Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie lands in cinemas this week, and the early reviews are in — and they are glowing. The consensus: this might be the best videogame adaptation ever made. That is a bold claim, and it comes with a grain of salt attached.
Early Reviews Arrive
The first reviews of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil adaptation have dropped, and the verdict is unanimous: the movie is excellent. GamesRadar+ gave it a 4/5, calling it “the best Resi movie by a distance; it’s the best video game movie full stop.” Polygon went further, scoring it 91/100 and praising Cregger’s “love for both the franchise and the genre.”
IGN and Gamespot both landed at 8/10. IGN’s Tom Jorgensen said the film is “a simple and exciting survival horror story that benefits greatly from director Zach Cregger’s sensibilities.” Gamespot’s Eric Frederiksen noted that Cregger “lets us finally experience Resident Evil ourselves, through our own eyes.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck called it a “propulsive, simultaneously terrifying and hilarious thrill ride.” Rolling Stone’s Pie Conzaga said it is “just as gross, funny, and scary as the games.” Variety’s Owen Gleiberman framed it as a “sweetly executed piece of escapist trivia,” while AV Club gave it a B rating, calling it a “90-minute B-movie so deftly juggles gags and gross-outs.”
The Grain Of Salt
There is a catch. Early reviewers are hand-picked by studios, so these reviews should not be taken at face value. PC Gamer asked nicely for a screening several times and was denied. The outlet cannot offer its own take on the film.
That admission is the story’s own caveat. The reviews are enthusiastic, but the paper that published them could not even secure a press screening. That gives the whole thing a knowing wink.
What The Reviews Say About The Film
The reviews cluster around a few key themes. First, Cregger avoids the trap of casting actors who are not the characters players know. By backing away from the stories and characters of the video games, Cregger dodges the “that’s not my Leon Kennedy” problem, Gamespot argued.
Second, the film is short. Clocking in at 90 minutes, Cregger’s Resident Evil is lean and mean, Collider said. It sits within the margins of the existing games while still giving clever nods to its source material.
Third, the film is inventive. Even though it is an original story, Cregger’s take sets a new high bar for video game movies, Discussing Film wrote. It captures the source material’s demented spirit while doing something clever and inventive with it.
The Fan Reactions
The fan response has been strong too. Lisa Laman of Land of the Nerds called the film “automatically up there with Exit 8 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as the best live-action video game movie ever made.” Donald Clark of the Irish Times said “Cregger’s shameless romp, though smallish in scale, feels like the best Resident Evil film in the franchise’s long history.”
Adam Olinger of Adam Does Movies (a YouTube review channel) went all-in. He called it “the best videogame movie of all time.”
The Hand-Picked Caveat
The reviews are hand-picked by studios, which matters. PC Gamer’s inability to secure a screening is part of that general warning about the nature of early reviews.
What Fans Should Expect
The film’s strengths, according to the reviews, are its tone and its inventiveness. Cregger’s approach is described as funny, scary, gross, and beautiful, with Kleinman arguing that it captures the fight-or-flight experience of actually playing a Resident Evil game.
The lean runtime is a selling point. A 90-minute horror film gives the audience less room to drift, which suits the genre. The film’s setting within the margins of the existing games means it can nod to the series without being a direct remake of any particular title.
“Screw what hardcore fans say a movie adaptation should be,” says Pie Conzaga. “Cregger’s take on RE is just as gross, funny, and scary as the games.”
The Verdict On The Reviews
The reviews are glowing, but they are early and hand-picked. PC Gamer could not even get a screening, which means the enthusiasm is unverified. That does not mean the film is bad — it means the hype should be treated as provisional.
What is clear is that Cregger has made a film critics want to see. The 91/100 score from Polygon is notable, and the 4/5 from GamesRadar+ is a strong endorsement from a site that knows the franchise intimately.
The film is short, funny, scary, and gross — and it seems to capture what makes the games themselves thrilling. Whether it clears the bar of “best videogame movie ever” remains to be seen. But the early signs are encouraging.
For now, the takeaway is simple: Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is getting rave reviews. The question of whether it lives up to them will have to wait until more outlets see it for themselves.
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