The first trailer for Zach Cregger's highly anticipated Resident Evil reboot has left gamers and moviegoers sharply divided. Based on the best-selling video game franchise, the film follows a medical courier, played by Euphoria star Austin Abrams, who must survive the night after delivering a package in the zombie-infested Raccoon City.
Cregger's Vision for the Franchise
Cregger, who dominated the box office last year with the horror hit Weapons, wrote and directed the reboot. The film has been described as 'an action-packed, non-stop race for survival,' and the trailer delivers on that promise with plenty of scares. However, longtime fans of the game series have expressed outrage because the movie does not follow any of the storylines or characters from the games.
'So, this is basically a generic horror movie, and they just slapped the Resident Evil name on it,' complained one gamer. Another added, 'This is just a generic zombie movie that has absolutely nothing to do with Resident Evil!' A third wrote, 'Really not interested in another movie called Resident Evil that doesn't actually adapt the story or characters from the source material.'
Support from Horror Fans
Despite the criticism, some horror fans have been more supportive. Many pointed out that 2021's Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which was directly inspired by the games, turned out to be a huge critical and commercial flop. 'Folks seem to not be understanding that this movie is meant to replicate the journey of someone playing one of the games. Not be a direct adaptation of a game. Those haven't worked either. It's better to do an original film,' argued one fan. Another gushed, 'Zach Cregger could've just opted to do a run-of-the-mill adaptation of the video game. But instead went the route of doing his own thing while taking inspiration from the material. Massive respect. This looks GREAT.'
Cregger's Background and Intentions
Cregger burst onto the scene in 2022 with the sleeper horror hit Barbarian. He followed it up with last year's Weapons, which grossed $270 million at the box office and earned actress Amy Madigan the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. A longtime fan of the Resident Evil games, Cregger put his hand up to direct the reboot and made sure to set his film in the same world as the games, despite following an original story and characters.
'I wanted to construct a story that could live in the world of Resident Evil and kind of be on the periphery of the events of Resident Evil 2, where Raccoon City is having its big night, but tell just another story that could be happening in parallel, that really honors the vibe and the pacing you get when you play the games,' he told Polygon. Cregger also admitted that he did not watch director Paul Thomas Anderson's Resident Evil films before helming the reboot. 'I was such a fan of the games, and they just didn't look like the games to me,' he said. 'Maybe they're great. I have no idea. But I just wasn't interested because what's great about the games is they're shrunk down into this single perspective. It's about pacing and horror, and those movies just didn't look like horror to me.'
Previous Adaptations
Anderson helmed the first six films in the original Resident Evil franchise, which starred his wife Milla Jovovich. Although critically panned, those films grossed over $1.3 billion at the box office. The last entry, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, was released in 2017 and grossed $312 million. Sony Pictures attempted to reboot the franchise in 2021 with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Despite being more faithful to its video game source material, the movie tanked at the box office and received scathing reviews. The following year, Netflix launched its own Resident Evil TV series, which was billed as a reimagining. Despite positive reviews from professional critics and performing well on the platform, it was canceled after just one season.
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil hits theatres on September 18, 2026.
