Review: ‘Resident Evil’ is a tense, action-packed tribute to the beloved game franchise
The 2026 film adaptation of the popular horror game series excellently captures the anxiety-inducing experience of playing its source material
By NATALIE SALTER — arts@theaggie.org
Film and television adaptations of video games can be hit or miss. The question of necessity lingers over their existence: What is the purpose of adapting a game for theaters when one can just play it? Is something lost when the control and freedom of the player, fundamental to gaming, is forsaken in favor of the hands-off experience of viewing a film?
Director Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil,” an original story adapted from the universe of the popular horror game franchise, is the latest attempt from a filmmaker to make this translation from controller to theater seat. While this is no small task, Cregger’s film stays true to the quirks and stylistic choices that make the original games so thrilling to play.
The “Resident Evil” horror game franchise began in 1996, and, as of this year, it has nine main installments and four remakes to its name. Each installment follows both new and established characters as they brave extraordinary horrors — from zombies and man-eating monsters to bioenhanced humans with fearsome capabilities.
The 2026 film follows Austin Abrams as medical courier Bryan, who is entrusted with delivering a package to the heart of Raccoon City. An accident on the road begins
Bryan’s plunge into the horrors of the city, which has been ravaged by a terrifying bioengineered virus.
The film’s focus on Bryan’s individual journey as he attempts to survive the horrors of Raccoon City echoes the single-player experience of the video games. It often feels as if the film is segmented into “levels,” each one with its own terrors and challenges. With little in the way of help from others, Bryan must move from building to building, monster to monster, enduring the ever-increasing nightmares of the night to complete his delivery.
Cregger’s film takes the most direct inspiration from “Resident Evil 2,” setting Bryan squarely within the setting of the Raccoon City outbreak that the series’ second game revolves around. As such, fans of the game franchise’s second entry in particular will most enjoy the film’s thoughtful references and homages.
From a typewriter conveniently placed in the center of a desk (in the games, players use typewriters as checkpoints to save their progress) to a green plant glimpsed through the window of a car (players collect herbs to heal), the film’s callbacks to its source material make it clear how much affection and care the filmmakers have for the original franchise.
The quirks and pop-cultural tropes of the franchise are not forgotten in this film, either; there is an ongoing bit about padlocked gates and the keys Bryan must collect to open them that playfully teases the games’ reliance on such puzzles. Likewise, eagle-eyed viewers may even spy a storefront bearing the name of Leon S. Kennedy, one of the original franchise’s most famed and popular characters as well as one of the two leads of “Resident Evil 2.”
The fact that “Resident Evil” strives to align more closely with the experience of playing a horror game than that of watching a horror film is what makes it succeed as an adaptation, preserving the essence of the game-playing experience. Bryan’s health and resource management are so integral to how the film plays out that viewers can practically see his proverbial health bar and inventory in the corner of every scene.
“I love the resource management aspect of the games and it was really important to me to bring that to the movie,” Cregger said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. “You will know how many bullets are in his gun. You will care when he misses a shot. That's one of the things that makes the games feel so intense and it translates really well into the film.”
Even viewers who have never previously engaged with the “Resident Evil” series will find the new film to be a thrilling ride, packed full of stomach-churning monstrosities and jump scares. Its premise — Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company contracted by the government to produce bioweapons, has accidentally unleashed a mutant virus onto the city — is straightforward enough that viewers unfamiliar with the corporation’s complex lore within the games will not be left confused.
Likewise, as a unique installment in the “Resident Evil” franchise, with a brand-new lead and its own especially horrifying monsters, the 2026 film both distinguishes itself from its predecessors and allows new fans to discover the world through fresh eyes. Between the heart-racing action and horror sequences of the film, audiences are able to establish an emotional connection with Bryan and his own personal motivations for survival.
The film’s near-exclusive focus on Bryan might have been its weakness in the hands of a lesser lead actor, but Abrams is excellent in the role. His performance balances fear and action with humor and emotion in such a way that he feels as fully realized as any “Resident Evil” leading character before him.
While enjoyable for viewers of any context, “Resident Evil” is perhaps most gratifying to watch for a longtime fan of the series. Clear to any player of the original games is the attention and care that went into the creation of this film, filled with callbacks and filmed intentionally to evoke the feeling of gameplay. For those just discovering this world of mutated terrors, it may be the very thing that inspires them to play the games for themselves.
Written by: Natalie Salter—arts@theaggie.org