RESIDENT EVIL Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Zach Cregger
Stars: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, Johnno Wilson, Emily Piggford, Andrea Miltnerova, Will Merrick, Griffin Newman.
Zach Cregger, who gave us the superb horror films Barbarian and Weapons, hits it out of the park with his reboot of Resident Evil, which is based on the popular video game series created in 1996 by Capcom and which has sold over 200 million units. Cregger resets the franchise with this original stand-alone story set within the Resident Evil environment and gives us one of the better instalments in the long running and increasingly tired and formulaic series. Rather than Milla Jovovich’s kick-arse action heroine Alice battling the evil Umbrella Corporation and hordes of zombies, here we get an everyman hero who we can all easily relate to when he finds himself out of his depth.
Bryan (Austin Abrams, who also appeared in Cregger’s previous film Weapons) is a medical delivery courier who is given a last-minute urgent package to deliver to Raccoon City General Hospital. It is a snowy, stormy night and the conditions are pretty horrible. As he drives along treacherously slippery roads, Bryan is engaged in a heated discussion with his girlfriend Michelle concerning her pregnancy.
Suddenly a woman appears in the middle of the road, and he hits her with his car. But when he gets out to check on her, he finds that she has managed to move off the road and deeper into the woods. When he finds her, she is badly injured and bleeding and catatonic. He manages to get her into his car and sets off hoping to deliver her to the hospital.
This sets in motion a nightmare journey as the increasingly flustered and desperate Bryan has to navigate a series of startling and horrific encounters as he makes his way toward his destination. What started out as a fairly straightforward delivery turns into a nightmare.
There is a violent and disturbing encounter at a remote farmhouse with a mutated guard dog. And as he approaches Raccoon City he has to navigate a path through some strangely mutated creatures. As fans of the franchise will know, Raccoon City is the home of the nefarious Umbrella Corporation which has been conducting illegal experiments that resulted in a virulent outbreak of infected mutants and ravenous zombie-like creatures.
An obvious fan of the Resident Evil games, Cregger and his co-scriptwriter Shay Hatten (John Wick 3: Parabellum, etc) adhere to the formula of the source material, creating many obstacles and challenges for Bryan to overcome. He has to make his way through isolated farmhouses, deserted buildings, sewers, and a locked down hospital, each offering its own challenges like the video game itself. Cregger includes many easter eggs and references to previous films in the franchise, with some visual nods to the games themselves. Cinematographer Darius Wolski gives the film the look and feel of a video game with its gritty colour palette and aesthetic. He also uses lots of different camera angles and pov shots. And the early scenes set in the snowy wilderness are superbly eerie, menacing and atmospheric.
Cregger prefers practical effects where possible, although there is some body horror that draws on clever use of makeup and prosthetics augmented by some questionable CGI and visual effects to bring the mutant creatures to life. Cregger gives audiences some gross out moments of gore and bloody splatter horror, but the carnage is leavened with some touches of dark humour. The tense sequence set inside a remote farmhouse is one of the standout scenes, crackling with tension and atmosphere. Cregger maintains a fast pace throughout and the action unfolds within a tight 95 minutes.
Abrams has an affable quality and charming presence, and he gives a nicely balanced performance as the hapless Bryan, who is vulnerable and uncomfortable and full of nervous energy as he is pushed beyond his limits. He makes for a more believable and relatable hero for the franchise and audiences will find it easy to root for him as he discovers his nascent combat skills. He only knows guns from having played lots of violent video games himself. Paul Walter Hauser and Kali Reis briefly appear as a couple of Umbrella Corporation employees who arrive to escort Bryan to the hospital before they meet a rather nasty end.
Tom Hammock’s production design, especially for the interior of the Raccoon City General Hospital and the farm house is excellent.
Resident Evil is easily Cregger’s best film to date, and one of the best in the whole franchise. This post-apocalyptic horror film is also one of the best films of 2026.
★★★★
