Resident Evil (2026) Review

Zach Cregger is intimately familiar with the video game experience. He knows about receiving (and immediately disregarding) instructions from NPCs. He knows about starting an optional side-quest and “nope”-ing out when you realize it’s not worth it. And he, most importantly, knows that snow levels are always the best.

Resident Evil is a reboot of the franchise that asks nothing of its audience other than “be ready to have fun”. The story also serves as a prequel to the universe that tees up future films for a home run. For that reason, it did earn the prestigious, eponymous title. Everyone that had a great time watching this will no doubt see any future installment that follows and builds upon this (simple) foundation.

The first half of the movie harkens back to some of my favorite horror thrillers: 30 Days of Night and The Thing. Not just because of the snow, but also because of the gritty “no hot people” aesthetic (which is sneakily the hottest aesthetic a movie could have).

Cregger re-united with Ryan and Hays Holladay from Weapons for the dreadful (full of dread) synth score that will find you involutarily furrowing your brow and gritting your teeth. It’s the kind of soundscape that feels like it arises naturally when you’re just thinking about the story. In some way, it’s like a more ambient, modernized GoldenEye N64 soundtrack.

Several tense action sequences felt like a natural evolution of Cregger’s previous work. We see the problem solving from Barbarian, the chaotic escapes from Weapons, and this time even the humor from The Whitest Kids U’ Know.

Austin Abrams plays a millennial Joe Six-Pack (of Liquid Death, probably). Most of the laughs of the film are provided by Abrams’ pro choice and, presumptively, pro gun-control character being thrown into a world of violating individual autonomy and shooting people in the face. I would praise Abrams’ performance here, but it doesn’t even feel like a performance. For an actor, that may be the highest praise I could possibly give.

Paul Walter Hauser shows up at the midpoint and provides a well-earned respite from the action. I am a big PWH fan, but I’m not sure if the casting was correct on this one. Abrams was already playing the bumbling fool. A “straight man” against Abrams may have played stronger, and better for this side character as well.

Is the humor too much at times? For a standalone prequel that reintroduces the universe of Resident Evil to a wider audience, it works! However, if future sequels ever expand on this initial outbreak, they may have difficulty portraying some of these characters in a more serious light. An avoidable problem with some finagling.

The second half of the movie is like the latter half of a video game. Unfortunately, I only rarely finish video games once I get to the middle point. Likewise this movie didn’t hold my interest once the character was sufficiently “leveled up”. Ironically, the video games that I finish are the ones with strong stories and characters that draw me in. There is certainly a lesson in there; and I think Cregger knows it already. But regardless, this was a wild ride and definitely worth the price of admission.