Before it escalates into a gloppy parade of gross-out, sorta-special effects, Resident Evil functions as a tight little horror comedy, in which a luckless medical courier’s delivery attempt gets delayed by incidents that swell from mildly annoying to comically mystifying to bizonkerly terrifying. It’s that middle ground where the movie works best, including an encounter with a guard dog that’s one part Buster Keaton and two parts Alien. Co-written and directed by Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian), Resident Evil is based on the PlayStation video game that’s already spawned a seven-film series, most of which starred Milla Jovovich. New to the series, Cregger cranks up the humor—and he has the right star to do it. As Bryan, the befuddled courier, Austin Abrams has the same doofus energy he brought as the bumbling burglar in Cregger’s Weapons and the partying third wheel to George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Wolfs. Unafraid to be unlikeable, Abrams nevertheless has a childlike naivete that garners our sympathy. He somehow makes you root for a guy who’s too lazy to grab a bowl and spoon, and instead chugs milk from the jug in one hand while holding a box of cereal in the other.
(9/23/2026)
