Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil movie has arrived — and critics are already calling it the strongest big-screen adaptation the iconic video game franchise has ever received.

The filmmaker behind Barbarian and Weapons has taken a radically different approach to Capcom’s survival-horror universe, abandoning familiar heroes and established game storylines in favour of an original character caught inside a rapidly escalating nightmare.

Early reviews have praised the film’s combination of horror, dark comedy, inventive creatures and a standout lead performance from Austin Abrams, with several critics placing it among the best video game adaptations made to date.

A completely new story in Raccoon City

Rather than bringing characters such as Leon S. Kennedy or Jill Valentine back to the screen, Cregger centres the film on Bryan, an ordinary medical courier played by Abrams.

What begins as another delivery gradually turns into a fight for survival as Bryan becomes trapped in the chaos surrounding Raccoon City.

The film borrows the atmosphere, creatures and survival mechanics associated with the games without directly adapting one specific instalment.

That decision appears to have worked in its favour.

Critics have repeatedly highlighted how the movie captures the experience of actually playing Resident Evil: entering unfamiliar locations, conserving resources, moving through increasingly dangerous environments and never knowing exactly what might be waiting around the next corner.

Critics say it finally understands the games

The Resident Evil franchise has had a complicated history in Hollywood.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s original series, led by Milla Jovovich, became commercially successful but often moved far away from the tone and mythology of the games.

The 2021 reboot Welcome to Raccoon City attempted a more faithful approach but failed to establish a new long-running film series.

Cregger has taken a third route.

His version does not recreate the games scene by scene. Instead, critics say it captures their spirit — particularly the combination of claustrophobic horror, bizarre monsters, limited resources and moments of absurdity that have always been central to the franchise.

The Hollywood Reporter described the film as a major rejuvenation of the series, while other reviews have gone further, calling it one of the strongest video game movies ever made.

Austin Abrams becomes the unexpected hero

One of the most consistent points of praise has been Austin Abrams.

The actor previously worked with Cregger on Weapons, but Resident Evil puts him firmly at the centre of the film.

Bryan is not presented as an elite soldier or heavily armed action hero. He is an ordinary person who repeatedly finds himself completely unprepared for what is happening around him.

That vulnerability gives the movie much of its tension — and much of its comedy.

Critics have praised Abrams’ physical performance, timing and ability to make an increasingly ridiculous series of situations still feel grounded.

Some reviews have described the role as a potential star-making performance, with Abrams effectively carrying large sections of the 90-minute film almost alone.

Horror and comedy exist side by side

Cregger’s background in comedy remains visible throughout the film.

But according to early reviews, the humour rarely turns Resident Evil into a parody.

Instead, jokes often come from Bryan’s reactions to increasingly impossible situations.

Cregger has previously revealed that early test audiences actually found the film too funny, leading him to remove some jokes and rebalance the final cut toward horror.

The finished movie appears to retain enough humour to distinguish itself without sacrificing the tension.

That balance has become one of Cregger’s signatures across Barbarian, Weapons and now Resident Evil.

The monsters are getting major attention

The film’s creature design is another area receiving particularly strong reviews.

Rather than relying entirely on conventional zombies, Cregger introduces increasingly strange and grotesque mutations as Bryan moves deeper into the outbreak.

Critics have highlighted the mixture of practical effects, large-scale puppetry and digital enhancement, with some of the monsters drawing comparisons to the body horror of John Carpenter’s The Thing.

The escalation is deliberately game-like.

Each new location appears to introduce something more dangerous and visually extreme than the last, pushing the film from relatively familiar zombie horror towards increasingly surreal territory.

It moves fast

At around 90 minutes, the new Resident Evil is notably compact for a modern franchise movie.

Several critics have praised that decision.

Instead of spending large amounts of time explaining complicated mythology, the film moves Bryan through one dangerous sequence after another.

The pace helps create the feeling of progressing through levels of a video game, while keeping exposition relatively limited.

There are criticisms — particularly around the final act and an ending some reviewers found abrupt — but even more mixed reviews have generally praised the film’s energy, Abrams’ performance and Cregger’s approach to the material.

A major reset for ‘Resident Evil’

The response represents an impressive turnaround for a franchise that has struggled for years to satisfy both horror audiences and fans of the games.

Cregger appears to have succeeded partly because he refused to treat fidelity as simply recreating famous characters, locations and dialogue.

Instead, his movie tries to reproduce the feeling of Resident Evil.

It is frightening, grotesque, occasionally ridiculous and constantly pushing its protagonist into another situation he is wildly unprepared to survive.

That approach is earning some of the strongest reviews the franchise has ever received, with Resident Evil currently sitting at 96 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its theatrical release.

Could this finally be the ‘Resident Evil’ movie fans wanted?

After more than two decades of live-action adaptations, Hollywood may finally have found the right formula.

Not by copying the games exactly — but by understanding why playing them can be so entertaining in the first place.

With Cregger behind the camera, Abrams emerging as an unlikely horror hero and critics praising everything from the creatures to the film’s relentless pacing, Resident Evil has transformed from another risky reboot into one of September’s most talked-about horror releases.

Resident Evil arrives in cinemas on September 18, 2026.