RESIDENT EVIL (2026)

With Zach Cregger at the helm and Austin Abrams delivering a personable leading turn, Resident Evil succeeds as a seriously scary and infectiously entertaining blend of gory body-horror and survival thriller.

A reboot of the popular video-game movie franchise, the charm and success of Resident Evil circa 2026 lies in the fact that franchise fandom is not needed to enjoy the delightfully diabolical horrors that director and writer Zach Cregger (Weapons) delivers during the film’s 95-minute runtime.

It is a sigh of relief for those of us who are uninitiated in the ways of the video-game property and its numerous Milla Jovovich-led film adaptations. There’s nothing worse than feeling like a pop-quiz is needed to enjoy the pleasures of a horror (or any) movie, and kudos to the in-demand and on-fire Cregger for making his Resident Evil film franchise-burden-free.

Someone who is feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, however, is Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier whose life just got a whole lot messier when he finds out mid-job that his girlfriend (Sarah Paxton) is pregnant. When Bryan takes on a last-minute job to transport a critical package to a hospital in Raccoon City, little does he know he will embark on a night from hell as a contagion transforming living creatures into monstrous mutated versions of themselves rapidly spreads across the nation.

Cregger wisely chose his protagonist be an everyman (perhaps even one step below) who proves to be both brave and pathetic at the same time. Abrams brings a relatable charm to his role, with Bryan’s reactions to a world turned inside-out and inhabited by humans-turned-mutated-monsters — imagine the bio-zombies of 28 Days Later mixed with the shape-shifting creatures of The Thing — effective in its realism and even funny at times (Bryan’s curse-filled mutterings to himself is wholly relatable.)

Cregger’s introduction of the varied monsters of his Resident Evil escalates in their design and scare/ick factor. Legendary special effects creator Shane Mahan (Alien: Romulus) and his Legacy Effects team do outstanding work in producing monsters of substance and high scares, resulting in a new creature-feature classic that is as uncompromising in its horror as its ability to entertain.

Resident Evil marks Cregger’s first foray into IP, with his previous works all originals written by his hand. While Resident Evil is indeed great, the potential for Cregger to be sucked into the IP whirlpool — much like Denis Villeneuve and Matt Reeves on Dune and Batman (respectively) — is very high. Fingers crossed Cregger will refuse the infectious lure of franchise filmmaking and have this Resident Evil be a highly satisfying one and done.