In Zach Cregger’s reboot of the Resident Evil franchise, a character appears capable of killing the zombies unleashed on Raccoon city. Appearing halfway into the film, I finally settled into my seat – taking comfort in the fact that the Milla Jovovich version of the film was about to begin. Designed as a shooting videogame in 1990s Japan, the film franchise gained notoriety for its genre thrills and Jovovich’s elaborate action set-pieces, which only got bigger, more intricate with the success of each film. But true to Cregger’s ability to pull the rug from underneath us, in the eighth film of the franchise, the action hero character unceremoniously disappears. Another well-known face, who you imagine will stick around for longer in the film, is taken out. In Zach Cregger’s apocalypse, there are no saviours. Cregger’s film is the closest simulation of a videogame, especially in the manner it feels intuitive. What would I do? – is something I found myself thinking. Medical courier, Bryan (Austin Abrams) shows up at a hospital with a delivery, noticing busier than usual activity. About to clock out of his shift, the hospital offers him a ‘Schedule A’ delivery (which pays the most) to be made to a hospital on the outskirts of the city. Initially reluctant, Bryan eventually agrees to transport whatever the hospital has handed him. It’s that simple — Cregger’s film follows Bryan trying to deliver the courier to the intended hospital, and the things he encounters on the way. Within three films, Cregger has established himself as one of the most assured voices in Hollywood’s horror film space. Much in the legacy of Jordan Peele, who has found ways to combine horror, satire and social commentary in his films in the last decade, even Cregger’s films have flirted with being genuinely scary horror films, with a surprising amount of levity. It’s a disarming quality, loving a genre to the point that one can be both ambitious and irreverent. And along with that also having a very distinct, persuasive style on existing tropes. To sum up the plot of the Resident Evil franchise, a laboratory has developed a virus that mutates turning humans into zombies, and animals/plants into ferocious creatures. The job is to survive. Much like in 2026, where wars, pandemics, fascism, climate change and near-sentient machines are the norm. A gig worker chosen as the protagonist of a hyper-capitalist world devouring itself in its quest for reckless progress, feels like a conscious choice on Cregger’s part. As Bryan is on his way to make his last lucrative delivery of the day, he finds out over the phone his girlfriend Michelle is pregnant. As he’s trying to be an attentive boyfriend to her over the phone, Bryan becomes the ideal underdog for a world that has no use for him anymore: kind, not proficient with guns, trying to do the right thing, but failing all the same. Abrams, who earlier played a homeless junkie in Cregger’s Weapons (2025), is a bumbling, well-intentioned man, while tapping into his survival instincts. Thus making him instantly believable for the audiences.A screengrab from the trailer of ‘Resident Evil’.At 95 minutes, Cregger’s film mirrors the design, efficiency and danger of a Samurai sword. In the manner it remains contained, focused and carries momentum, delivers the laughs (thanks to Abrams’s superb physical comedy) and also remains visually grisly enough for genre fans. In the age of VFX, Cregger showcases his imagination in how the creatures evolve over the film and seem that much fleshy and formidable. One particular scene I found incredibly cool was of raining zombies as Bryan tries to make his way through a street. I’m going to remember that visual for a long time, much like the floating rifle over a house, which a character sees in a dream in Weapons. Resident Evil by Zach Cregger might be one of the more thrilling films I’ve seen recently. The way it moves through set-pieces, escalations, where we’re problem solving with Bryan, making the experience as close to a video game — without nullifying the dramatic stakes. As we hurtle towards armageddon, at least Cregger is ensuring we’ve retained our sense of humour about it.A fascinating detail sneaked into Cregger’s lithe zombie-horror film, is how it’s the human survival instinct itself that is the virus. At several moments, we see people having the option of stopping the infection (at the cost of martyring themselves). Almost everyone makes the choice to save themselves, and die anyway. It’s a chilling, and darkly comical observation about how Cregger sees the world. No hero is coming, and the ones with the power, might only aggravate the situation. We’re irreversibly doomed as a race. The least we can do is go out with a laugh. *Resident Evil is playing in theatres