Zach Cregger constantly reminds us of how interlinked comedy and horror is. Both genres involve the pushing of boundaries, and the various set pieces are constructed to either push audiences to a laugh or a scream. If you’ve watched Barbarian and Weapons, as much as horror is the staple for those movies, there are laugh out moments to help balance the horror. These choices make his films such a scary good time. While I enjoyed Barbarian and Weapons for different reasons, Resident Evil is Cregger at his most fun. I found it to be an incredible adaptation of the Resident Evil world, but I know that avid fans might not be satisfied with the lack of faithfulness to the actual game. Still, I always maintain that a good adaptation does not have to completely faithful. If you want Resident Evil the video game, play it.
Austin Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier tasked with delivering an important medical specimen to Raccoon City General Hospital. He takes the job because he needs the extra money, but things take a turn when he accidentally hits a woman on a snow-filled road. To his credit, Bryan doesn’t just do a hit and run, but maybe he should have as his horrible night gets even worse as now he has to deal with biological monstrosities. Abrams is fantastic, just as he was in Cregger’s Weapons. He reacts just as you would expect a regular person to when their night goes topsy turvy. He’s also really funny – we’re laughing along as he curses at the infected or when he’s trying to figure out how to use guns in real life. It’s not easy to anchor a movie on a single person, but Abrams is more than up for the task. He’s charismatic and so likeable – we want so badly for Bryan to survive and it’s all because of Abrams.
Cregger introduces quite a number of playful references to video game motifs, like the constant padlocks that Bryan has to open, or him pausing at certain moments to count the number of bullets he has left. There’s even perspective shots, as well as set pieces that force the character to go through perilous situations because there’s no other choice.
What I love about Cregger’s films is that the horror element manifests differently in each one. In Barbarian, we constantly have to reevaluate what the horror is, while Weapons is slower and more atmospheric as we feel the community’s gaping loss over the missing children. Resident Evil is a zombie flick, where the tension is sky high as we peer through dark spaces trying to see discern the horrors that may lie within. The sound design is amazing – the thundering footsteps of the infected up the stairs, the way the sound moves in tandem with the jumpscares – I screamed out loud at least 3 times while watching the movie. That’s how real and unnerving some of the sequences are.
Cregger’s Resident Evil isn’t lore specific, and we see this in the varied zombies present in this world. There’s your standard infected zombie whose motive is to bite and infect, and then you have the fused zombies – an amalgamation of human bodies lumped together. Cartwheels have never been scarier. The body horror elements are so well done, and in 2026, it’s rare to see a new take on the zombie flick so I enjoyed the liberties that Cregger takes here, as gross as they are. I’m also thankful I didn’t have to fully see the mutated baby beyond the glimpse of its ginormous head.
Yes, Cregger’s Resident Evil isn’t a faithful adaptation of the game, but it makes you feel the same thrills you get from playing the game, and that, my friends, is infinitely more powerful.
REVIEW SCORE: 4/5
