Resident Evil (2026) Movie Poster. Courtesy of Sony Pictures –
© 2026 Sony Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

When it comes to video game adaptations, I’ve learned not to expect much. The genre has obviously come a long way, and movies like Sonic have found huge audiences, but most of the adaptations I’ve actually watched have ranged from disappointing to outright terrible. From Super Mario Bros. back in 1993 to Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, I’ve been burned enough times to approach these movies with caution.

Resident Evil hasn’t exactly given me much reason to be optimistic either. I know the older films have their fans, but man, I hated them. So under normal circumstances, another Resident Evil movie wouldn’t have done much for me.

Then Zach Cregger got involved.

That was enough to get my attention. Over the last few years, Cregger has built a pretty impressive track record in horror with movies like Barbarian and Weapons, so I was curious to see what he could do with a franchise like this. Thankfully, that curiosity paid off.

This isn’t just a good Resident Evil movie. It’s another reminder of why Cregger has quickly become one of the more exciting voices working in horror right now.

The movie follows a medical courier named Bryan, who is tasked with delivering a package to Raccoon City General Hospital. Bryan is played by Austin Abrams, who recently worked with Zach Cregger on Weapons, and I thought he was a great choice for the role.

A lot of the movie rests on Abrams because Bryan spends so much of the story navigating the chaos on his own, and he never feels like he’s phoning it in. You feel his fear, awkwardness, sadness, and exhaustion as things continue to spiral out of control, but he’s also genuinely funny throughout. That balance makes Bryan feel like an actual person rather than just someone being dragged from one horror set piece to the next, and it makes the journey a lot easier to invest in.

Now, I understand that some fans are probably going to be put off by just how comedic this movie can be, but ultimately, I think this is a film that respects the source material without simply retelling stories we’ve already seen. There’s no Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, or Jill Valentine here, but you can tell the people behind this movie understand what makes Resident Evil feel like Resident Evil.

From Bryan constantly having to search for guns and ammunition, to the first-person perspective used in certain sequences, there are plenty of little touches that feel pulled directly from the games. Even the way he moves from one dangerous location to another, scraping by with whatever he can find, gives the movie that same survival-horror feeling without ever coming across like it’s desperately trying to recreate a specific game. For me, that’s where the adaptation works best. It feels familiar without feeling recycled.

And since I mentioned the comedy, I should probably talk about whether it actually worked for me. For the most part, I think it did. I saw the movie on Friday during CinemaONE’s $15 special for its 15th anniversary, so the theatre was packed, and there was plenty of laughter throughout.

Even my girlfriend, who usually isn’t a fan of movies that blend horror and comedy, caught herself laughing from time to time. There were definitely moments where I wished the movie leaned a little harder into the horror and let the tension breathe, but the humour worked well enough that it never became a major issue for me.

Another thing I wanted to touch on was the creature design and special effects. Without spoiling anything, there are some genuinely interesting and disturbing designs here, and I appreciated how willing the movie was to get weird with them. There’s a real sense of creativity behind a lot of what we see, which helps keep the horror visually interesting as Bryan moves from one situation to the next.

The CGI does fall short in a few places, and there were definitely moments where the effects looked less convincing than I would have liked. Still, the creativity behind the designs usually carried those scenes for me. Even when the execution wasn’t perfect, the movie at least committed to giving us creatures that felt memorable rather than generic

All in all, Resident Evil ended up being far better than I expected. It isn’t perfect, and I do wish the movie leaned a little harder into the horror at times, but Zach Cregger still manages to create something that feels fresh while respecting the franchise it comes from.

Austin Abrams carries the movie well, the comedy mostly lands, and there’s enough creativity in the horror and creature design to keep things interesting throughout. More importantly, it never felt like a movie that was simply relying on the Resident Evil name to get by.

Considering how skeptical I usually am about video game adaptations, I walked out pleasantly surprised. If this is the direction Resident Evil is heading on the big screen, I’m definitely interested in seeing where it goes next.

Resident Evil Review: Cregger Gets It Right.

More From Preshaa

Onslaught Review: It Never Quite Comes Together.