Acclaimed writer/director Zach Creggers made a big splash with his first two films Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025). His newest film, Resident Evil, is the 8^th film in the Resident Evil franchise and the first time Cregger is adapting an existing IP.  

Resident Evil is a 90-minute thrill ride that follows a medical courier named Bryan (Austin Abrams). After making a delivery, he’s on his way home to have an important conversation with his girlfriend. He’s asked to make a delivery outside of his zone for extra money. The location…a hospital in Racoon City.  

Traveling up a snow-covered icy road, Bryan hits a woman with his car. He decides to put the woman in his car because she needs medical attention and he’s on his way to a hospital. When the trip to the hospital is interrupted by a car accident, Bryan begins a nightmarish journey into Umbrella Corporation’s viral outbreak. The longer his journey goes, he begins to unearth what turned Racoon City into a city full of mutated mammals and monsters.  

This Resident Evil film is a new take on the franchise and arguably the best movie they’ve made. The film does an excellent job blending Cregger’s humor, which you see in Weapons and Barbarian, and blending it with the heart-pounding tension of the Resident Evil games.  

Someone had the bright idea to adapt a survivor horror video game into a survivor horror movie that feels like a video game. Like the game, there is suspense throughout the film. There are scenes when it’s dark just beyond Bryan’s flashlight, and the audience is frozen in fear wondering what might be lurking in the shadows. Bryan has very few survival skills, which is where a lot of the humor comes from, and there is at least a dozen “WTF is that” moments throughout.  

Austin Abrams is fantastic in this role. Abrams plays an average guy thrust into the middle of a nightmare. His great comedic timing works very well and helps make this horror film palatable for non-horror fans. One of the funnier bits is Bryan talking to himself after he saw a creature he couldn’t believe is real. One of the Umbrella monsters is a creature that’s hard to describe but will remind audiences of the creature from Oats Studio’s Zygote. The monster chasing Byran for most of the film’s runtime should be terrifying, but their interactions are hilarious.  

In the middle of the chaos, Cregger drops in two characters that provide some comedic relief. Paul Walter Hauser plays Carl (Umbrella employee), and Kali Reis (Umbrella security). That entire sequence will make you laugh out loud while simultaneously having your heart beating through your chest.  

The third act of this film feels bigger and more frantic than the first two acts, but in the best way possible. Fans of the game may have a different view of the third act, but horror fans will appreciate how insane the film gets as it ramps up to the finale.  

Resident Evil is one of the best video game adaptations that’s been made.  Cregger continues to be one of Hollywood’s best storytellers. His ability to make horror films digestible for a general audience without sacrificing the horror elements. Horror fans will be anticipating whatever he makes next.   

Grade: A-