Published September 28, 2026
By GRIFFIN STEELY
“Resident Evil,” a horror movie filled with stupid characters, plentiful jumpscares and even zombies, provides a gory experience mixed with the perfect amount of silly bits.
Directed by the creator of “Weapons,” Zach Cregger, the story follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier delivering an important package to Raccoon City–the fictional city created for the “Resident Evil” franchise. After hitting a woman while driving on a snowy road, he is plunged into a terrifying series of events, mostly caused by his choices, as he makes his way to the hospital where he must deliver his package.
The film is an easily accessible addition to the franchise, allowing anyone to understand the plot without any prior knowledge of the series due to the fact that Cregger does not use any characters featured prior in any “Resident Evil” content.
The tempo throughout the movie is slow at first, but quickly builds into a full-out race to deliver his package through a city plagued by monsters. The pacing feels very solid through the first half of the movie, but the high number of close calls featured during his journey to the hospital feels like a fever dream.
“Resident Evil” is the latest installment in a 30-year-old franchise and a good way for new fans to get into the series. Courtesy of COLOMBIA PICTURES
One of the main issues that plagues this film is the poor choices prevalent throughout. While this is a common trend throughout horror, this movie takes it to an extreme. Every character is either below the teenagers-in-a-cabin level of stupidity or on the same level. Bryan either makes brilliant life-saving decisions or choices so terrible that make the audience wonder if he’s even human.
The cinematography is brilliant, featuring several POV shots that add even more suspense to the film, putting the viewer in Bryan’s shoes. For a horror movie, this works perfectly.
Overall, “Resident Evil” is not a happy-go-lucky franchise, and this movie follows suit. The violence featured in the film is extreme, with graphic injuries and morbid scenes that, some of which, are entirely unnecessary to the plot.
On the contrary, Abrams and Cregger are able to find the perfect balance between humor and horror, making entertaining quips that don’t take away from the terrifying encounters Bryan faced.
The movie definitely deserves its R-rating because of the intense gore and violence, but also because of the 125 f-bombs, as counted by IMBd. In a 95-minute-long film, that’s more than one f-bomb per minute.
With a mix of disturbing imagery, humor and utterly stupid characters, “Resident Evil” takes its place as a good horror movie to watch with friends for a good scare.
7/10
