Resident Evil

Resident Evil [2026]

Film

Medical courier Bryan unwittingly finds himself fighting for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Move aside, Elevated Horror™ – with all your profound social meta commentary and prestigious arthouse aesthetics – and buckle the fuck up for a gnarly, blood-splattered romp that is signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered to all the sickos out there. Arriving just a year after Weapons & the instant icon, Aunt Gladys, came into our lives, Zach Cregger is back in the fore in a big way with Resident Evil. His latest film is a clean-slate reboot that is lovingly inspired by and certainly indebted to the now decades-long lore of the survival horror video game and the film franchise that came before it. But importantly, Cregger's film is not pigeon-holed or tied down by the series' legacy but is, instead, enhanced by it.

Let me just say upfront, my anticipation for this film came with some serious strings attached. First off, I’ve never played a Resident Evil video game or even seen a Resident Evil movie – which I recognize may, in fact, make me woefully ill-equipped to weigh in on this film! But also, if you really think about it, maybe, just maybe, this makes a kind of ideal adjudicator, an unbiased and untainted observer without a premeditated agenda or any sort of prerogative. Coming in with less can sometimes allow you as a viewer to walk out with more, does it not? Admittedly, my other bugaboo with the announcement of this film was learning that Cregger, one of the best and brightest the horror genre has to offer, had been tapped to write and direct. Don’t get me wrong, he’s already an appointment-viewing, season-tickets-type filmmaker for me, but the idea of him tackling a big IP project rather than letting him cook up something fully original turned my stomach a bit.

But lest we forget that the opportunities to work with a big budget while maintaining creative control are far and few between these days. The good news in this case is that Cregger clearly came into the project with a passion for the material and a lot of creative ideas about what kind of movie he wanted to make. Though Resident Evil isn't what I'd call an invention or even a reinvention, it is a hell of a lot of fun, and Cregger makes the absolute most of his chance to use every resource at his disposal and testing himself to try out some new things as an action filmmaker. Though Resident Evil isn't what I'd call an invention or even a reinvention, it is a back-to-basics, fully-realized genre exercise – there's a vast cinematic playground to explore in and around Raccoon City, but the film's script is tight, the pace is brisk, and the scares are pungent.

Spoilers aplenty

Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a medical courier who agrees to deliver a last-minute, high-priority package to Raccoon City General Hospital in the snow-capped Colorado mountains. He's driving on blizzardy backroads, distracted by the conversation he's having with his girlfriend where she's telling him she's pregnant, and what happens? Bryan his accidentally hits somone with his car. She's alive(?) but also how is she alive(?) and Bryan isn't quite able to process what is happening around him. He doesn't have a signal to call for help and decides to get her into his car and drive her to the hospital he's driving towards. When a deputy sheriff pulls him over, he tries to explain what's going on... you know, what? I'm going to stop talking. The twists and turns in the film's first half are excellent, and the less one knows, the better.

What worked best for me (especially through the film's first half) is that we, the audience, know what kind of movie we signed up to watch. This is a Resident Evil movie, some crazy shit is going to go down. And because we know that, the film has an advantage over our emotions – everything seems to be normal despite us knowing it is anything but. The film has co-writing credits for Cregger and Shay Hatten, a contributing screenwriter to the films in the John Wick universe, the Army of the Dead series, and the Rebel Moon franchise. Yeah, I hear you, that's kind of a mixed bag... but it does make sense that Hatten's contributions to this screenplay bring out the best elements of his previous work from an action set-piece standpoint. When paired alongside Cregger's knack for tension-building, shot-making, and tonal control, Resident Evil is well-calibrated and to make the audience, laugh, jump, and gasp.

Resident Evil [2026]

Let me just say, the first half of this film is on fire! Shot by DP Dariusz Wolski, the film's visual language is spectacular – some of the snowy roadside shots flet intentionally reminiscent of the snowy landscape shots in Fargo, shot by the great Sir Roger Deakins. Like Cregger's previous films, Resident Evil never feels rushed and is confident in every narrative step it takes. There's undeniable directorial control here, and it was exciting to feel Cregger puppeteering this from scene to scene. The film's nucleus is the central performance from Abrams, who effortlessly holds the center of the frame and brings humanity and gravity to the film. Another actor might have played it differently, but I think he fully embodies the part, makes it his own, and has the right instincts for what kind of movie he is in and what is required.

My biggest critique is the back-half, or maybe just the last third of the film. Once the pieces are in place and you can see where the final showdown is going to be, I thought the screenplay lost a little velocity. The MacGuffin didn't bother me, the video game-esque feel didn't bother me, and the viscera didn't bother me. I think I enjoyed the setup more than the payoff, and I'm not sure if that's because of my ignorance to this series or that I preferred the looseness of the first half compared to the tightness of the first half. There's a rigorous discipline to keeping the storytelling as economical as possible, and I think when the walls started to close in, it felt more like reliable third act wrap-up and less like a tightrope. That said, a few things do happen in the last 30 minutes that I found to be absolutely mesmerizing – and I did respond to how Cregger tied up (or untied) any of the loose ends by the film's conclusion.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of time for Elevated Horror™ and all the great modern horror auteurs (Cregger included) working today who are taking big swings and seem to make a lot of really great lemonade from even just a few lemons. But hats off to Cregger for taking a big studio production and delivering a film that will appeal to critics, speak to cinephiles, resonate with the horror genre sickos, and satisfy the studio by raking in a profitable return. What more can you ask for? That's a lot of balls to juggle, and Cregger is certainly a highly skilled conjuror. What's next for him? Doesn't matter, tell me when and where and I'm there.

Froth

Best enjoyed in a snifter with a crew, I drank this a few nights after I saw Resident Evil by myself in a regular ol' beer glass. But damn, this was toasty, malty, and warm, the perfect sort of heavy beer for when you have no where to be and just want to bask in a beer. What was amazing about this pour was that you really couldn't tell (until you stand up) what sort of ABV punch you're dealing with. It may be Monkless, but it is certainly in the spirit of what some beer-savvy Monks could whip up on a Sunday afternoon. I'd have another, but probably with a friend. Maybe a monk.