For 30 years Resident Evil has been a cornerstone of the horror survival genre. Spawning thirteen games and numerous movies both live action and animated, its core elements of survival and heart stopping horror have always formed the basis of each story told.
Zach Cregger helms the latest installment in the cinematic space promising to align his newest story closer to the games that started it all. Cregger has burst onto the scene in recent years proving he has a specific eye for the darker side of story telling. His most recent film, Weapons, proved his willingness to push the viewer as far as possible, only to coax you back from the edge of your seat before smacking you in the face again.
Resident Evil follows down on his luck medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams). Bryan and his girlfriend are in the midst of a major life moment as they discuss the possibility that she is pregnant and what it is they should do. Bryan though is given an opportunity to deliver one last package, a priority A transport. Its destination, Racoon City General Hospital, located in a town in the mountains along a dark snow covered road that Bryan really shouldn’t be driving on but he needs to make this delivery for the payday.
From the moment Bryan sets off with his life saving cargo Cregger makes sure you feel like you’re completely isolated even in a full cinema. The road Bryan travels is lined by dense forest that is only highlighted by Bryan’s vastly under powered headlights and dim moon light. His distraction while trying to reconnect the call with his girlfriend causes him to miss a woman stumbling her way onto the roadway. Bryan must get out and check on what he hit but is rightfully reluctant to do so. It is in these moments I let out my first of many “nope’s” as the tension begins to elevate on screen forcing you to anticipate where the next scare is going to come from.
The opening portion of Resident Evil sets the standard of what is to come and highlights that Zach Cregger is a massive fan of the way the games tell their stories. Themes of fear and isolation remind you that you are having a survival horror experience. Abrams’ delivery of well timed quips and very gamer specific phrases gives a small amount of relief to the tense moment but also pulls you into the movie more so because it almost feels like it is you playing through a story. Anyone who has played a Resident Evil game knows exactly those phrases that you mutter to yourself, words of encouragement or disbelief, anything that will keep you moving forward. Until that is when it nearly beats you and the frustration comes out.
Resident Evil will keep you on the edge of your seat from the opening moments. It never weighs itself down by delving deeply into the lore of Capcom’s long running series, instead it focuses on moving itself along through its simple yet effective plot and making sure that viewers don’t have much down time. Similarly to the games Bryan moves between instances on his way to Racoon City with each encounter more intense than the last. It is a clear recreation of the structure of the games and further instills that sense of isolation. There is no rescue coming for Bryan, he needs to keep pushing on through the horrors in front of him.
The streamlined narrative helps keep the pacing on track and doesn’t allow it to be anything more than a lean, in your face monster movie. Cregger’s signature style is thankfully all over this and yet toned down ever so slightly from that of his previous outings. He has a talent for finding the best and most disorientating camera angles that heighten your fear and does an amazing job of creating new horrifying monsters that feel connected, even inspired directly from the games but are their own gory bile filled selves.
Resident Evil feels like it was made to introduce more people to the world away from the mainstream RE movies and open you up to some amazing and seriously frightening stories that have been told in game form, not the other way around. It is a bleak, brutal, gory and sometimes goofy survival that allows you to connect with Bryan in a similar way to a character you play in game.
You will jump out of your skin a couple of times, you will laugh and you will shake your head at the screen too but this is one of the great horror movies of 2026.
Resident Evil comes out Thursday 17th locally, get your mates together and go and have fun with it.
