Movie Review: "Resident Evil" (2026)
Resident Evil Movie Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Released by Columbia Pictures & Sony
Directed by Zach Cregger
Written by Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten
2026, 90 minutes, Rated R
Released on September 18th, 2026
Starring:
Austin Abrams as Bryan Hodukavich
Paul Walter Hauser as Carl
Zach Cherry as Dave the Scientist
Kali Reis as Pauline
Review:
Man, it’s really not often that you get to experience a film based on a beloved, long-running video game series that gets it right. It’s even rarer for said film to turn out to be a bona fide, no-bullshit blend of action and horror that throws around so much practical gore that you need a rain slicker like you’re at a damn Gallagher show.
Where it gets cool is that this Resident Evil comes from the mind and heart of Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian), so you also get his signature blend of gallows humor and satire. And if that weren’t enough, he’s also a truly hardcore fan of the entire Resident Evil game series…and it shows in all the right ways (gotta love those numerous easter eggs).
Bryan Hodukavich (Austin Abrams; The Walking Dead) is a medical courier having a really shitty day. His girlfriend, Michelle, is pregnant, and he’s still in shock after reacting poorly to the news. He takes an extra assignment to run a “priority A-one” container to Raccoon City General Hospital up in the mountains. On the way up, he runs over a lady in the ice and snow outside of a farmhouse. That’s the start of a spiral of madness that could only be called Resident Evil.
Like Zach Cregger, I am a hardcore Resident Evil fan who has every game in the series and has beaten them all. I know my stuff, and I take it seriously. When I tell you that I couldn’t have been more impressed, it’s only slightly hyperbolic. Resident Evil is less of a straight-up story-that-you-know type of deal and much more of a tale from the RE Universe in the spirit of the O.G. game’s pacing and inability to even catch your breath (without a save room, that is). From a vibe standpoint, Cregger’s film is a fifty-point bullseye.
You’re assaulted with one set-piece horror show after another. The “jump street” scene is in many ways the mother of all these spectacles, but I’m utterly in love with the maternity ward scene. It’s goddamn gorgeous Grand Guignol of the highest order, and it makes zero apologies for baby horror. You must admire that from a pure horror fan’s perspective; Resident Evil is a John Carpenter-esque fever dream that runs at breakneck speed and really tries to outdo some of Carpenter and Bottin’s best stuff.
Counterbalancing that adrenaline-fueled fear is the razor-sharp satire and wit that Cregger infuses the film with. Austin Abrams is all of us- he’s got that “how the fuck did I get into this situation?!” energy mixed with an almost laid-back fuck it attitude. It’s just fun to watch. There are moments when Resident Evil flirts with being an out-and-out horror comedy…until it stops short with a vengeance.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is THE Resident Evil film that we’ve been waiting for. That’s not shade thrown at the previous films. They have their own charm and continuity. But this Resident Evil made me feel like it was 1996 again, and judging by the way so many folks I saw in the packed screening were twitching and jumping like they had a controller in their hands, I don’t think I’m the only one.
Grade:
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
