Resident Evil review: Zach Cregger delivers big, gory spectacle that proves he understands franchise's DNA

Video game adaptations have a long history of seeming almost impossible to properly pull off. Taking a medium that makes the viewer a participant, putting the controls in their hands, and converting it into a more passive cinematic adventure is complicated after all. And that’s without considering fan bases that, more often than not, know a game so intricately inside and out that they’ll be quick to spot any misstep by a director alien to the source material.

Resident Evil has had more than a fair few swings of the bat – from George A Romero's movie that never quite got off the ground and the much-lamented Paul W S Anderson series to the Netflix show and animated movies. Each adaptation has a mix of supporters and haters, but none really nailed the concept to gain resounding adoration.

Enter Zach Cregger, who after an insanely enjoyable run with original concepts Barbarian and Weapons, has decided to give an adaptation a go and create something unique for the big screen in the Resident Evil universe. He’s been clear from the start that he’s a big fan of the games, and despite a section of the fanbase desperately trying to oust him as a 'larper', it’s evident after watching the film that Cregger isn’t just a fan of the franchise, he understands the DNA that sits at its very heart.

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Choosing to craft an original story set within the universe, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), an organ courier who decides to take a last-minute gig delivering something very important to Raccoon City. Far from some sort of Navy SEAL charging around a zombie-infested city performing gun-fu like he’s seen John Wick too many times, Bryan is an everyman who’s a bit of an endearing screw-up – and straight off the bat he hooks the audience in.

As Bryan's night goes from bad to worse (and then worse again) Cregger predictably manages to balance some extremely intense moments with both humour and a huge amount of body horror spectacle. It’s big, gory fun that highlights how a normal person might react to discovering a dog with tentacles pouring from its orifices or people’s heads splitting open to reveal… well it's hard to really articulate such horrors.

Without feeling gimmicky or overstating its video game structure, Bryan upgrades his weapons as he goes and is constantly struggling with item management while never failing to make the worst possible choice in the moment as he panics to solve the next problem. A POV camera is used sparingly but to great effect, with one scene in particular recreating the intensity and powerless feeling of Resident Evil 7 – and that gory joy of a perfect headshot.

There are references to the games themselves littered throughout but, as opposed to being a tour bus pointing out big neon signs that say ‘RE1 Joke Here’, they’re subtle nods to world lore. From padlocks that can’t be shot, to diamond keys, typewriters and on-brand shotgun shell boxes, there’s a fair amount of blink-and-you’ll-miss them moments to make fans smirk.

The structure of the film itself is even fleshed out like a game run-through, starting off on the outskirts of town and working through to an evil laboratory with a sewer level in between to break it up – which is all without really delving into the stalker enemy that follows Bryan from start to finish, putting an exclamation point at the end of every disgusting encounter he's forced to endure.

The movie's ending will likely be quite divisive amongst the fan base, with everyone landing on a different version of how they’d have preferred it to close, but Cregger clearly hit start and ran at full pelt to the story's end without stopping for a toilet break. The film comes in at a tight 95 minutes and, let’s be honest, the last stretch into the credits being the weakest part of the experience is so Resident Evil coded it hurts.

If you’re not already a fan of the franchise, you’ll find a fun, frenetic and gory horror that’s likely Cregger's best yet, with some standout moments of brain-bending body horror. If you’re a longtime fan of the series, you’ll find exactly the same experience whilst also being able to recognise the other layer of why and how everything’s unfolding. It’s not a chunk of game story retold for the screen; it’s something new and exciting for fans to chew on, which is ultimately a far sight better.

We couldn’t have asked for a better time – here's hoping Cregger gets another chance to dip into the Resident Evil universe in the future.

Resident Evil is now showing in UK cinemas.

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