Zach Cregger’s horror-comedy Resident Evil is a real blast of a movie, fast, funny, scary, and inspired. Only an exuberant film lover could come up with such a gleefully inventive ninety-five-minute thrill ride as this one.

I gather that Cregger is a fan of the Resident Evil video game franchise. That seems like the only possible explanation for why the acclaimed director of highly praised non-IP horror hits Weapons (2025) and Barbarian (2022), who presumably has a blank check to make any horror-related movie he wants, would choose to make the eighth Resident Evil entry in the twenty-four-year-old franchise.

The reason certainly isn’t his love for the previous films. In an interview, he was unable to define what his version of Resident Evil is in relation to the rest of the movies — “A sequel? Prequel? Universe-expanding retro-reboot?” Cregger answered with a shrug. “I couldn’t really say. I’ve never seen one.”