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"God, let the upcoming Resident Evil movie be good, please."

If you're reading this, there's a decent chance that you have also thought something along those lines, too. There is a lot riding on the upcoming Resident Evil movie adaptation from horror virtuoso Zach Cregger: the burden of a beloved franchise that hasn't quite gotten the treatment it deserves onscreen, and the career of one of horror cinema's brightest stars. Can it work? Or perhaps the better question to ask here is, "Why couldn't it work?"

I bring good news, though. According to a new report from World of Reel, Cregger's Resident Evil movie has elicited "strongly positive" reactions from test audiences recently. World of Reel notes that "Cregger hasn't just made another video game adaptation - he's delivered something lean, mean, and very confident. The runtime is 90 minutes, and it's apparently all gas, no brakes." A member of the test screening described it as "a horror version of [Mad Max] Fury Road." 

The film is led by Austin Abrams, who plays a delivery driver named Bryan who must transport a briefcase to Raccoon City during a viral outbreak - one that gamers would be familiar with from the events of games like Resident Evil 2 and 3. According to the report, "Abrams is basically playing the same kind of character he did in Weapons — a slightly off-kilter, druggie-type who gets thrown into chaos." But don't expect to see a ton of familiar names. "The movie has practically nothing to do with the games, aside from a few Easter eggs and some recognizable monsters," and "there's almost zero world building." 

I'm going to infer that "just... another video game adaptation" is referring to 1:1 adaptations like The Last of Us on HBO, and as Popverse's evilest resident, I dig the approach that Cregger has reportedly taken here. Experiencing events in the franchise's lore from the perspective of an average Joe sounds tantalizing, and also something that the games have been exploring recently. In this year's Resident Evil Requiem game, we got to revisit the Raccoon City incident from RE 2 through the eyes of a civilian, Grace Ashcroft, and it was horrifying. 

Also, to be completely honest, I'm curious to see how much world-building there actually is in Cregger's film, because admittedly, I know way more about Resident Evil than any functioning member of society ever should. In other words, I wouldn't be surprised if the world-building was so subtle that its references to the games weren't picked up by some members of the test audience World of Reel spoke to. Either way, after Barbarian and Weapons, I have every reason to trust in Zach Cregger. 

Resident Evil is expected to hit theaters September 18, 2026. 

Even if seven minutes is all you have to play with, these Resident Evil articles will get you ready for what's next:

• How to play the Resident Evil games in order
• Resident Evil shelved Leon Kennedy for 14 years because Capcom didn’t want players to see him scared
• How to watch the Resident Evil movies & TV series in order