this, but as soon as I saw that he was going to be the lead in this movie, I became worried. Resident Evil is horror. Sure, it gets silly now and then, but this stops becoming scary after the first 25 minutes or so. Once things get more intense, Abrams' dialogue reduces to spamming swear words and being grossed out by stuff, and the horror that could be emphasized is instead thrown away for repetitive gags and cringey dialogue. I do like the "normal guy going through a crazy situation" approach, and Abrams was a good choice for that, but they really could have dialed back the comedy a lot.
My second biggest problem is that, outside of the mention of Umbrella, this doesn't have much Resident Evil DNA in it. I think a more simplified creature design focusing on the traditional impossible-to-kill zombies would have helped on the VFX side of things, and time could have been spent improving other areas. It becomes a CGI mess when the effects are required to get more extreme to accommodate the designs that Cregger wants. Some of the monsters are goofy in nature and only add to the comedy that didn't work for me. I guess it would have helped to have something to latch on to that solidifies this as a Resident Evil movie. Slap any title on this, and I would probably just assume it was inspired by the series and not an adaptation of it.
It's a good-looking movie. Certain shots are chilling, and they've nailed the various sets and environments of the film. I really liked the opening sequence on the barn and in the farmhouse. Being surrounded by the snow and darkness was an eerie and unique setting that's immediately unnerving. It's a good setting that gives Abrams time to shine while maintaining the creepy atmosphere. Once things move to the city, all tension is lost, and the quirky dialogue takes priority.
The ending was also really abrupt. I don't mind the direction that was taken, but given the length and pacing of the journey up to that point, it almost felt like half of the final act was cut off. A few minutes to wind things down would have been appreciated.
There are moments here and there that are creepy and funny that really worked for me, but it's just not quite what I was hoping for.