Resident Evil (2026) Movie Review - A Darkly Funny, Entertaining Mess That Falls Short

A new era of evil.

Resident Evil is a 2026 horror film directed by Zach Cregger, written by Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten, produced by Columbia Pictures, Constantin Film, Davis Films, Vertigo Entertainment, and PlayStation Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film is based off of Capcom's video game franchise of the same name. It stars Austin Abrams and Paul Walter Hauser. It is the eighth film in the Resident Evil franchise, albeit the second reboot. It was preceded by Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

"Anybody order a kidney, or a liver, or something?" - Bryan

Plot

Bryan, a nervous medical courier, is tasked with delivering a package to Raccoon City...unaware of the horrors that await him in the dying city.

The Sweet

I am not a Resident Evil fan. I've never played the games. I have never seen any of the previous movies. I have absolutely zero connection to this franchise, so by all extents, I shouldn't have been excited about this film. But it was definitely one I was looking forward to, because director Zach Cregger is one of the most exciting new voices in horror. Barbarian was a terrifying debut in the horror genre, and then Weapons was one of the best horror films of the 2020s, so Cregger's future films will always be on my radar. Thus, I was excited for Resident Evil.

Zach Cregger has said that he wanted this film to feel like the experience of playing a Resident Evil game, where the characters are solving minor tasks, fumbling with resources, keeping track of their weapons, and more. In that sense, this movie succeeds with flying colors. I actually learned that that was the primary goal of the film after watching it, and I think that retrospectively made me like it more. It's a really clever way to adapt a video game, to try and recapture the experience of the survival horror. The film is structured so that you put yourself in the lead character's shoes and ask yourself what you would do in his situation, which further invests you in this world and this mission that he's on. That's where Resident Evil works as a unique video game adaptation. It basically works as an experiential film, and for that, I give it major props.

The movie also gets really crazy with some of the visuals and set pieces. The movie starts off as this small-scale, tense mystery where you are wondering exactly what is happening in this city, and it slowly continues ramping up the stakes and tension, getting crazier and crazier as it goes along. The monsters in the film look really, really cool. Again, I know nothing about the Resident Evil franchise, so I don't know if the zombie-esc things that are in this film are from the games, but either way, they look really cool. It gets very Lovecraftian with these tentacled, grotesque mutations of the human body, and it really got under my skin at one point. These creatures are nasty and memorable, and it's hard to make monsters like that in today's day and age. There are so many zombies and undead creatures in media, so to have cool, disgusting designs in a reboot of a 30-year-old video game franchise adaptation is really, really impressive.

The movie is also a slick, quick ninety minutes, and I appreciate that. It moves at a very brisk pace and is loaded with plenty of action, jokes, and scares, so you are never bored. When I said entertaining in the headline, I meant that. It's very easy to be entertained by this movie. Zach Cregger knows how to keep an audience engaged in a story with a fun, exciting adventure, no matter how horrifying the situation continues to get. So many movies are long and drawn out and slow-paced nowadays, so any movie that doesn't overstay it's welcome is a huge breath of fresh air for me.

The movie is also very funny. This seems to be the most divisive aspect of the film, and it's divisive for me as well, but the comedy is here, whether you like it or not. Austin Abrams has a good sense of comedic timing, and Zach Cregger has always known how to blend horror and comedy beautifully. Barbarian and Weapons are both very funny movies, and Resident Evil continues that trend. There's just something hilarious about a very real-seeming, very relatable guy reacting to these insane, horrifying situations in the way most humans would react. He is in constant disbelief of the stuff going on around him, which is how we would all be if these crazy zombie mutations appeared around us.

Look. If you are going to the movies to be entertained for ninety minutes, Resident Evil is a fine choice. It's fun, easy entertainment. I'm about to get into my negatives, and there's a significant amount, but I want it to be clear that this, while not high cinema, is a fun enough movie.

The Sour

Resident Evil was, to me, a disappointment.

Zach Cregger's strengths with Barbarian and Weapons were so unique to those films - the way they were structured, the revealing of information, and the perfect blend of genuinely funny moments with absolute nightmare fuel made for some of the best and most memorable horror films of the 2020s. Resident Evil doesn't have those things. It's meant to be an experiential film rather than a cleverly built story. It's very straightforward and simple, which wouldn't normally be a negative, but it makes the movie feel more generic than I would like it to. Barbarian and Weapons were so unique that I expected Resident Evil to have that same sense of unpredictability and weirdness. Instead, I got an experiential zombie-adjacent movie that doesn't really feel like it has Cregger's stamp on it.

The biggest criticism that I've seen about the film is, of course, the comedy. This is another thing that holds it back from being anywhere close to Barbarian and Weapons. Those two films knew how to use comedy to elevate the horror, which is what the best scary movies do. As the stakes in Resident Evil ramp up, so does the comedy. By the end of the movie, it feels more like a horror comedy than a horror movie. Characters make dumb, irrational decisions and say dumb, irrational things to get a laugh out of the audience, not because the situation calls for some quip or humor. The ending gets so ridiculous that it almost feels like slapstick. Instead of elevating the horror and the stakes, it undercuts it. All of the tension is gone, all of the air is let out of the balloon, because the characters feel the need to constantly quip and do dumb things so the audience can laugh.

This relates to the problem with the comedy, but this movie feels like one of the worst cases of the "horror movie characters making dumb decisions" trope. This is obviously one of the most famous clichés in scary movies, because characters need to usually be dumb enough to put themselves in an obvious horror situation. Resident Evil, however, slowly loses its logic as the movie goes on. Right before the third act starts, there's a clear moment where other characters could help our lead character avoid all of the zombies and horror that he will have to navigate...but they don't, because the movie needs a third act. Characters start making decisions to service the plot, not because they make sense or because it makes sense within their established flaws. That makes the movie feel unnatural and inorganic. This pretty clearly feels like the weakest screenplay of Cregger's three horror movies (and, funnily enough, this is the only one that he co-wrote), and I think that's beacuse the movie lacks any real logic. It's very, very frustrating in the way that it tries to ramp up the tension with these brainless, stupid decisions that the characters make.

The movie slowly gets worse as it goes on, and beyond all of the stuff I've already mentioned, I think a lot of that may actually be due to our lead character. Austin Abrams is good and Bryan is funny, but he is in basically every shot of the movie. We spend a full runtime with him, and his repetitive humor and quirky personality just get a little bit annoying. At some point, his reactions to all of the horror stop being funny and just start being annoying. The way he screams is so comedic and, again, slapstick-y, which just makes the film feel less intense and less scary. Hearing him constantly swear and react in the same way just becomes exhausting by the end, and I wish they would've given him something else to do. The movie tries to give him a little bit of an arc with his girlfriend and his fear of commitment, but his character flaws and need to change do not get explored by the story we are experiencing. Any time they try to tie something back to his girlfriend, it felt like the movie forcing itself to pause for drama rather than naturally integrating it into the story.

The ending is also, in my opinion, just bad. I know I've been sort of harping on it throughout this negative section, but I really, really didn't like the way this movie wrapped up. Beyond the ridiculous actions of the characters, this feels like the most predictable route that the movie could have taken. Cregger's third acts are controversial no matter what: as great as Weapons and Barbarian are, even they are scrutinized for their endings. Resident Evil, though, picks a route that feels so obvious and unsatisfying. Weapons and Barbarian at least wrap their stories up in a divisive way. Resident Evil feels like it doesn't even really end, the credits just had to roll at some point.

I think the biggest and final negative I have is that this film does not do enough to differentiate itself from any other zombie / outbreak movie. I think the idea of trying to re-create the experience of a Resident Evil game in cinematic form does work and is interesting, but it's not enough to stop this movie from feeling like the million other projects in the same vein. Almost every frame reminded me of The Last of Us or 28 Days or even Night of the Living Dead. We've seen deserted cities. We've seen creepy homes. We've seen rotting hospitals and blocked roads full of zombies. Resident Evil just does all that from the perspective of trying to be a horror game on the silver screen. And I just don't think that idea can carry a whole movie.

Final Thoughts and Score

Resident Evil is superficially entertaining, but the survival horror experience is not enough to save this movie from bad logic, overused comedy, and a frustratingly generic story.

I am going Sour here. Age range is 15+.

SWEET N' SOUR SCALE

Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad)

Moldy (Terrible)

"Resident Evil"

Fun Factor: 7.5/10

Acting: 7/10

Story: 4/10

Characters: 3.5/10

Quality: 5/10

Directed by Zach Cregger

Rated R for strong bloody violence, frightening themes and images, language, thematic elements

Released on September 18, 2026

1 hour and 35 minutes

Austin Abrams as Bryan

Paul Walter Hauser as Paul

Zach Cherry as Carl

Kali Reis as Maxine

Will Merrick as Dave

Jo Martin as Andrea Vasquez

Emily Piggford as Dr. Maria Stokes

Johnno Wilson as Sheriff Wilson

Sara Paxton as Michelle