Sure, the latest Resident Evil film is the eighth adaptation of the popular Capcom series, the second Hollywood film titled Resident Evil, and the second reboot of the franchise in as many entries. Yes, it is one of the finest video game movies ever made, simply because it is good. And yes, it’s the latest from horror maestro Zach Cregger, the writer/director’s surprising follow-up to his superbly made Weapons. But, perhaps above all, Resident Evil is a “one crazy night” movie.

Reuniting with Cregger after playing the itchiest character in Weapons, Austin Abrams (unrecognizable in that film in comparison to the douchey frat-bro he played in the underrated indie The Line), plays Brian, a medical courier who transports coolers of organs to hospitals, a gig that he compares to being a “glorified Postmates driver.” He is tasked with delivering a mysteriously important package that promises extra pay if he can get it to Raccoon City General as soon as possible — and definitely before the impending winter storm breaks.

Anyone who knows anything about Resident Evil knows that Brian is driving his jalopy directly into doom, as Raccoon City is ground zero for an unfolding zombie outbreak. The problem for Brian, however, is that although he is a well-meaning guy, he’s sort of a moron. So, like Griffin Dunne in After Hours or Bill Murray in Quick Change, he’s his own worst enemy. Never mind the zombies trying to kill him everywhere he goes. Though the film promises appearances from Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Griffin Newman, don’t go see it for them (I’m not sure how many people would be doing that anyway, but you get the idea) because this is Abrams’ movie. He carries the film almost single-handedly, with only the occasional guest star (like the underutilized Kali Reis) or computer-generated Licker to play opposite.

Though I am not a gamer, I can appreciate that Cregger has tried to make his film feel like playing a video game, even if his story (co-written with Shay Hatten) takes place on the periphery of the franchise’s main storyline. Since video games are an active medium and film is a passive one, Cregger incorporates as much gaming language as possible. This manifests most obviously in the occasional POV shot, where only Abrams’ hands and his increasingly powerful weapons (first a handgun, then a shotgun, then a machine gun) peek around corners and investigate dark corridors. (The film is set in the modern day, and Brian’s only available flashlight is the one on his cell phone. It really highlights just how weak phone flashlights really are.) He looks for weapons, clues, or health advantages by opening random doors to random rooms, opening any drawer, or crossing any threshold.

This is quite the shift from most of the previous entries, slick and ridiculous gonzo action blockbusters, the kinds of films that do twice as well overseas as they do here at home. It couldn’t be any more different from that Paul W. S. Anderson-verse, largely because it is severely lacking a scantily-clad Milla Jovovich. While those films took the characters, the Umbrella Corporation iconography, and the basic premise to make their own myth, Cregger makes sure to include as many familiar parts of the Resident Evil visual style as possible, from mutating monsters to the film’s mystifying mood.

Cregger’s film differs most dramatically from other Resident Evil projects because of his sense of humor. Though he supposedly stripped the film of many jokes after test screenings, he still can’t help himself. He’s naturally more of an Alfred E. Neuman than a George A. Romero anyway. He understands how frustrating it is when a horror film’s final guy or girl makes all of the worst decisions for their safety, or how you always have to reload at the most inopportune times in video games, and that’s why he purposefully puts these moments in his script. He knows how gross somebody else’s blood and guts are, and that’s why he keeps going back to that well over and over again, dousing Abrams in enough goo to make Sam Raimi squeal.

Why Cregger wanted to make this movie is still a mystery, one that finally seeing the finished film didn’t solve. After his Oscar-winning Weapons, he could’ve cashed a proverbial blank check on any number of passion projects. Usually, you do the franchise film as the “one for them” so you can earn the “one for me.” He didn’t need a hit; he just had one.

Was it simply a structural exercise, one where he wanted to try and make a snowy survival thriller, a shoot-’em-up actioner, and a creature feature all in one cinematic garbage plate? After free rein on his Weapons script, was he looking for a tighter box to fit into, challenging himself to make a “Resident Evil” film without Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield? Does he really just love the video games that much, and did he simply seize the opportunity as soon as it was presented? 

Whatever the reason, the 90-minute romp is action-packed, thrilling, silly, fun, the best “one crazy night” movie since Game Night, and the best video game movie since maybe ever. But it’s just immediately less interesting than the other films he’s made since his turn to horror, exclusively because of its intellectual property shackles. We have plenty of Resident Evil movies; what we need is more Zach Cregger movies.

Review Courtesy of Patrick J. Regal

Feature Image Credit to Sony Pictures