The first reactions to Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil are in, and the upcoming horror movie is being called a brutal, bloody, funny blast by those who have seen it. Following the world premiere last night, social media reactions to the full movie have arrived, giving audiences their first real taste of what Cregger has done with Capcom’s iconic survival horror franchise – and the overall reaction is extremely enthusiastic.
The words “brutal,” “funny,” “gory,” “chaotic,” and “blast” appear frequently in the early reactions, with several viewers praising the way Cregger balances horror and comedy without losing the sense of danger. Here’s a sample:
As you can see in those reactions, lead actor Austin Abrams is getting a lot of love from viewers. The Weapons star plays Bryan, a medical courier who finds himself caught in the middle of a biohazard outbreak. What begins as a routine night quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival as he encounters the horrors unleashed by the outbreak.
We’ve previously seen reactions to the first 30 minutes of Resident Evil, which Sony Pictures recently screened for members of the press. JoBlo’s own JimmyO praised the footage as “fantastic,” specifically highlighting the balance between horror and laughs and Abrams’ performance as Bryan. It sounds like most viewers enjoyed the remaining 60 minutes just as much as the first 30.
Cregger, the filmmaker behind Barbarian and Weapons, co-wrote Resident Evil with Shay Hatten. The filmmaker has previously promised that Resident Evil is the most violent movie he has ever made, and the movie’s R rating backs that up. The MPA rated the film R for “strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout.”
The movie stars Abrams alongside Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Johnno Wilson, and Kali Reis.
While Resident Evil is based on Capcom’s long-running video game franchise, Cregger has approached the movie as a survival horror story centered on an ordinary person thrown into an extraordinary nightmare. Cregger’s film doesn’t recreate any of the existing Resident Evil games, but several reactions have praised the way it captures the feeling of playing the games.
Resident Evil hits theaters on September 18, 2026. Are you looking forward to seeing Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil this weekend? Take a look at the early reactions, then let us know in the comments.