Director: Zach Cregger
Writers: Zach Cregger, Shay Hatten
Stars: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry
Synopsis: Follows a hapless courier tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.
I am not sure you could pick a better filmmaker than Zach Cregger to reboot a highly profitable franchise beloved by horror fans like Resident Evil. The previous films can be entertaining, but the phrase “fun but stupid” comes to mind, as they focus more on showcasing star Milla Jovovich than on deepening the lore or investing in meaningful world-building.
Mr. Cregger’s vision for the franchise is quintessential, evocative horror goodness. The reboot’s script keeps audiences off balance with sharp storytelling, sinister humor, and genuine jolts of terror. It is one of the year’s most unpredictable horror thrillers, as the Weapons’ director continues to demonstrate his understanding of the connection between a belly laugh and a blood-curdling scream.
Cregger’s new Resident Evil reboot kicks the franchise into overdrive, delivering enough brains to match its vicious bite and enough wicked chills, thrills, and cackling howls to draw in a whole new generation and fans of the video game who experience the movie with an open mind. I was one, and I did something I’d never done while sitting in a press row at a screening: I got so caught up in the suspense and overall tension that I couldn’t help but yell directives at the screen.
The new story follows Bryan (Do Revenge’s Austin Abrams), a medical courier en route to Raccoon City General Hospital with a life-saving organ—a class A type, as they call it. Bryan thinks he is going to save a mother’s life. In reality, he took the gig to escape the reality that his girlfriend is pregnant, and she wants to know his intentions.
While driving along a snowy road in poor conditions with limited visibility, Bryan loses his signal and takes his eyes off the road just as a woman in a modest dress steps in front of his car like a deer in the headlights. She is then struck. In a phenomenal shot, we see continued white snow that looks like endless death from something Robert Frost might write, then soaked in red light from the idle car brake lights.
Bryan manages to find her and gently places the stiff-limbed, pale, and somewhat catatonic woman inside, where she keeps attempting to slowly lunge at him as if she has the affliction Robert De Niro had from Awakenings. Which, of course, he is oblivious to. Finally, a local sheriff (Bride Hard’s Johnno Wilson) pulls them over, which is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
After that, all snowy hell breaks loose.
Cregger’s film is a propulsive blast. Blame my midlife crisis as I pander to a younger demographic or summon my own inner Rolling Stone version of Peter Travers, but the man can frame-f*ck the hell out of a shot. I honestly had no idea which direction the next scare would come from. The staging, shots, and overall patience for the setup are jaw-dropping, brutally clever, and dangerously funny.
A handful of funny guest spots come from Severance’s Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and the great Paul Walter Hauser. (Yes, I said what I said.) Their roles tie into the video game origins of Resident Evil and will surely leave some fans wanting more. Why? Well, the obvious: the film doesn’t honor the game, nor uses established characters, and even changes the setting to the bone-chilling cold. And of course, Alice is nowhere to be found.
Yet what’s even more impressive is that Mr. Cregger creates something wholly original, with a style all its own. In fact, it’s better than anything the original film franchise ever did. While the third act can be visually overwrought, Zach Cregger proves he is a horror master with a wickedly playful command of tension and misdirection. Mischievous, macabre, and unpredictable, the filmmaker has a direct line to his audience’s funny bone and knows when to snap it.
You can watch Resident Evil exclusively in theaters on September 18th!
