Archive · 18 Sep 2026
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Finds Fear in Familiar Territory
Resident Evil is about Bryan, an ordinary medical courier who accepts one last delivery for extra money.
He drives through the snow and discovers that people in Raccoon City are becoming violent and monstrous.
The package he carries may be connected to finding a cure.
Bryan is not a superhero, so he gets scared, makes mistakes and tries to survive.
The movie mixes frightening scenes with jokes that come from his confused reactions.
It includes disturbing creatures, dark places and video-game-like areas such as a hospital.
The film looks and sounds very good, especially during the creature attacks.
The reviewers found it exciting and creative, but said its repeated encounters and simple emotional story keep it from being truly haunting.
The film follows Bryan, an ordinary medical courier carrying a dangerous package through an infected Raccoon City.
Director Zach Cregger combines survival horror, black comedy, action and video-game-inspired filmmaking.
Austin Abrams anchors the movie with a fearful, funny and vulnerable performance as Bryan.
Creature effects, Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography, music and sound design are praised for creating a polished atmosphere.
The review finds the film energetic and inventive but criticizes its repetitive structure and limited emotional impact.
- Who
- Director Zach Cregger leads the film, with Austin Abrams as Bryan and supporting performances from Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis and Johnno Wilson.
- What
- A horror film about a medical courier carrying a potentially important package through a biological outbreak.
- When
- The film is listed as currently playing in theatres.
- Where
- The story takes place on snowy roads and in Raccoon City, including its General Hospital; the film is in theatres.
- Why
- Bryan must deliver the package to the General Hospital after an outbreak infects Raccoon City’s population, possibly making it important to finding a cure.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Story structure
Strengths
The film moves quickly, wastes little time and creates sustained anxiety through encounters such as the farmhouse, tunnel and hospital sequences.
Weaknesses
Bryan’s journey can feel like a checklist of increasingly grotesque locations and mutations moving toward an inevitable destination.
Tone and franchise approach
Strengths
Cregger successfully combines fear, black comedy and action while creating a new story that feels connected to the games without simply recreating them.
Weaknesses
The shift from atmospheric horror toward action-horror makes the film’s broad outline feel familiar and reduces its lasting emotional impact.
Character depth
Strengths
Austin Abrams gives Bryan a human centre by portraying his fear, confusion and improvised attempts to survive.
Weaknesses
The supporting characters receive limited development, and Bryan’s relationship subplot struggles to justify its place amid the action.
- Director
- Zach Cregger
- Lead actor
- Austin Abrams
- Runtime
- 94 minutes
- Setting
- Snowy roads and an infected Raccoon City
- Central premise
- A medical courier transports a dangerous package linked to Umbrella Corporation’s biological nightmare.
- Visual strengths
- Creature effects, cinematography, music and sound design
- Rating
- 2.5
