Resident Evil (2026) Review

For twenty-plus years, Resident Evil movies have kept making the same mistake: they have treated the games as lore to be copied rather than experiences to be recreated. But it seems that Zach Cregger finally gets it. What matters isn’t which jacket Leon Kennedy is wearing, or how many Umbrella Corporation references can be squeezed into the background. What matters is being trapped somewhere horrible, low on ammunition and very aware that whatever is waiting around the next corner is probably going to be worse.

And that is exactly the situation facing Bryan, played by Austin Abrams, a medical courier given the seemingly simple task of delivering a package to Raccoon City General Hospital.

Unfortunately, Raccoon City has gone to hell.

Cregger strips the franchise right back. Bryan is not a soldier, cop or genetically enhanced action hero. He is an ordinary bloke who barely knows how to use a gun, panics constantly and reacts to each new monstrosity with roughly the same mixture of swearing and terror most sensible people would.

Abrams is terrific. His performance is the key to making this version work because Bryan never becomes effortlessly competent. He misses shots. He struggles with doors. He gets stuck. He complains. For most of the film, his survival feels less like heroism than a series of increasingly lucky accidents, and that’s what makes the experience feel more realistic and immersive. That simplicity gives Resident Evil its momentum.

The film moves much like the games do: Bryan reaches a location, encounters a problem, works out a solution, then discovers something revolting waiting on the other side. A blocked tunnel, an unresponsive lift or a locked gate becomes almost as important as the creatures themselves. And although the film isn’t shot from Bryan’s POV like a found footage horror, it might as well be.

Cregger understands that Resident Evil has always been as much about navigating hostile spaces as shooting zombies. And yes, there are plenty of zombies. But they’re just the first of many courses.

The franchise (which I have enjoyed much of) has always been at its best when biology goes completely wrong, and Cregger makes that the focal point. Mutated dogs, tentacled creatures and slimy, many-limbed abominations turn Raccoon City into a grotesque obstacle course. Cregger adds practical effects to give the monsters a weight and texture, which makes the inevitable bursts of gore far more satisfying. And there’s a lot of gore.

What is more surprising is how funny the film is, and how that somehow works so well with the horror. Bryan’s increasingly desperate reactions bring a streak of slapstick panic to proceedings. That taps into the ridiculousness that has always been part of Resident Evil, a series capable of moving from oppressive dread to rocket-launcher nonsense without flinching.

That tonal confidence is key because there isn’t actually much story here. Bryan has a destination. Horrible things stand between him and it. That’s essentially it.

Yet the lack of mythology becomes a strength. There are no long explanations, desperate attempts to service years of continuity or parades of familiar characters waiting for cheers. Cregger just takes the basic survival-horror rhythm and turns it into a 95-minute sprint.

It may lack the emotional weight of Weapons or the provocative streak of Barbarian, and the ending might not land quite as strongly as everything preceding it. But Resident Evil clearly isn’t trying to be either of those films. It wants to put you in Raccoon City, hand you barely enough bullets and make you very, very nervous about opening the next door. After seven previous live-action attempts, somebody has finally worked out that this was the whole point.

Resident Evil is bloody fun. And you won’t want it to end.

Movie Rating:

Resident Evil trailer