Resident Evil Review: Zach Cregger’s Hilarious Gorefest is the Best Video Game Adaptation in Years
Reuniting with the in-demand horror filmmaker after Weapons, Austin Abrams plays a medical courier whose late-night delivery turns into a life-threatening disaster
by Lana Thorn 16 September 2026
Sony Pictures Entertainment
In an age where reliable intellectual property reigns supreme, seeing Barbarian and Weapons writer-director Zach Cregger, a filmmaker known for his twisting original horror movies, make a Resident Evil film is something a surprise. In fact, as both a reboot of the successful film series and another adaptation of the cult video games, it’s a project with double the IP cred. Fortunately, Sony’s September blockbuster is far more than a rudimentary retread of a Resident Evil movie. Gripping, gooey, and raucously funny, Resident Evil is Cregger’s best film yet. This is the kind of edge-of-your-seat, wild ride that reminds us why we love going to the movies.
Eschewing the multi-perspective, intertwining narratives of his previous two features, Cregger’s version of Resident Evil follows a bumbling medical courier named Bryan (Austin Abrams). While navigating personal issues over the phone (his girlfriend is taking a pregnancy test, and he’s not ready to be a father), Bryan decides to postpone both the end of his shift and the inevitable in-person conversation with his partner when he’s offered double his usual rate for a late-night delivery. The only problem is the heavy snow and icy roads, but he lies about having the necessary tyre chains and takes off into the night. What follows involves an outbreak, a slew of mutated creatures, and a whole lot of Bryan running for his life.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Carrying the film on his back, Austin Abrams is phenomenal. Expanding on the amusing energy of his performance in Weapons, he proves a perfect muse for Zach Cregger’s brand of horror comedy. Abrams ensures that Bryan essentially fulfils the role of a novice gamer taking on a series of increasingly challenging levels, imbuing him with an endearing, clumsy everyman quality that allows viewers to invest in him without growing frustrated by his less-than-intelligent choices.
With a moody wintry setting, abundant practical effects, and inventive creature design, Resident Evil brings its world to life with verve. And viewing it through multiple POV sequences, the film faithfully translates the rush of playing a video game to the big screen, honouring the IP while managing to make something truly original. With Cregger crafting a standalone narrative inspired by the games, it’s a relief to see just how unburdened this film is by run-of-the-mill fan service.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
At an extra-lean 90 minutes, Resident Evil finds Cregger evolving as a filmmaker, proving that he has more tricks than a Magnolia-esque narrative web while retaining the unpredictable, livewire energy that made Weapons and Barbarian so impactful. It was an important film to get right — greenlit before but arriving after Cregger’s rise to the upper tier of the buzzy horror auteur list — and the director now has three horror hits to his name.
Offering a thrilling blueprint for how to reinvent IP, Resident Evil is an audacious, relentless spectacle engineered to be seen with a crowd on the biggest screen possible.