In the span of just a few short years, Zach Cregger has gone from being one of the dudes on The Whitest Kids U’ Know and the co-director and star of the critically reviled Miss March to becoming one of the most exciting and successful filmmakers in the horror genre. His breakout debut as a solo writer-director was 2022’s Barbarian, which he followed with an even bigger financial and critical smash in the form of 2025’s Weapons. The movie became a bona fide fixture of popular culture in a way few films do anymore and even won an Academy Award in the process.

Now, barely a year later, Cregger is back with his third horror film: a new take on the tried-and-true Resident Evil franchise. The series has been a mainstay for gamers and genre fanatics alike for decades and has received numerous adaptations over the years. There have been Matrix-indebted live-action movies, Netflix television seasons, and animated films, the vast majority of which have been lackluster. Yet, of all the possibilities, this was what Cregger personally wanted to make following the success of Weapons.

So, what exactly does a Zach Cregger Resident Evil movie look like? A truly fucking great time at the movies, that’s what.

TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT “RESIDENT EVIL”

5. An Actual Adaptation

In the months leading up to the film’s release, as marketing materials began to roll out, an unexpected and truly stupid discourse started following the movie and Cregger wherever they went. A small but obnoxiously loud subsection of the Resident Evil fan base became enraged that the film would not include the games’ main characters and worried that Cregger was not taking the whole thing seriously enough.

This was an idiotic concern from the start, given the sheer number of Resident Evil adaptations that already exist, many of which have shoehorned game characters into their stories with incredibly poor results. After seeing the film, however, the entire controversy becomes even goofier because Cregger’s movie engages with the Resident Evil gaming experience in a way none of the previous adaptations have come close to matching.

It is a highly cinematic experience that uses original characters and takes bold swings, but through all of that, Cregger manages to translate the franchise’s best attributes to the screen in a palpable way. It is far better than any one-to-one adaptation of one of the games could have ever been.

4. The Filmmaking is Great

Working with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, Cregger crafts a visual language that is accomplished and dynamic in all the best ways. The story opens with its protagonist, Bryan, played by Austin Abrams, being tasked with transporting a bag of medical supplies across town. The film unfolds in real time as this journey progresses and the world around him descends into virus-infected chaos. Delightfully, from the movie’s very first shots, Cregger is hellbent on placing audiences directly in the middle of the madness, right alongside Bryan.

And it works like a fucking charm. The production design is awe-inspiring and expansive, while the editing is precise and meticulous in pulling off the film’s insane tonal balancing act. Through all of the breakneck-paced insanity, Cregger still manages to keep audiences grounded in a clear sense of time, place, and character.

3. Austin Abrams is Fantastic

Which brings us to the next logical point: Austin Abrams is astonishing in this. Abrams was a standout performer in Weapons last year, showcasing phenomenal comedic sensibilities. Here, Cregger quadruples down on Abrams’ gifts, and the result is an extremely off-kilter leading-man performance that the movie thrives on.

Previous Resident Evil movies often seemed more concerned with whether their leather-clad protagonists looked cool enough while performing slow-motion kicks, firing dual guns, or using telepathic abilities. Don’t ask—the Paul W. S. Anderson movies got weird. Cregger’s Resident Evil, however, centers on a regular dude having authentic reactions to the batshit insanity unfolding around him. He is never cool and is frequently completely out of his depth, which enhances both the film’s humor and horror.

Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten’s script certainly deserves credit for this, but a tremendous amount of praise must also be heaped upon Abrams. He knocks this shit out of the park and, in the process, becomes an unconventional scream queen for the history books.

2. Blending Tones to No End

The level at which Cregger is operating here is truly deranged. Weapons showcased how much the filmmaker had matured in just a handful of years, demonstrating his ability to construct gags that inspire laughter and terror simultaneously. Resident Evil sees him continuing to play within that sandbox while reaching new heights. It is an incredibly funny movie, yet the humor never detracts from the horror. Rather, Cregger clearly has a penchant for getting audiences to laugh and lowering their defenses before hitting them with one of the most fucked-up haymakers they have ever seen.

There are some absolutely incredible, expertly staged scares throughout this thing, with Cregger utilizing classical suspense techniques alongside old-school shock tactics. Somewhat miraculously, he is frequently able to use those scares to build toward even bigger laughs. It all feels deeply indebted to Hitchcock’s approach of using humor to release tension, allowing him to ratchet things up even further afterward. Here, Cregger delivers an absolute thrill ride of shifting tones and genre influences.

1. The Ending

The less said about the final few minutes of Resident Evil, the better. I will simply say that they elevated what was already a ludicrously enjoyable film in my estimation. Much like the closing moments of Weapons before it, Resident Evil takes an unexpected narrative, thematic, and tonal turn. Yet, it manages to make that shift feel completely earned, paying off the character development and themes established throughout the film in deeply fascinating ways.

It absolutely rules and further showcases just how willing Cregger is to go against the grain in service of delivering the best film possible.

RGM RATING

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is the equivalent of someone strapping you to a nuclear-powered engine and just letting it run for an hour-and-a-half. It is a non-stop blitzkrieg of adrenaline and genre-indebted glee, and I absolutely adored it.

Will Jones