There are directors that I absolutely love and others whose work I simply find repulsive. For instance, if I get an invitation to a screening that is directed by Terrence Malick, it gives me pause. However, if I see that a new film is coming directed by Ari Aster, I know if I watch it, I will probably get disgusted by the film. Zach Cregger is also one that intrigues me, and now he takes the helm of another video game adaptation in Resident Evil.
This interpretation stars Austin Abrams, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, and Paul Walter Hauser. Bryan (Abrams) is a medical courier in Colorado who takes a high-paying job to deliver a package to a hospital in the mountains. On his way there in the middle of winter, car problems cause him to go to a local house for help, and in doing so finds himself in the middle of a situation that not even he could see coming.
Knowing that he has to carry this film, Abrams does a great job. Most of the rest of the cast is only featured for a few minutes here or there, with Hauser being one that I enjoyed and wanted more of with his comedic timing even in the worst of situations that kept the Murphy’s Law of this plot going. Unfortunately, that is where the things I liked about this film ends.
When I saw that Cregger was directing this film, I had a level of concern because he tends to use a lot of cheap jump scares in his films, and this one is no exception. If you look at his past films like Barbarian, it seems like that is the only way he can work, which just seems lazy. here have been so many great horror films that can make great levels of tension, and this film is far from those. My other problem is that there are way too many bonehead decisions made by the characters here. The best example of this is a moment where you have a female character being chased by the killer, and when she has a choice to turn left and run straight the police station with the SWAT team sitting out front of the building, she turns right and runs straight into the abandoned meat processing factory. It seemed like it was just out of that famous insurance commercial that is shown this time of year.
I DID want to give Resident Evil a chance since I loved some of the original films in this franchise, but in comparison, this one goes WAY off the grid and really had nothing to do with what I know of in either the previous films or games. After watching it, my fears about Cregger’s tendencies did come to pass and was nothing more than an insult to its source material. It looks like Cregger may wind up in the same place with me that Barbarian did in the past in that I not only cannot recommend Resident Evil, it also has a good chance of making the list of my least favorite films of 2026.