Cregger's 'Resident Evil' Review: Relentless, Goofy, Game-Like — SkimNews
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- Zach Cregger directed a new "Resident Evil" film starring Austin Abrams as Bryan, a twentysomething delivery driver who hits a woman with his car and gets pulled into a zombie outbreak during an overnight snowstorm to Raccoon City
- The film runs about 85 minutes and is described as "lean, gripping, and relentless," starting mid-sentence and dropping its closing title card before a third act — praised for ropelike tentacles, slimy animatronic monsters, and immersive scares over CGI spectacle
- The movie reportedly captures the essence of playing the Resident Evil games — item management, real-time gun loading, awareness of local geography, and puzzle-solving under pressure — better than prior adaptations, despite eschewing franchise characters like Leon Kennedy and Albert Wesker and keeping only a reference to Umbrella Corporation
- Cregger's tone compares to his prior "Barbarian" and "Weapons" — gory, mean, and funny — though the "jokey funhouse tenor" loses steam after the opening 30 minutes once the protagonist encounters other characters, widening the scope in ways the critic found sillier
- The critic flags that the film lacks the "grim mythos" or manmade-biohazard context that lets the games tell ridiculous stories straight-faced, leaving Raccoon City without gravity beyond Bryan's stated anxieties about bringing a kid into a chaotic world
Why it matters: For the video-game-to-film pipeline — long considered a graveyard for IP — the review positions Cregger's "Resident Evil" as proof that a director can leverage brand recognition to secure budget and audiences without serving fans slavishly, succeeding by capturing gameplay feel (item scarcity, locked gates, geography awareness) over franchise lore. The cost, per the review, is the gravitas that made earlier Resident Evil games work — the movie reportedly trades mythology for "postmodern glee."
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