Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Review: A Chaotic, Unpredictable Return to Raccoon City

Resident Evil (2026) was directed by Zach Cregger an american comedian, actor and filmmaker. He created his adaptation of the game Resident evil and has taken a different perspective of the game in comparison to Paul w.s Anderson's versions. Cregger deliberately created an adaption that is not a straight copy of the games to introduce an original story that is able to exist alongside the games. The Actor, Austin Abrams who played the protagonist, Bryan is a medical courier who gets dragged into a catastrophic night in Raccoon city.  Zach treats his adaptation of resident evil as more of survival than traditional horror films which created an immense sense of anticipation for the audience. His barbarian background has allowed him to bring more unpredictable and uncomfortable styles of horror which creates more novelty for the audience, giving us something we are not used to.

Resident evil is a film that feels more modern and gen z focused which connects to internet humour and meme culture without making the film feel like a joke and not disconnected from the horror aspects. Cregger also does not create an invincible hero but instead creates characters who feel young and overwhelmed. This resonates with younger audiences as well. I feel the film was very paced and did not take long to get to the point where in this day and age we can agree that our attention spans are shorter. Zach Cregger was able to create an atmosphere where the film was terrifying but also that sense of humour and ridiculousness of the situation. I felt this made the film more intriguing. Bryan was a character who felt not like a hero but still wanted to help as much as he could. He was confused but also kept pursuing the goal at hand. He does not always know what he is doing but that is what makes the film more anticipating when you do not know what he is going to do next or what is going to happen next. His reactions are real and how a person may react. Unlike in Anderson’s films where the audience feels powerful alongside the character , cregger created an atmosphere where u feel vulnerable alongside Bryan. You want to see how he makes it out.

However, Bryan’s character can feel underdeveloped as if we didn't get to know him as much because there were not many chances for him to breathe. The film can be very chaotic and depending on the person it can feel like too much but i personally thought it kept the anticipation up. It felt like a do-or-die situation. The resident evil adaptation could have also felt off to others due to the unserious comedy mixed with the serious horror which made the film not feel as if the stakes were high enough. Some audiences may have felt that the humour was too much and did not match the straight survival horror. It also has been a let down to audiences who expected a direct adaptation of the games. I do believe that it would have been interesting to see a direct adaptation of the games but I also think that the fact that it is more of an original story makes it more intriguing and that it brings something more connecting to gen z audiences. The film was very fast paced which also did not allow us to get enough information about the other characters and their backstories but hopefully Zach Cregger is able to dig deeper into his adaptation of the story a lot more in the future films.

Overall, I personally think that resident evil was a very good film and it kept the anticipation going throughout. The jumpscares were there and got me a few times but it also felt like I could relate to Bryan's character as him being a young person who has that sense of humour. I will also say that the soundtrack of the film was very good and kept me glued to the screen. Zach created a film that felt immersive and unique due to his original approach. I felt there were some predictable scenes but the film was still good. He also had some POV shots which did feel like a videogame and he had me questioning ‘How is Bryan still Alive?’ I do think that Bryan was not always scared enough but at the same time though how could he even react. My friend also felt the film was ‘thrilling’ but felt the characters were ‘hesitant’. I believe that the film does need a few tweaks and has its negatives and positives but overall Resident Evil was worth it.