Resident Evil (2026)

Horror Movie Club

The hosts review the 2026 film Resident Evil, directed by Zach Cregger, noting its surprising critical success and high Rotten Tomatoes scor

Key takeaways

• Director Zach Cregger is identified as a rising leader in modern horror alongside names like Ari Aster and Jordan Peele.
• The film holds a 96% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, marking it as a highly acclaimed video game adaptation.

Main topics

• Resident Evil (2026) movie review
• Zach Cregger's directing style

Notable quotes

It is a great time to be a fan of horror movies.

Conclusion

The episode highlights how thoughtful stylistic homages can revitalize

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:18) Hey there, listeners. Welcome to Horror Movie Club, the show where two dudes who are not quite nerds but not quite noobs choose a horror movie each week to rate and review. I'm Brian. I'm on the phone with Ashvin, and today we are discussing Resident Evil, directed by Zack Kreger, written by Zack Kreger and Shea Hatton, starring Austin Abrams, Paul Walkerhauser, and Callie Reese. In this film, a medical courier goes through hell on his way to deliver a package to Raccoon City that is more important than he knows. If you're new to the show, we're going to discuss some spoiler-free background info on this movie for the first 15 minutes or so. But after that, we're going to walk through the plot in detail, spoiling the film as we go. We'll play some transition music before we do that. So if you haven't seen 2026's Resident Evil, you can hang out for the first 15 or so. But once you hear that transition music, it's time to duck out and go see it before you keep listening. This episode, as always, is brought to you ad-free by our Patreon supporters. Shout out to some new ones, Kelsey B., Ryan N., Jay, Jokul, Casey O., Spazzy, Aaron L., Marie, and Austin. And this episode concludes our sequel September, but... If you're feeling like you wanted just one more sequel out of Sequel September and you're not a patron, go sign up and you can hear this month's episode on Day of the Dead from 1985, the third film in Romero's kind of first dead trilogy. you can go to HorrorMovieClub.com and click on the big orange button for Patreon. And for $3 a month, you get a bonus episode every month. You get some other random stuff here and there. You get some videos of me and Ashwin eating spicy wings over the years and answering listener questions. Access to our Discord server where there's a great community of listeners. And you can leave some reviews for movies, which we read at the end of every show. Reviews from the patrons. So yeah, either HorrorMovieClub.com and click the orange button for Patreon or Patreon.com slash HorrorMovieClub. Osh, were you excited for this thing? Speaker 1 (2:20) I was really excited, man. The trailers this summer have looked good, and I know we talked about how the trailer format has shifted in some of these newer movies, and you get more of an extended long scene. So I think we had a great trailer for this over the summer that was building a lot of anticipation. And secondly, Zach Krag is probably one of my favorite newer horror directors in the last five, six years. It's hard for me to think of another director who's emerged and had the similar kind of momentum that he has had with Barbarian and Weapons. I was really excited. This is probably the film I was most excited about this year. How about you? Speaker 2 (2:55) I was, as usual, trying to tame my expectations. I had kind of forgot this movie was even coming for some reason. There's a lot of pressure with the video game fans and taking over a franchise and stuff. But I was hesitantly excited. Yeah, that trailer was cool. I saw a... social media, you know, these like memes and comparisons and an image or whatever, you know how the kids are doing. And they included. Craigor alongside Ari Aster, Robert Eggers and Jordan Peele. And I was like, damn, like, I think he does now sit with those three and maybe even like bumps Ari Aster out of there. Cause Ari Aster really only had like Midsommar and hereditary as far as the horror movies go. Peel and Eggers each have like three really critically acclaimed horror movies under their belt. So yeah, I don't know. I think he's up there not to spoil how I feel about Resident Evil, but it's already it's 96 % critic score on Rotten Tomatoes with a lot of reviews. And by that metric, at least, and by Metacritics, it's the best reviewed video game adaptation of all time between Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritics. So, you know. It doesn't matter what I think. He's kind of three for three here with Weapons Barbarian and Resident Evil. Speaker 1 (4:19) Yeah, he's on the streak. You know, I thought, you know, when we started this podcast like back in 2018, it was those three, right? It was like Peel, Eggers, and Aster that were like the up-and-comers. And I feel like since then, two of them have kind of maybe dropped off. I know Eggers had Nosferatu, which kind of brought him back more into... horror a bit, but, uh, I don't know, I, I wasn't that crazy about Nosferatu, and Peele's been kind of slow, uh, on coming, what he's had, I guess he's had three films, too, uh, but yeah, I almost feel like there's a new brand of directors kind of replacing those three from, like, 2018, uh, and it's this guy, and I'm curious to see, like, some of those new directors from this year, like, Curry Barker, or even, I wonder, like, where would you put Ty West in, like, that mix, like, uh, He's been around maybe a little bit longer, but he had his three films in the last five, six years that were overall kind of decent, right? Speaker 2 (5:12) Yeah, it's not that I disrespected Ty West. I almost put him in a different bucket of just like he's got this bigger filmography. He's been around a longer time. I think of him in the same way I think of... not the same way exactly because they're very different directors, but I kind of like put him in a category with like Mike Flanagan, like the new modern masters of horror. It's not just like, oh my gosh, these guys are like three for three and they can't miss. It's like, not everything's perfect, but these dudes have established themselves as like, yeah, masters of the genre. And they've cranked out some classics and some that were just good and some that were okay and or bad. Yeah. Yeah, it's a it's a great time. I know we've been saying that over the years here since we started doing this in 2018. But it really is a great time to be a fan of horror movies. Speaker 1 (6:03) It is. Yeah, yeah. A lot of like the emerging talent and takes on it. But yeah, I'm excited for Kregers like where he's going to go. Curry Barker and then the guy who did. Backrooms, Cain Farsons. And I think at least Curry Barker and Zach Kroeger, they're rooted a little bit more in comedy. And that's kind of like bringing them to horror. They're kind of bringing that perspective with them. You've got those directors from Australia too. The Philippou brothers, right? Who did like Talk to Me. Also coming from like short comedy bits. So I think that's kind of shaping some of this new trend in horror. Speaker 2 (6:37) There is a dark comedic tone. Sometimes it's light. Sometimes it's... dark it's never all out humor like these guys aren't making horror comedies but there is a sense of humor to all these it almost makes me think of like 80s horror and something like reanimator maybe reanimators too schlocky and humorous to compare to but it's like these are real horror movies and they're messed up and dark but there is a tone of humor through them all like yeah Speaker 1 (7:07) even obsession Yep. Yeah. And I think it kind of amps up the horror in the element in the film, too. It's a great balance. Speaker 2 (7:15) Yeah. Yeah. It's those two live right side by side in your brain, it seems like. So it's yeah, it's Speaker 1 (7:21) a Speaker 2 (7:21) nice touch. Yeah. And Gregor especially has got a very specific tone, like barbarian and weapons like they're not laugh out loud funny, but they're funny. Speaker 1 (7:31) Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's a weird sense of humor to them. Speaker 2 (7:34) Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:36) Yeah, so I think there's been... Oh, go ahead. Speaker 1 (7:39) Oh, were you surprised at all that he was doing a Resident Evil film? It seemed like beneath him. Yeah, same. He's kind of doing these independent original storylines and suddenly jumping into a franchise that has kind of been tanking over the last few years. So yeah, not a move I would have seen coming. Speaker 2 (7:57) Yeah, I mean, not only... I mean, the films were successful, right? I mean, the franchise has grossed, as we mentioned. What, a couple months ago, gang, if you're new to the show, we reviewed the first Resident Evil movie. And we talked about this in that episode, but the Resident Evil film series has grossed over $1.2 billion. It was once the highest grossing film series based on a video game and the highest grossing horror film series. And it's lost the title on some of those, but it is now still the highest grossing zombie film series. Wow. This is the eighth. Eighth film in the franchise. And they've, you know, yeah, they have been tanking. They haven't, none of them really have been well received critically. And this is the first one. It's like really been reviewed. Well, almost at all. Yeah. And it's basically achieved universal acclaim. So pretty awesome. Speaker 1 (8:53) Yeah, yeah. It's crazy to see that. Oh man, speaking of the review on this, I didn't know what the review was going into it, but maybe like two-thirds through the movie, some guy in the audience started getting kind of irritated, and he got up and he's like, 97 % Rotten Tomatoes my ass, and he walked out of the Speaker 2 (9:11) theater. Speaker 1 (9:12) So that's how I knew what the Rotten Tomatoes score was, but that's a funny way. I've never been in a theater where someone's announced the Rotten Tomatoes score. Speaker 2 (9:19) That is like the douchiest thing you can do. Just Speaker 1 (9:24) leave. It's like make an announcement about it. Speaker 2 (9:28) Yeah. Also, I don't know. I mean, I understand. You know, we we mentioned the Rotten Tomatoes score all the time on this podcast. And our we are a Rotten Tomatoes approved publication. So our ratings go towards that score. But to base things, you know, sometimes if my wife and I are like going to rent a movie, we use the Rotten Tomatoes score as like a decider. But to really like base a lot of your choices on that and then to see 97 percent and assume like, oh, this must be certified gold. Like, yes, I don't know. That's a flawed, flawed logic. And it is hard because movies are expensive and everything's more expensive. So you have to choose carefully. If Rotten Tomatoes is what helps you, then great. But I don't know. I think. I guess not everyone can be like, oh, this is Zach Kreger and I am anticipating his new work and I will be on board for whatever it is. And I'm sure it's interesting choices. You know, we're not we are no longer the average movie goer, even though we're basic bitches. So Speaker 1 (10:31) that's true. Also, it's like Speaker 2 (10:34) a Speaker 1 (10:34) Resident Evil movie. You kind of know a little bit what you're going in for and like what you're going to get. Right. Speaker 2 (10:38) Yes. Yeah. It feels like a misinformed man. He's going about his movie life the wrong way. Speaker 1 (10:45) I think so. Speaker 2 (10:48) Speaking of being misinformed, in September of 2025, Kreger stated he had never seen any of the previous Resident Evil movies. Oh, my God. Which I don't know, maybe not that surprising. Speaker 1 (11:02) And he said the upcoming Speaker 2 (11:04) film would be more closely based on the games, particularly Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4. And he kind of said he would try to make it... take place concurrently with the events of the raccoon city outbreak and resident evil 2 um but kind of like an alternate timeline which works great for me because i played a little bit of the first game but i spent hours and hours and hours playing resident evil 2 alone in my room or with friends on the original playstation when i was in like i don't know seventh eighth ninth grade so yeah that's Speaker 1 (11:41) awesome Speaker 2 (11:41) I feel like there were probably a lot of Easter eggs that I did not catch, but there were plenty that I caught. And it was... Normally I'm not necessarily a fan of Easter eggs, because movies should do more than just drop little eggs here and there, but... It really, it was a nice touch in this movie. It wasn't overdone. And it really, in something like this, where you're eight movies into a franchise that fans have said isn't enough like the games, you kind of have to do something. Sad state of affairs, maybe. But it feels like fans are owed at least some nods to the game. And I thought he did that well without sacrificing the experience of the movie. Speaker 1 (12:24) Yeah, someone who's never played the game obviously didn't catch any Easter eggs, but it also didn't feel like, oh, they're showing something that I'm missing out on, like some kind of inside joke or something or inside reference. Yeah, you could Speaker 2 (12:37) go in blind not knowing anything about the games. Yeah, right, right. Speaker 1 (12:43) Yeah. Speaker 2 (12:44) Anything else on this one? We made $108 million so far. It's on a budget of $75 million. We're recording this a little bit early. We're recording it on Sunday, September 20th. So it just came out. So to already make $108 million is amazing. That's worldwide. Speaker 1 (13:00) Yeah, it's doing really well. I could see this being like, you think this will be like a second or third top horror for the year after like Obsession? Speaker 2 (13:08) Like critically or you mean Speaker 1 (13:10) revenue money financially? Speaker 2 (13:13) Yeah, could be. I mean, that's a great opening weekend. We'll see. Speaker 1 (13:16) Yeah. Yeah. I think it's off to a good start. Just some other quick things. Both the main actor here, Austin Noah Abrams, he was in Weapons and also Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. And he was in this latest season of Euphoria, I think, as well. Speaker 1 (13:34) The person on the phone that he's talking to is girlfriend Michelle, is Sarah Paxton, who was also in Weapons, and I think is Craig's wife as well. And I guess there was a TV show that was like a Resident Evil series that was going to happen in 2022, but they ended up canceling it. And it might have been because of like the poor ratings of like one of the last few films or something. Speaker 2 (13:55) Oh, the Netflix 2022 Resident Evil series? Speaker 1 (13:59) Yeah, yeah. That never ended up happening, right? Speaker 2 (14:02) Yeah, I saw it got canceled. I didn't know. I actually was still digging into it right before we recorded. Did this ever start or did it just get canceled before it even happened? Speaker 1 (14:11) Yeah, I think it just got canceled. Speaker 2 (14:13) Yeah. It's a bummer. I mean, this franchise is so influential. We've talked about in past episodes how it basically is responsible for the zombie movie boom of the early 2000s with starting off with Shaun of the Dead. Speaker 2 (14:31) 28 days later. We think of those as kicking things off, but really it was the Resident Evil video games. And Danny Boyle has said the same thing. Speaker 1 (14:40) It's Speaker 2 (14:41) cool to see a movie adaptation of such an important video game franchise that is actually received well and brings broader attention, I think, to the games too. I mean, a ton of people saw that first movie, but I think that it's a little different. I think it was just thought of as a schlocky action movie, and this is actually getting well-reviewed. Speaker 1 (15:05) Yep, yep. Speaker 2 (15:06) Yeah, Speaker 1 (15:06) this feels like it probably is closer to the source material. Speaker 2 (15:09) Yeah, it's putting some respect on the Resident Evil name in terms of movies. Speaker 1 (15:15) Yeah, I need to play this game. It sounds like a good game to play. You don't know if you can still download it on a PS4, can you? I have no Speaker 2 (15:25) idea how modern gaming works. I am sorry. Me neither. I need a bucket guide. But to our Chicago meetup, I can bring the dusty PS2 that is under my bed and a copy of Resident Evil 2 that stops about an hour into gameplay and then won't go any further than that. Then we just have to figure out how to Speaker 1 (15:44) connect it to a TV now that those three holes are gone. Right. We Speaker 2 (15:47) probably don't have the appropriate cordage. It's Speaker 1 (15:50) so complicated Speaker 2 (15:51) now. Anything else before we get through the Ohio connection? No, that's all I got. All right. As always, every movie we watch is connected to our home state of Ohio Forest by our friend Alex, who owns the Jukebox Bar and Restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. If you're in Northeast Ohio or even near there, swing by Jukebox. Great food, great drinks, great vibes. And Alex says, Speaker 2 (16:30) The school has had many prestigious alumni, including artist-turned-activist Keith Haring, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto, and conceptual art pioneer Joseph Kossuth. Kossuth is one of the foundational figures in conceptual art. His best-known work, One in Three Chairs, is literally a physical chair, a photograph of that chair, and a dictionary definition of chair. Joseph Kossuth was born in Toledo, Ohio. Wow. Nice. Speaker 1 (16:59) Never heard of him. And Speaker 2 (17:00) great connection, Alex, but I'm Speaker 1 (17:02) sorry that sounds obnoxious as fuck. You're not into the concept art? Is that what it's called? Just not into that kind of art. Yeah, Speaker 2 (17:09) I Speaker 1 (17:09) guess. Conceptual art. Interesting. A Speaker 2 (17:12) chair with a picture of a chair and the definition of chair and everyone, Speaker 1 (17:16) oh. It's so conceptual. Speaker 2 (17:21) But thank you for the connection, Alex. You ready to get into the plot? Yeah, let's do it. All right, we're going to spoil stuff, people, so get out of here now if you haven't seen it. But, Ash, do you mind if we take a quick break? My wife is texting me about something. I've Speaker 1 (17:34) got Speaker 2 (17:34) to check this out. I'll be right back. Sure, go for it. Speaker 1 (17:59) Hey, buddy, I'm here. Hey, how did everything Speaker 2 (18:02) go? Oh, a little awkward. She didn't know I was recording and she was texting to see if I wanted to order Dairy Queen on DoorDash. And, you know, I went up there and told her, like, actually, I'm recording. And she was like, oh, should I order it for myself? I don't know. And I was like, well, your body, your choice. Speaker 2 (18:23) That did not go over well. I think that was the wrong thing to say. Speaker 1 (18:26) The wrong response. Oh, man. Have you ordered Dairy Queen on DoorDash? Speaker 2 (18:33) Yes, too many times. I'm embarrassed about how... We've cooled it lately, but we got into a streak there. Wow. It was a lot. Speaker 1 (18:41) Damn, I didn't know it was a popular... Kids would be in bed, and Speaker 2 (18:43) we'd be watching a movie, and we'd look at each other with a certain look in our eye, and the other person would be like, all right, I'm ordering it. Speaker 1 (18:51) Damn. Does the ice cream Speaker 2 (18:52) deliver pretty well? It does. I mean, we often do it in the winter, which is weird. But I think in Minnesota winters, you just need little treats to get you through. Yeah, Speaker 1 (19:03) sure. Even in the Speaker 2 (19:05) summer, it delivers pretty well. I mean, we always get the blizzards, and they stay so compact that they stay cold. Speaker 1 (19:10) Yeah, I love all the textures going on in the blizzard. But you're like a, I feel like you're a purist. Like you're all about that vanilla flavor. And I don't see the Dairy Queen vanilla being like the highest quality for your taste. Speaker 2 (19:23) Yeah, I know. But a peanut butter cup Blizzard is just heaven. An extra peanut butter cup. Speaker 1 (19:29) Yeah, nice, Speaker 2 (19:30) nice. Speaker 1 (19:31) Yeah, dude, I've been snoozing my whole life on Blizzards. I think I just got into them finally this summer. And I was like, oh shit, this is awesome. I haven't been a big fan of mixing things in my ice cream because I feel like it ruins the texture and the experience. But yeah, I can really elevate it, huh? Speaker 2 (19:48) It really can. I mean, I do think... You know, if you get something too hard, like an M &M, and you're biting into it, plus the cold can be uncomfortable for my teeth. But if you get a soft, crunchy-ish thing, like a peanut butter cup, then that works out well. Even Speaker 1 (20:03) Reese's Speaker 2 (20:04) Pieces are nice, because they aren't as hard as an M &M. Speaker 1 (20:07) Oh, yeah. Yeah, I would do that. That sounds good. I was just looking at Dairy Queen on DoorDash. It was my wife's birthday a few weeks ago, and she loves their ice cream cake. Have you ever had their ice cream cake? Speaker 2 (20:17) Oh, yeah, for sure. Speaker 1 (20:19) Yeah, which I guess it's like stayed like the same in like the last like 20, 30 years or whatever. And so I was going to order it through DoorDash. For the nice off, I just went to the store. It was like 20 bucks cheaper. So I ended up doing that. Speaker 2 (20:31) DoorDash is embarrassingly expensive for delivery sometimes. It's like we just got Dairy Queen from our couch and it cost us 20 bucks. Yeah. Speaker 1 (20:39) We're like shame Speaker 2 (20:40) eating it knowing we spent way too much money on it. Speaker 1 (20:43) Yeah, they only attack the fees on. Yeah, they do. Good thing we're Speaker 2 (20:46) not Speaker 1 (20:46) sponsored by those guys. Speaker 1 (20:49) Guys, Speaker 2 (20:50) listeners, do you want more of this or should we get into the plot? I know. We Speaker 1 (20:55) already did a bit on fast food chains last time. Yeah, we Speaker 2 (20:58) already did fast food on the last episode. This is becoming a thing. Speaker 1 (21:01) Yeah. Speaker 2 (21:02) Okay, so we open on our main character, Brian. He spells his name with a Y, not an I like me. He's a medical courier entering a hospital to make a delivery. He's presumably got some vital organ that is intended for transplant into a patient. And as he's entering the building, he's on a phone call with his girlfriend, having a discussion that's clearly about a pregnancy test. And it's a bit awkward as he's telling her not to freak out until they see a doctor. And he's like, no, I'm not accusing you of freaking out. I'm just saying, you know, yada, yada, yada. He's basically putting his foot in his mouth and not handling this pregnancy scare very well. He delivers his package and there's some hassle regarding getting someone to sign for it, which is played for laughs. Let's just get to know our main character a bit and sets the tone also before the action gets started. But on Brian's way out of the hospital, he gets asked to do one more delivery. He declines because it's the end of a shift and he's really got to get going home to his girlfriend to discuss this pregnancy situation. But he's told that this delivery is outside the normal zone and is Schedule A, which means it pays double. So he agrees to the delivery. Do you think partially he was like thinking, I might have an extra mouth to feed here in the future, so might as well make some more money. Speaker 1 (22:19) I think so. That's kind of where my mind went. It's like, yeah, he's kind of worried about this and thinking down the road about what's going to help him kind of get through this, I guess. So yeah, I thought it was coming from a little bit of motivation from that. What about you? Speaker 2 (22:33) Yeah, I thought so too. And at first I was like, the zone? Is there like