‘Resident Evil’ review: Zach Cregger injects new life into blood-spattered zombie franchise

U ntil fairly recently, the words “video game adaptation” were enough to fill any film fan with terror, if not a little revulsion.

1993’s Super Mario Bros. , Hollywood’s first live-action game adaptation, was famously such a disaster that it scared Nintendo away from movie licensing for 30 years.

The roll call of pixellated characters who later made the leap from console to cinema screen wasn’t exactly encouraging.

Hang your heads in shame, Lara Croft and Max Payne .

READ MORE: ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ review: an inventive and unnerving survival horror sequel As gaming’s narrative qualities and film’s technical capabilities converged, however, it became apparent that the two mediums needn’t be kept as far apart as Ed Sheeran and Macklemore at the next awards ceremony.

By the time everyone’s favourite moustachioed plumber made his grand big screen return with 2023’s perfectly respectable Super Mario Bros.

Movie , even Sonic had successfully made the leap.

But Resident Evil ? Surely Paul W.

S.

Anderson, who directed or produced all seven of the zombie franchise’s lumbering live-action adaptations, had – creatively, at least – helped to put the final bullet in the head of that one.

Well, no: when a movie series has raked in more than $1.2bn (almost £900m) at the box office, you just know it’s not staying dead.

Thankfully, it seems scary movie maverick Zach Cregger ( Barbarian, Weapons ) likes a challenge (being bankrolled by PlayStation probably helped).

Could his Resident Evil be the first great horror movie game adaptation? For a large chunk of the film’s runtime, the answer is a resounding yes.

Like his aforementioned genre calling cards, it’s a wildly unpredictable mix of gore and ruthlessly executed jump scares, balanced with a knowingly comic tone that adds to the head-spinning chaos.