Review: ‘Resident Evil’ is a thrilling 90-minute side quest into survival horror

Zach Cregger had already signed on to do an adaptation of the survival horror video game series Resident Evil long before Weapons became an unexpected cultural phenomenon, peaking with Conan O’Brien becoming Aunt Gladys for the Oscars cold open and Amy Madigan deservedly winning Best Supporting Actress. But even if he had jumped on the offer right after his box office success, doing a more straightforward thriller like this is a smart sidestep, allowing him to avoid having to top himself and his now-signature blend of horror comedy. 

An indirect, somewhat meta adaptation of the game series similar to what the recent Faces of Death reboot was attempting, this Resident Evil movie version stars Weapons standout Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier whose night goes from bad to worse over the course of a tight 90-minute carnival ride that takes place essentially in real time. 

The film opens mid-phone conversation after Bryan’s girlfriend finds out she’s pregnant and clearly wants the bumbling man-child he plays to step up and make a decision on their future. But after delivering an organ to a hospital suspiciously full of wounded people, he takes on a high-priority job driving his rickety sedan to nearby Raccoon City up dangerous, snowy mountain roads instead of going home and figuring things out with his partner. The roads are bad enough, but then a zombified woman steps in front of his car. Though leaning more heavily on horrifying shocks and surprises, Cregger still lands an incredibly funny bit where a clueless Bryan’s immediate response after hitting this woman is to try to strap her into his car and take her to the hospital, even as she’s clearly trying to munch on him. 

Thus begins a series of escalating encounters, most successful in a relentless first half, that see Bryan continuing to come across some The Thing-inspired monstrosity while figuring out how to get what could be a life-saving organ to the Raccoon City hospital, literally exclaiming at one point “What is this shit now?” Without his usual bag of tricks, this is where Cregger is most successful and works best, moving us to another fun jump scare or a genuinely surprising creature. 

Fans may be disappointed if they’re not aware that this isn’t a direct adaptation of any of the games—at best, it probably takes place during Resident Evil 2—and no characters show up, even for a cameo. What’s most interesting about this adaptation, though, is Cregger’s clear understanding of the core gameplay mechanics and how he translates that cinematically. There are easter eggs like a typewriter room, where you save the game, or green healing herbs, but most become critical pieces. There are locks everywhere, and Bryan, who is just some guy and a terrible shot, can’t shoot them off or have the time to look for them when he’s being chased by a mutant dog. Likewise, there’s a stalker-type enemy I won’t spoil that seems to grow and mutate with each appearance. Every sequence feels like a new level funneling us towards the ultimate goal of reaching the hospital. Future filmmakers would be well served using Resident Evil as a model for future video game movies. 

It’s fortunate that this is such a short film because there’s only so much narrative juice to get to the end. Cregger has Resident Evil dialed in so leanly from set piece to set piece that most character-building or narrative surprises are left out. Abrams, like always, is a ton of fun as Bryan, who often ends up muttering strings of profanity by himself that would make Clark Griswold blush. While it never stops being fun, the movie starts to feel stale as we round the corner into the final act, with Abrams stuck in one mode throughout without the depth that we’ve come to expect from Cregger’s messy characters. 

More of a side quest after two massively influential back-to-back horror films, Resident Evil is still a balls-to-the-wall thrill ride full of shocks and goopy, tentacled creatures pulled straight from your nightmares. It’s the type of movie you take a date to, spend way too much on movie theater snacks, and have a fun night, but it isn’t going to claw itself into the corners of your brain as you go to sleep that night.