RESIDENT EVIL
Out Now
Thursday 17th September 2026
Written by: Tom Wilson and Rashid AlKamraikhi
FINALLY A RESIDENT EVIL FILM THAT DELIVERS
Tom’s Perspective:
Our protagonist in Resident Evil is not a super-soldier. He’s not even a regular joe. Organ courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) doesn’t have a lot going for him, which is a concern, because he’s just found out that he’s about to be a dad, and when we meet him he’s trying to do a courier job one snowy night while having a very important conversation with his partner. And now he’s just taken another job in Racoon City despite not having snow chains on his vehicle. Reception is spotty, and the weather is getting worse … what’s the worst that could happen?
Quite a bit, it turns out.
Pictured: Rashid and Tom courtesy of iKapture and Vethaak Media
This is an impressive movie. Polish cinematographer Dariusz Wolski shines with some incredible sequences that teach you to always pay attention to the background of the frame, but even that won’t save you from some excellent jump-scares that never feel gratuitous. The creature design is innovative and grotesque, but has more in common with paintings by Goya or Francis Bacon than Hostel-style torture porn. Zach Cregger’s trademark humour hits early on, and keeps coming throughout, leading to some massive laughs in the cinema.
Resident Evil Still courtesy of Sony Pictures
If you ever cringed at the team trying to use a rifle in Shaun of the Dead, you’re going to pull your hair out watching Bryan struggle to use a firearm, which he’s going to need if he wants to survive. “I fucking suck at guns!” Bryan yells at one point, and as an ex-infantry soldier who just watched him try to load an MP5 magazine backwards, I found myself nodding in agreement. Anyone with a working knowledge of firearms will probably want to slap Bryan by the halfway point in the movie, fumbling reloads, dropping ammo, or waving a loaded submachine gun in front of someone’s face while trying to figure out the safety. Having our main character being a bit of a fuckup actually does wonders for our enjoyment. Typically, when someone makes a bad decision in a horror movie, the viewer can end up so frustrated with them that you’re looking forward to them dying. With Resident Evil, every mistake he makes only makes his job harder, and it’s quite amusing to watch him cope with the consequences of his decisions. Franchise superfans aren’t always the most reasonable types, but there has been a bizarre resistance online from fans angry that Zach Cregger wasn’t going to adapt one of the game plots, as if the Resident Evil films we’ve had to this point weren’t god-awful. By not constraining itself to a preexisting narrative from one of the games, Cregger is free to do whatever he wants with protagonist Bryan, and boy howdy does he cop it. Strap in for the third act.
Resident Evil Still courtesy of Sony Pictures
Like the recent film Exit 8, Resident Evil takes inspiration from the mechanics of the game, not the plot. Every scene feels like a level, and the camera often moves in similar ways to the games. We glimpse the typewriter used to save games, and Bryan is constantly being frustrated by heavy steel padlocks, and has limited success using guns to try and open them. We’re acutely aware of just how little ammo he has at any one time, leading to genuine tension every time he raises a weapon to fire. Will he miss? Will he somehow make things even worse for himself? Often times, the answer is both.
Resident Evil Still courtesy of Sony Pictures
Cregger’s first film, Barbarian, was one of the most memorable film experiences of my life – it’s the kind of film I wish I could experience for the first time again. All the elements that made it great – the twists, the gasps, the unexpected humour – are woven through Resident Evil, and elevate it far above the trash we’ve come to expect from video game adaptations. This might be one of the best video game movies of all time.
Next time take the stairs, Bryan.
Rashid’s Perspective:
This may be my first time watching a Zach Cregger film, but it’s certainly not my first Resident Evil film. As a fan of the games since the first instalment hit the OG PlayStation back in ‘96, I have only ever felt disappointment verging on contempt for the live-action iterations of the franchise. So, when I heard that Zach’s take on the film was going to be a ‘reboot’ and adjacent to any RE media thus far, I was actually relieved. You can’t really destroy any more lore if you’re resetting it after all.
Resident Evil Still courtesy of Sony Pictures
So with this tabula rasa mentality, I approached the film with a sense of optimism, and an open mind for what was about to unfold before me. For this, I was rewarded. The film is an absolute blast from start to finish, with amazing set ups that flow between building tension and unleashing utter carnage. The film is also loaded with humour that provides much-needed levity against the absolutely horrific situations that our main character, Bryan, finds himself in. Some of the best involve callbacks that cut more savagely than a Lickers’ claws to the poor decisions that he makes along the way.
Resident Evil Still courtesy of Sony Pictures
While the universe may have been rebooted, there’s still plenty of easter eggs and references laced throughout the film to pay fan service to anyone who is already invested in the IP, and gaming culture in general. In fact, a lot of Bryan’s dialogue sounds like it could easily have been lifted from people streaming their playthroughs of the Resident Evil games on Twitch, and would probably resolve in a lengthy ban if it was said over voice chat.
Resident Evil Still courtesy of Sony Pictures
I may still dream of someone creating a lore-accurate version of Resident Evil’s story with shambling t-Virus infected zombies, but this is by far the best RE movie ever made, and an outright amazing horror film in its own right. So, If blood and violence mixed with belly laughs are your bag, then you need to grab your herbs and go and see it faster than if a Tyrant was behind you!