Resident Evil review: Zach Cregger's pulp horror delivers spectacle over substance
Fresh off Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025), writer-director Zach Cregger tackles Capcom’s iconic gaming franchise with Resident Evil (2026), a high-decibel, pulp sci-fi body horror designed to trigger maximum adrenaline. Featuring actor Austin Abrams as an ordinary guy caught in an extraordinary nightmare, the film wastes no time on exposition before plunging into relentless creature set-pieces. Yet, while Cregger’s reboot glides effortlessly on technical polish, its narrative engine operates on pure autopilot.
The story follows Bryan (Abrams), a medical courier tasked with delivering a time-sensitive package to Raccoon General Hospital just as a catastrophic viral outbreak collapses the city into chaos. Swept into a terrifying survival ordeal alongside Umbrella Corporation employees (Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis), Bryan must navigate pitch-black corridors and mutated horrors to reach the upper floors. Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten construct a lean, real-time survival setup, but the narrative leaves little room for emotional resonance beyond immediate survival.
Where recent body-horror benchmarks like director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024) weaponised grotesque physical transformations for deep thematic impact, Resident Evil remains strictly in the realm of surface-level pulp.
The screenplay relies on tired horror cliches that quickly grow exhausting. Despite surviving multiple bloody encounters, Bryan continues to act with bewildering clumsiness — touching infected blood with bare hands, hovering near suspicious corpses, and inexplicably taking an elevator instead of the stairs moments after an expert explicitly warns against it. Because the protagonist repeatedly ignores basic survival instincts, the creature assaults lose their shock value, turning terrifying suspense into a predictable routine.
Despite the script's frustrating logic gaps, Austin Abrams brings genuine panic, physical commitment, and relatable vulnerability to the role. Playing an everyday courier rather than an invincible action hero, Abrams grounds the chaotic ordeal through sheer screen presence. Supporting turns from Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Kali Reis inject welcome energy into the ensemble, though their characters are largely constrained to dispensing corporate lore or playing target practice for infected hordes.
Where the film undeniably succeeds is in its technical craft. Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski captures the claustrophobic, snow-dusted hospital corridors in rich, atmospheric tones, while composers Ryan and Hays Holladay construct a thunderous audio landscape where every squelch, roar, and bone-snap hits with visceral weight. The practical creature designs and visual effects pop off the screen with gruesome detail, and the editing keeps the pacing fast and punchy.
At a crisp 95 minutes, Resident Evil functions reasonably well as a hyperkinetic, fandom-focussed thrill ride for genre completionists. However, for viewers seeking narrative substance or genuine psychological dread beyond gratuitous shock value, it stands as a technically accomplished, yet storytelling-hollow spectacle.
Resident Evil theatrically released on September 18, 2026.- EndsPublished By: Anurag BohraPublished On: Sep 18, 2026 18:09 ISTRead more | The Dink review: Your old-school underdog story gets a winning upgrade
