Resident Evil (2026), the latest film adaptation of the adored franchise of the same name, will be released on September 18.

The adaptation is brought by rising horror auteur Zach Cregger, who burst onto the scene with his 2022 production Barbarian and then catapulted into stardom with his 2025 film Weapons, which saw the birth of one particular icon.

A long-time fan of the games, Cregger chose to tell an original story set within the world of Resident Evil rather than a straight adaptation. Anyone expecting appearances from fan-favourite game characters such as Jill Valentine and Leon S. Kennedy might be in for a shock.  

“As someone who’s played I don’t know how many thousands and thousands of hours of Resident Evil, I feel like I know how that pacing can go and it’s inherently cinematic. I feel like there’s a great movie that can live inside of this world and inside of that sort of pacing,” Cregger told the Double Toasted podcast.

 

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Cregger is joined by Austin Abrams, reuniting after working together on Weapons. Abrams has already established himself amongst the horror community as a ‘Scream King’, with supporting roles in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Walking Dead and the upcoming Whalefall. 

The actor takes centre stage now as protagonist Bryan, the bumbling medical courier tasked with bringing a mysterious item to Raccoon City. As Bryan makes his journey, he encounters a few… hiccups, in the form of car trouble, loss of signal and an infection turning people into violent mutations.

What follows is a 90-minute thrill ride, filled with a whole load of squishy monsters, over-the-top gore and memorable scares.

You’ll either love or hate Bryan as he screams, trips and generally bumbles his way through waves of infected creatures. What’s guaranteed is you’ll laugh at Abrams’ standout performance as he captures a real-world reaction to the madness seen in the games. Bryan is not one of the capable video game protagonists we’re used to playing as. Instead, he is an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation. 

Sticking with the character throughout the film’s runtime, fans of the game will be satisfied by the massive attention to detail spent in making the movie feel like not just another adaptation, but rather like we’re playing Abrams in a live-action video game.

Details such as Bryan’s hunt for keys, advancing from one weapon to another, fleeting character encounters, introducing someone new only for them to be killed off moments later, are all Resident Evil staples. The film goes one step further, introducing moments of POV, invoking the first-person shooter perspective common in many video games and the later Resident Evil instalments.

Cregger intended for the film to feel like a video game, recreating the experience through changing environments and weapon progression. The infamous locks that stop players from progressing until they find the right way through also make multiple appearances throughout. 

Queer people have had long connections to the world of horror. Given their long-standing relationship, it is no surprise the community resonated with Cregger’s Weapons’ antagonist Aunt Gladys, played by Amy Madigan, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Aunt Gladys was embraced by the community, inspiring drag artists around the world to have a go at her iconic look. Her celebrated design quickly became a popular 2025 Halloween costume; Conan O’Brien even donned the Gladys drag for this year’s opening Oscars sketch. 

Will the community find another icon like Gladys in Cregger’s Resident Evil?

Either way, queer gamers have long found plenty to love in the Resident Evil franchise, from the series’ strong female characters, array of muscular himbos, outlandish gore, cheesy one-liners and memorable scares. Queer Let’s Players and Twitch users have taken to streaming the games, with Capcom itself previously highlighting LGBTQ+ creators.

Diehard fans of the game will find plenty of familiar elements here, while Cregger’s new spin gives the Resident Evil franchise a fresh perspective. If you go in expecting to see buckets of blood, immense creature designs and plenty of scares, you will not be disappointed. 

Be sure to check it out in cinemas from September 18.