# Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil balances horror and comedy equally

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/resident-evil-is-a-comedy-first-and-a-thrilling-nightmare-second/
- Published: 2026-09-19T19:32:13+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-20T11:25:21+00:00
- Original publisher: The Verge
- Original article: https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/996416/resident-zach-cregger-review
- Topics: Entertainment, Film, Gaming, Horror

## Key points

- Cregger’s Resident Evil combines scares and comedy effectively.
- An ordinary courier faces mutated creatures with scarce resources.
- The film honours the games while working as a standalone story.

## Summary

Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil film returns to the games’ survival-horror foundations while balancing frightening set-pieces with deliberately awkward comedy. It centres on Bryan, an inexperienced medical courier drawn into danger on a winter journey towards Raccoon City, and suggests that video-game adaptations can respect their source material without losing their identity as films.

Bryan’s encounters with infected people and grotesquely mutating creatures are designed to be both disturbing and absurd, with humour often intensifying the tension rather than undermining it. By giving limited weapons and ammunition to an ordinary, panicked civilian instead of trained agents, Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten recreate the vulnerability of playing Resident Evil for the first time; the film works as a self-contained story while leaving room for a wider franchise.

## Coverage

- [The Verge: Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil balances horror and comedy equally](https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/996416/resident-zach-cregger-review)
- [PC Gamer: 'The best videogame movie' ever? The first reviews of Zach Cregger's Resident Evil adaptation are absolutely glowing](https://www.pcgamer.com/movies-tv/multiple-reviews-call-resident-evil-the-best-videogame-movie-ever/)
- [Destructoid: Resident Evil director Zach Cregger is now accepting your apologies as it becomes the highest-rated video game adaptation ever](https://www.destructoid.com/resident-evil-director-zach-cregger-is-now-accepting-your-apologies-as-it-becomes-the-highest-rated-video-game-adaptation-ever/)
- [Collider: 7 Horror Films to Prepare You for Zach Cregger's Resident Evil](https://collider.com/must-see-horror-films-to-prepare-you-for-zach-creggers-resident-evil/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.