Bryan is a medical courier, with bills to pay and a baby on the way. He’s got a job to do, and very little choice whether to do it or not. It’s a simple task: deliver a mysterious medical package to Raccoon City General Hospital. Seems easy enough, right? Yet over the course of one night, Bryan will have to endure horrors unexplainable and insurmountable as he attempts to survive. The latest film from acclaimed horror writer/director Zach Cregger, Resident Evil is a lean, mean horror film that’s equally as campy and gnarly as the titanic gaming franchise it’s based on, wonderfully adapting how it feels to play the games and experience the mutated terrors Raccoon City has to offer.
Now, with a horror gaming franchise as long-running, influential and prolific as Resident Evil, there’s almost bound to be many cinematic adaptations over the course of it’s existence. With over eleven mainline titles in the series to date, including this year’s acclaimed Resident Evil: Requiem, this is actually the eighth film based on the games, and the third reboot, following a six-film series starring Milla Jovovich and directed by Paul W.S Anderson, and the semi-disastrous 2021 Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City , which attempted to adapt the first and second games in the series to poor results. Production company Constantin Film, the rights holders for the franchise, mulled over what to do for the next few years, before eventually bringing in Zach Cregger, director of Barbarian and Weapons, to helm the latest filmic iteration. Cregger quickly made the decision to not directly adapt any game, instead aiming to capture the feeling and sensation of playing the games. Cregger stated that:
I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games.
Which seemingly factors into every decision about every element of the film, resulting in a loving ode to the legendary game series and a thrilling, fun horror movie that wonderfully captures the spirit of Capcom’s beloved set of horror titles.
As aforementioned previously, the plot follows a young medical courier named Bryan, who works delivering packages between hospitals, usually containing vital organs or essential surgery ingredients. Upon learning that his girlfriend Michelle is pregnant, Bryan decides to accept a ‘quick’ delivery job to Raccoon City, a metropolis buried deep in the Appalachian mountains. Impeded by the ice and bitter cold of winter in the countryside, Bryan accidentally hits a pedestrian with his car, and proceeds to have a truly phenomenally terrible night as he desperately tries to deliver the package and continue with his life as normal. It’s a simple, effective premise, one that harkens back to the very roots of the series, where character motivations were often as simple as ‘attend your first day at work’ or ‘go look for your missing brother’. This straightforward premise also massively benefits the movies’ structure: as opposed to the winding narrative of Barbarian or the perspective shifts of Weapons, this is an A-to-B, Mad Max: Fury Road-style journey from one location to the next, punctuated by moments of brutal, gruesome violence and silly, deeply relatable humour.
It becomes hard then, to talk about Resident Evil in depth without some light spoilers: the easiest thing to say would be that it excellently mirrors the general plot structure of most games in the series, starting with a sprawling, more isolated area before gradually moving into contained, claustrophobic spaces and climaxing in a clinically clean, futuristic laboratory. As the film progresses, it never overstays its welcome at any point, and just as one locale is beginning to become tedious or repetitive, it swiftly moves on to the next one. This keeps the film light and frantic, adding a sense of organized chaos to Bryan’s journey that is hard not to be entertained by. It’s refreshing to see a film that has the confidence to scare you, make you laugh about it, and then move on, without feeling the need to overcomplicate itself or relish too much in the misery of it all. It definitely evokes classic horror comedies like Evil Dead 2 or Cabin In The Woods in that it keeps tight and effective, both for the sake of its bloody thrills and it’s biggest laughs.
The script, written by Cregger and Shay Hatten (Known for projects such as John Wick: Chapter 4 and Army Of The Dead) might prove divisive to some folks, even if solely for it’s tone. You’ll notice throughout the film that I’ve frequently referred to the film as a comedy, and that’s because it has comedic elements heavily present throughout. It’s a film resoundingly committed to being campy and silly, but never in an attempt to make fun of the games or their fans. Instead, it’s almost always in an effort to reflect the experience of playing the games yourself, and the running commentary many players often end up having to themselves, or others, when experiencing them. There are so many times throughout this film that Bryan’s words matched things I’ve said hundreds of times playing these games, especially when trying (and failing) to shoot at locked doors and gates. It’s perhaps a bold move, as the tone of Resident Evil games can vary between the more serious (The first two games and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard) and more campy (Resident Evil’s 4 through 6 come to mind) but often feature a blend of both. I’m sure some viewers would wish Cregger would make the film more serious and gritty instead. However, this film blends tones superbly well, and the horror doesn’t tend to overpower the comedy, nor does the inverse occur. Instead it remains firmly balanced right until the very end of the film, where things explode drastically in true Resident Evil fashion.
On a technical element, this film is impressive in almost every factor. Cregger’s highest budget film yet, he absolutely makes the most of it, without sacrificing his great eye for ensuring the film looks and sounds phenomenal. Edited by regular collaborator Joe Murphy, the film maintains a ruthless and merciless pace, never letting itself get stiff or stale at any point. Shot by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, known for his collaborations with the highly influential Ridley Scott, the film is beautiful to look at, evoking the stylistic presentation of Capcom’s recent RE Engine-designed games, including the usage of first-person POV shots that show Bryan’s struggle to properly use weapons or develop any significant survival skills. Whilst the camera-work can be a little restrained compared to Cregger’s previous films, it still shines, and ultimately aids in developing a moody, dark atmosphere than informs the apocalyptic, nightmarish feeling of the horrors in the film. Additionally, composers Ryan Holladay and Hays Holladay continue their collaboration with Cregger, providing a fun, upbeat score that is reminiscent of classic synth-led horror scores such as Halloween and Alien.
I have to individually spotlight the special effects here, handled by the phenomenal Shane Mahan and his studio Legacy Effects. This film wouldn’t work as well as it does without the wonderfully horrific, gruesomely detailed monsters that occupy it’s 90 minute runtime. As opposed to simply leaning on zombies and their classic, timeless appeal, Cregger and Mahan instead chose to use the mutating T-Virus as a starting point for disgusting, visceral designs that never repeat themselves and always get you squirming in your seat. Tentacles, vertical jaws, extended arms, legs and worse, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of vile and brilliant mayhem-wrecking mutants. The best part is, much of it is entirely practical, or uses as much practical effects as possible with the assistance of digital imagery. It looks phenomenal throughout, perfectly adapting the style of monsters that you can see throughout the series whilst also feeling unique and special to this film. Mahan and Cregger reportedly even went to the lengths of shipping a 2,000 pound practically-crafted monster, separated into pieces and sent to Prague where the film was shot. It also took four people to operate once it got here. This is the type of commitment I adore seeing in big-budget horror films, and it’s wonderful to see Creggar utilize the budget to its full extent throughout the film.
Austin Abrams stars as Bryan in a remarkable demonstration of how to keep the audience entertained despite almost being entirely by yourself the whole film. Abrams, an up-and-coming actor known for scene-stealing roles in Weapons, Euphoria and The Walking Dead, does a phenomenal job here, balancing every disparate emotional tone at play, landing every single joke and committing to everything the script asks of him. Bryan is akin to if we saw the perspective of a Resident Evil non-playable character, whose life we would read about in notes or audio logs, and he talks and acts very much like a real, average person would in such a situation. He complains about body pains, he can’t hold a gun, and he’s plagued by his fear of bringing new life into this world and the responsibility that comes with that. Abrams’ performance never gets tiring or overexaggerated either, consistently attempting to either raise the bar, or at the very least never deliver a line the same way twice. It’s a star-making performance for me, one of the strongest of the entire year so far, made all the more impressive when you consider how much of the film is just Abrams by himself or screaming at mutated monsters.
Supporting performances include Kali Reis, who plays Umbrella Corporation enforcer Maxine, and Paul Walter Hauser and Zach Cherry as Umbrella Corporation Scientists. None of them are particularly around for that long in the film, which is first and foremost Bryan’s story, but all of them do an admirable job at trying to keep in with the tone and pacing of the film. Hauser especially is a highlight, hilariously brushing up against Bryan and bickering with him in easily the most hilarious sequence in the entire film. Cherry also stands-out in a bloody, climatic sequence near the end of the film, acting as a wonderful counterbalance for the explosive and violent conclusion that rapidly approaches as Bryan finally arrives at the hospital. I know some folks are disappointed with the lack of any game characters appearing in the film, even in a cameo role, but I think it’s absolutely for the better. If Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield or Jill Valentine appeared, it would take away all the stakes away from Bryan’s story and completely nullify the point of the narrative, which is to explore how the average person would react to and survive an experience like this, not a super-cop. It would also make almost no sense, and be disingenuous to the narrative of their individual games, which are also tightly-paced and singular in focus, just like the film.
This film may be focused primarily on thrills, scares and laughs, but there is some interesting thematic material here. Namely, it ties into two of the most often reoccuring films of the video-game franchise: parenthood and capitalism. Bryan wants to be a father, but is scared to emotionally commit, and it’s that fear of commitment that leaves him on his own, desperately attempting to survive as the odds mount against him. He has a vulnerability for the young, and paternal urges, and can’t let himself go without delivering the package knowing that it might be a child’s vital organ replacement or essential medicine. Parenthood is a notion that pops up throughout the franchise, most openly in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Village, and it’s nice to see it appear as a guiding thematic element here. The other major theme is capitalism, something almost every Resident Evil game criticizes to some extent but especially the original trilogy of games, set in the corporation-corrupted Raccoon City, directly torn apart by the influence of Umbrella and its bio-organic experiments. Bryan has to make money, to look after his new-found family, and he has to complete the job no matter what in order to get paid. He even has to make sure whoever picks up the parcel signs for it, even if it’s the literal end of the world around him.
In terms of this film as an entry into the larger Resident Evil film and gaming franchise, I can’t help but be incredibly excited by the opportunities it creates. This is the first time in over twenty years that we have an entirely fresh slate for Resident Evil on the silver screen, without any restrictions or larger continuity to pull down any project that might be in development. If Cregger wants to do a sequel, I would be absolutely overjoyed, but if he wants to leave the door open for another creator to craft their own take on the franchise, following a similar approach to this film where it is a loving ode to games without directly adapting them, that would also be brilliant. Regardless, it’s wonderfully refreshing to have an excellent Resident Evil film in cinemas, no strings attached and nothing stopping us from getting more if the creators have more story to tell. The franchise is at the biggest and best it’s ever been at the moment, with close-to yearly game releases that almost all recieve extensive critical praise, and now with this wonderful film, the freedom is endless when it comes to the franchise’s freshly reanimated life on the silver screen.
In conclusion, Resident Evil takes the experience of playing the games, whether that be the fear or the accidental comedy, the upgrading of weapons and the managing of inventory, the gradual escalation of stakes as the environments gradually become more contained, and combines it into one gnarly, hilarious film that is a true love-letter to the franchise. Helmed by a brilliant and memorable performance from Austin Abrams, who proves himself as the essential Scream King of the 2020s so far, and serviced by wonderfully disgusting special effects and beautiful cinematography, Resident Evil is a tight, scary and funny horror film that’s best watched with a packed crowd. Cregger continues to show why he’s one of the most well-liked filmmakers in the world of horror today, taking his adoration for the legendary game franchise and recreating it on screen in a way that’s exciting for the future of the series on film, whilst also stands alone as a great, lean, bloody horror film that I’ll doubtlessly rewatch plenty of times over the years to come. It’s a great time at the movies, especially if you’re a fan of the games, and once it grips you in its mutant hands, it’s not going to let you go.
