Highly anticipated: It seems the hype around Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie was deserved. The latest take on the franchise arrives tomorrow (September 18), and early reviews are glowing. One reviewer called it the best video game movie ever made. That's not the greatest accolade if you're including only films, rather than TV shows, but you get the idea.
The trailers for Resident Evil suggested it would lean more into the horror elements of the game rather than all-out action, which is something most of the previous movies did. That's not a surprise when it comes from Zach Cregger, the director of the excellent Weapons and Barbarian.
Based on the early reviews, this is the Resident Evil fans of the horror genre have been waiting for. It currently has a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Zach Cregger has actually delivered the most faithful take yet. Very bloody, very funny, and it made me jump at least 3 times (no easy task)," wrote critic Mark Cassidy. "The fella sitting in front of me hid behind his jacket for most of the movie. Easily among the best video game adaptations I've seen."
– Mark Cassidy (@RorMachine) September 16, 2026
Reviewing the movie for GamesRadar+, Jordan Farley said that despite the absence of Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, this isn't just the best Resident Evil movie by a distance; it's "the best video game movie full stop." Several other reviewers have made the same claim.
Audience ratings aren't included yet, but the new Resi is a full 11% higher than the next best-reviewed video game movie on Rotten Tomatoes: Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which has an 86% critic score and 94% audience score.
There have been 12 Resident Evil movies, including animated ones, and a TV show. The rebooted Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was the last live-action entry. It wasn't well reviewed, but it was Oscar-worthy compared to the Netflix TV show that was canceled after one very unpopular season.
Despite their poor reviews, the Resident Evil movies have made about $1.271 billion at the box office since the first entry was released in 2002. The original six Milla Jovovich-led films were responsible for about $1.229 billion of that amount. Given the early praise for Cregger's effort, the Resi franchise's running total will soon experience a big jump.