Poor Bryan is a total loser working as a medical courier. Usually, he transports organs, but savvy viewers might suspect there is something else in the cooler he agrees to deliver to Raccoon City Hospital. The job pays double, but he really just accepted it to avoid talking to his girlfriend about her surprise pregnancy.
He really should have stayed home. The weather is terrible, so he accidently hits a woman, but bizarrely, she pops back up and runs off into the woods. He is a schmuck, but he is a decent schmuck, so he follows her—through the looking glass.
Cregger’s pre-credits prologue is essentially a first act in itself. It is also a masterclass in building tension. His panning camera perfectly mimics a gamer’s field of vision, but this extended sequence is still massively eerie and unsettling to non-gaming viewers as well. Franchise fans will also appreciate the way the farmhouse he soon stumbles into gives off vibes reminiscent of the creepy mansion in the original game.
To an extent, the film loses some of its mojo when Bryan finally arrives in the urban environment of Raccoon City, but not before Paul Walter Hauser brings some much-needed comic relief as Carl, an Umbrella Corp. scientist, who inspires little confidence.
Frankly, the monsters in Cregger’s Resident Evil (2026) are better described as mutations than zombies. However, there is surely enough horde rampages to satisfy zombie fans. They will also appreciate how luckless Bryan closely tracks his dwindling supply of ammunition. The stakes are truly life-or-death, because he is so ill-prepared and constitutionally ill-equipped to handle such an apocalyptic crisis.
