After two cleverly structured and original horror films, writer-director Zach Cregger’s decision to follow up with a reboot of a video game film series is apt to feel both inevitable and disappointing. The cycle of new cinematic voices emerging, only to be swallowed up immediately by the ravenous IP machine. On closer inspection the timeline is slightly less cynical than it first appears. While Resident Evil (2026) follows closely on the heels of last year’s Weapons, it originated from a concept Cregger himself pitched to the franchise’s German production company, Constantin Films, before his breakout debut Barbarian (2022) was released.

Cregger has framed himself during the film’s promotional tour as an avid fan of the Capcom games, not the Milla Jovovich-fronted film series originated by journeyman genre filmmaker Paul W. S. Anderson. This has not spared him from pre-release criticism online, primary themes being his transposition of the plot’s timeframe to the present day and creation of an original lead character instead of utilising existing favourites. Cregger has amusingly stated that after this experience he won’t work in existing franchises again – if so, music to this reviewer’s ears. You sense he has learnt faster than most one of life’s most important lessons: never try to make a gamer happy. You can’t do it and it will only make things worse.

Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a medical courier nearing the end of his shift when, much to the chagrin of his newly pregnant girlfriend, he accepts one more job delivering an important but unidentified package to a hospital in Raccoon City. The winding snowbound journey is already treacherous enough in a station wagon with no tyre chains, before a strange woman (Andrea Miltner) runs in front of his car. Upon investigation the woman is not where she should be. When Bryan finally locates her she’s contorted and sporting some pretty unusual injuries, but then again she has just been hit by a Subaru.

Bryan’s attempt to drive the woman to hospital himself is interrupted by a local sheriff (Johnno Wilson) who agrees to take her in his police vehicle with Bryan in convoy. Bryan’s instinct, that being in close proximity to this woman for too long may not have been a good idea anyway, is soon vindicated when the sheriff inexplicably veers off the road and flips, killing him in the process. The injured woman is of course nowhere to be found. From here the plot is essentially a zombie version of the one-wacky-night genre – Bryan must make it to the hospital to deliver his package, while managing the ever-increasing threats posed by a series of people (and animals) turned to mutated monstrosities by a horrible infection.

The irony of fans critiquing the film’s lack of adherence to the games settings or lore is that it’s hard to imagine a film more dedicated to emulating the gameplay mechanics of its source material than this one. It’s a clear creative decision by Cregger, and will inevitably divide opinion.

For the vast majority of the film the camera follows Bryan in third person – we see what he sees and experience things as he experiences them. Bryan’s ability to stay alive and progress towards his destination is dependent on searching for (or stumbling upon) weapons or items, and his ability to problem solve, often by trial and error. Escalating threats that Bryan must handle present themselves at rhythmically consistent intervals. Keys and padlocks feature heavily. The feeling of gunfire in the games is evocatively reproduced for the screen – defensive, panicked and pressured by the surprise arrival of enemies who close space too fast for a graceful response. The main exposition dump, delivered knowingly by Paul Walter Hauser as a representative of the ethically questionable Umbrella Corporation, comes in the recognisable clunky cadence of many a burst of action sci-fi game dialogue.

All of this is done with a stylistic confidence that goes a long way to justify the approach. Some of the film’s visual achievements are significant. Cregger’s talent for well choreographed movement on screen and communicating space to an audience was already apparent in Weapons, and is on full display here, a particular highpoint involving the persistent red and blue flashing lights of the upside down sheriff’s vehicle colouring the snow in the background of the shot every time Bryan exits a farmhouse and barn he investigates in the aftermath.

Properly conveying the terror of a horde is something that’s often lost in modern zombie films as programmed computer sprites replace extras and makeup artists, but there’s a set-piece here in the latter half where increasingly overwhelming numbers of infected residents begin running across the rooftops en masse that’s pure spectacle. There’s some creature design that’s first rate too before it starts to groan under the weight of the amount of CGI on screen, viscerally disgusting creatures with legs and arms that appear unexpectedly from the darkness.

Abrams is in strong form. His jittery screen presence and vocalisation of every reaction are both assets in the challenging task of being primary point of focus and audience stand-in for the entirety of the film’s runtime. At times the script (written by Cregger alongside collaborator Shay Hatten) lets him down, dropping unexpectedly into dated meta-sarcasm that’s well beneath the rest of the endeavour. But even then Abrams does his best to sell it. Kali Reis as a bodyguard for Umbrella Corp and Zach Cherry as a scientist also make strong appearances. Every small role is well cast.

There’s ultimately an underlying question about the film that’s hard to shake – perhaps you can make a film that hews to the structure and experience of a videogame this tightly and come out with something enjoyable and interesting. But do you lose something of cinema’s best qualities in the process? Or put another way, is there simply a better film to be made from the same story if you don’t? I’d argue the answer is clearly yes. But it’s nonetheless hard to dispute that Resident Evil is about as good an execution of this concept as you could hope for.

 

Resident Evil is currently playing in Australian cinemas.