Near-perfect Resident Evil movie is now available to watch at home

Halloween may have been and gone, but that's no reason not to cosy up on a November night with one of this year's highest-rated horrors.

A new take on the popular gaming franchise about a virus that creates mutated zombies, Resident Evil arrives courtesy of Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger.

It's the eighth live-action Resident Evil film in what's so far been a fairly rocky franchise that failed to capture the same adoring audience as the original Capcom games.

Related: Resident Evil perfectly captures the sweaty-palmed experience of playing the games

Paul W. S. Anderson's 2002 film and its five sequels – plus the 2021 reboot Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – all received a cold welcome from critics. Anderson has, at least, found himself a fair few defenders since, including Avatar director James Cameron.

But Cregger's Resident Evil proved to be both a hit with critics and audiences alike.

The film is both the highest-rated and highest-earning film in the entire franchise, having reached 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and earned $400 million worldwide.

As of today, the film is available to purchase or rent on all the usual digital storefronts, including Prime Video and Apple TV.

It stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier named Bryan, who's sent to deliver an urgent package to Raccoon City – despite his girlfriend on the other end of the phone begging him to come home so they can actually sit down and talk about the fact that she's pregnant.

He hits a woman while driving his car in the deep, dark woods. That woman, it turns out, has something very, very wrong with her.

While Cregger has adopted many of the key elements of the Resident Evil games – down to the fact that typewriters are used as save points – the character of Bryan and the film's central narrative are entirely new.

Related: Resident Evil sets new Rotten Tomatoes record as it debuts with near-perfect rating

Digital Spy's Ian Sandwell praised the film's originality, writing: "Even if Resident Evil might not have a Leon Kennedy in sight, Cregger has shown exactly how you should approach a video game movie.

"Tell the story you want, pepper it with nods that fans will love and capture the spirit of playing the game. Canon be damned, Resident Evil is a winner.

"We never leave Bryan's side on this journey into hell which is the first of many ways that Cregger makes this feel as close to playing the games as possible.

"Bryan isn't a complete loner, with fun support from the likes of Paul Walter Hauser and Zach Cherry as Umbrella scientists, but like in the games, they rarely stick around long as Bryan has to move to the next 'level'."

Resident Evil is available to buy and rent digitally now.

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