Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Is Being Praised for Its Gore, Scares and Survival Horror
Cregger’s film tells an original story within the Resident Evil world rather than directly adapting one of Capcom’s games or revisiting characters from previous films.
Austin Abrams stars as Bryan, a medical courier whose routine delivery turns into a nightmare as he becomes caught in an outbreak in Raccoon City.
That decision to tell a new story inevitably raised questions about how closely the movie would capture the games’ identity. Based on early reactions, however, Cregger appears to have focused on recreating the experience rather than the plots.
Early viewers have repeatedly mentioned tension, limited resources, monsters, body horror and the feeling of being pushed from one dangerous encounter into another. Some have specifically compared watching the film to playing a Resident Evil game.
No Leon or Jill — But Plenty of Resident Evil DNA
One of the most interesting things about Cregger’s approach is what the film isn’t doing.
Rather than building its story around familiar game characters like Leon S. Kennedy or Jill Valentine, the movie introduces Bryan and places him in the wider world of Resident Evil.
Cregger co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten, with the story following Bryan through one increasingly chaotic night.
That gives the film room to use the mythology, creatures, and survival-horror mechanics associated with the franchise without reproducing the storyline of a particular game.
It’s a considerable gamble for a property with such a devoted fanbase, but the initial response suggests the approach may have worked.
The Horror Seems to Be Front and Centre
Perhaps the most encouraging part of the early response is just how often the horror itself is being mentioned.
The reactions describe a film filled with bloody violence, mutant creatures, suspense and body horror, while also retaining the strange humour that has become part of Cregger’s filmmaking style.
The director had already been adjusting that balance during production. Cregger recently revealed that test audiences found an earlier version of the film too funny, so he cut some of the comedy before release.
The finished movie is rated R in the US for strong bloody violence, gore and language, so this clearly isn’t a watered-down attempt to broaden the franchise for a family audience.
Can the Movies Finally Crack the Formula?
Hollywood has been trying to solve Resident Evil for more than two decades.
The six-film series beginning with Paul W. S. Anderson’s 2002 Resident Evil developed its own identity around Milla Jovovich’s Alice, while 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City attempted another reboot.
Cregger is now taking the property in another direction again.
This time, the difference may be the emphasis on reproducing the tension and unpredictability that made the games successful, rather than simply borrowing their characters and monsters.
Early reactions aren’t the same as a final critical consensus, of course, and audiences will ultimately decide whether this incarnation has finally found the right formula.
But two days before release, the signs are encouraging.
Resident Evil opens in cinemas on September 18, 2026.