Finally. After increasingly dismal franchise installments, an atrocious series, and multiple terrible movies, Zach Cregger has cracked the formula for a Resident Evil movie: make a stealth but loving parody of Resident Evil.
This film is packed with ludicrous love for the franchise, with easter eggs and in-universe references, while gleefully skewering any preconception fans might bring. Every expected zombie trope gets subverted then augmented with some obscure lore. Purists can argue whether we’re looking at G-Virus modifications to the Las Plagas parasite, question whether the main character is related to Birkin, or wonder if this iteration of the Umbrella headquarters was intended to be a public diversion. None of that really matters. None of the creatures or moments is quite like any of the games, yet it follows the games' mechanics, pacing, tone, and stage structure so faithfully that it even keeps the glorious cheese.
The protagonist is a hilariously inept hero who (spoiler alert) never really gets better, just ups his arsenal as he’s thrown into escalating horrific scenarios. That's a gameplay loop turned into a character arc, and it subverts a franchise built on boulder-punching superheroes, genetically augmented super-soldiers, and trained paramilitary units. Here, our hero struggles to reload. He also has some of the most relatable and authentic reactions to the horrors around him. Umbrella's scientists likewise skew into buffoonery, and that works as well. There are no Albert Weskers or Oswell Spencers, no Ashfords or overarching evil masterminds, just supposedly smart people doing very dumb things. Game purists may rail a little at seeing their favorite characters sidelined, but we've had plenty of movies that played it straight, and they were garbage.
Make no mistake, the scares are here, and many of them are damn good. The pacing is relentless, and there’s plenty of gore and grotesqueries. Cregger's command of framing and light is on full display, including some tension-filled POV moments. But this is a comedy first, deftly crafted by a horror director who has already proven he understands the perfect blend of hilarity and horror. To be fair, this is probably Cregger's weakest film, but he set that bar himself. Like the rest of his work, it revels in bleakness, and there's a real thematic throughline in the protagonist's struggle and hidden depths to the messages Cregger is trying to convey. But the movie is having too much fun to dig into it too deeply, and there’s never enough time to catch one’s breath before the next escalation. That final frame doesn't so much close the film as open up a playground of future films featuring NPC side-stories.
It's a shame he has no plans for a sequel, because I'd gladly watch every entry. For now, I'm just thankful we finally got a genuinely good Resident Evil film.