Resident Evil: Resident Evil (2026). Zach Cregger threw out the lore of the franchise and shot the best horror of the year

Brian (Austin Abrams) works as a medical courier. He learns that his girlfriend Michelle is pregnant, is frightened by the conversation, and escapes into an overnight delivery to a hospital in Raccoon City. On the way through the blizzard, he knocks down a woman in a summer dress. A woman doesn't die. She gets up. And the bloody game of survival begins.

This is not a story about superheroes with rings. This is a story about a half-hearted guy who can't fight, doesn't have a weapon, and doesn't know what to do. That's why the movie works.

Cregger and co-writer Shay Hutten deliberately turned down the classic Resident Evil lore. No Leon, Jill or Chris. No Umbrella Corporation as the main villain. Instead, they made it feel like you were playing Resident Evil yourself. Limited resources. Ongoing threat. Dark corridors. And the horrible thought that there will be something worse behind the next door than behind sincerely does not understand why this is happening withiTC writes that his half-hearted hero creates a realistic contrast to the classic stamps of the genre. The New York Times notes that much of the humor rests simply on how Abrams screams in fear or mutters something suspiciously.

The balance of fear and laughter. It's the thinnest thing in the movie. Cregger doesn't do horror comedy. He makes a horror in which laughter arises naturally, from the absurdity of the situation. HCL notes that on test screenings, viewers thought the film was too funny, so the director cut out most of the jokes. And it did good. The Playlist praises Kregger's dedication to mythology and visual style, making Brian feel like part of the world rather than a guest in it.

Cruelty. The film is not afraid to be disgusting. The Playlist writes that Kregger accepts grotesque mutations and ugly body mountain. a horror that wants you to tense up.

Fresh Approach: Mezha writes that the big mistake most video game adaptations make is an obsessive urge to cram into a limited timelineall the mythology for hardcore fans. Cregger and Hatten took a bold step and almost completely abandoned the classic lore. And this is what allowed the film to work as an independent horror.

What didn't work

Final. The ITC explicitly calls the final crumpled and one that can somewhat spoil the overall viewing experience. This is not a disaster. But after a tight, tense middle, the film seems to be in a hurry to end.

Few zombies. The ITC notes that someone may not have enough screen time for the zombies themselves. The film is more about the atmosphere of persecution and survival than about the hordes of the dead. If you've been waiting for a classic zombie action, this might come as a surprise.

Fancy. The ITC warns that someone may not get into Kregger's bizarre approach. It's not a universal blockbuster. It's shoulders.

What critics and ratings

say

It is the best rated film in the Resident Evil franchise and one of the best video game adaptations in history. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 96-98% of the critics. Metacritic gives 79out of 100. IMDb holds 7.8-7.9 out of 10. CinemaScore gave it a B+, which is the highest score in the franchise. The audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes reached 91-92%.

The box office is also a record. $60 million for the first three days in North America. $108.3 million for the first weekend in the world. This is the best start in Kregger's career and the best start in the franchise.

My rating

I'm not a fan of the Resident Evil franchise. I played a couple of parts, but I don't remember the names of most of the characters. And that's why this movie came to me. Cregger doesn't require you to know Laura. He just throws you into a dark hallway and tells you to run.

Abrams is great. He doesn't try to be cool. He's scared, confused, and a little helpless. It makes it real. The atmosphere is dense. Humor is inappropriate just enough to defuse in the best sense of the word.

But the ending is really crumpled. And if you've been waiting for a classic zombie movie with hordes of dead, you won't get them. This is a survival horror, not a zombie war.