This review contains spoilers.
For more than three decades, video games have been adapted into feature films. For the same amount of time, video game fans have been complaining about them. Zach Cregger’s 2026 adaptation of the “Resident Evil” franchise has been plagued by opinions from incessant video game loyalists since Cregger first confirmed that his take on the infection-thriller series doesn’t adapt a particular “Resident Evil” game or contain any familiar characters.
Despite the online noise, Zach Cregger never gave in. His “Resident Evil” is singular and refreshing. In a media landscape dotted with safe, formulaic franchise films that make poor-to-moderate box office returns, the latest video game film is concerned with the crucial elements of adapting the medium for the big screen. The intent is for the viewer to feel like they’re playing a “Resident Evil” game. Tense shots are amplified by a first-person POV and numerous instances of terrible situations getting worse.
Fans may recognize Zach Cregger’s name from 2025’s Oscar-winning “Weapons,” or 2022’s underseen “Barbarian.” Cregger was formerly part of the comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’ Know” and its television expansion from the late 2000s, before he pivoted to horror. Prior to “Resident Evil,” his films could be characterized by their nonlinearity. “Weapons” followed multiple perspectives of the same event and “Barbarian” told chunks of a story at a time before doubling back from a different character’s POV.
“Resident Evil” follows an organ courier, played by “Weapons” alum Austin Abrams, as he transports a mysterious delivery across the fictional Colorado town Raccoon City. A viral infection has, in a few short hours, made quick work of the city’s inhabitants, turning them into mutating creatures beyond human comprehension.
Finishing in a neat 90 minutes, “Resident Evil” is efficient and stays true to its premise. Dreadful is an apt one-word description of this film, not because it’s bad, but because its structure resembles a snowball effect of the worst night of one man’s life getting progressively more nightmarish.
This film still has a lot of thematic material to chew on.
Bryan is a rather poor boyfriend to Michelle, who just found out that she is pregnant. Bryan encourages her to consider an abortion without taking her feelings or preferences into consideration right before he encounters the first zombie.
In the final act of the film, Bryan must cross a hospital’s maternity ward to reach the top of the building. At this stage in the infection, the maternity ward is now filled with gestating pods and the hanging limbs of deceased mothers being absorbed by the infectious entity. Halfway through the scene, he accidentally bumps into a bassinet and must subdue a mutated infant. Perhaps not subtly, Bryan must literally face the consequences of haphazardly bringing new life into the world.
Yet many fans of the video games have found this film unsatisfactory. They believe any proper adaptation of “Resident Evil” must be a direct adaptation of one or more of the games (which went exceedingly well for 2021’s box office bomb “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City”) and contain all the associated familiar characters. There are already six films from the early 2000s to mid-2010s which give fans the satisfaction of seeing their favorite characters onscreen, and even have the added bonus of Milla Jovovich.
2026’s “Resident Evil” may not be what many fans were expecting, and that’s a good thing. Most fans are not in charge of the film adaptations of their favorite games for a reason. “Resident Evil” is in fact faithful to the source material, but prioritizes the feeling of the games over their lore. Viewers will have no trouble feeling Austin Abrams’ terror and reap the benefits of the bit-loving filmmaking Zach Cregger has made a name for.
Grade: A