Resident Evil Is Changing Genres This Month (& It's Perfect)

Published Sep 7, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT Richard Craig is a Senior Author at Screen Rant covering film and TV. Richard has also written extensively about horror and film soundtracks, contributing a chapter to the first major academic collection on the folk horror genre, The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Richard is also a performing musician and holds an MA in Music and Sound Art. The next Resident Evil movie is taking the franchise in a very different direction, and it may finally be giving fans the adaptation they've wanted for decades. Since Paul W.S. Anderson's 2002 Resident Evil, the series has been one of Hollywood's most successful video game franchises. Across six movies starring Milla Jovovich, the films earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide and built a loyal audience. However, they also became increasingly detached from the source material. While characters, creatures, and locations from the games appeared throughout the series, the Resident Evil movies were generally more interested in large-scale action sequences than the slow-burn terror that defined Capcom's survival horror games. Subsequent reboots weren't dramatically different. That disconnect has always been slightly strange because the games themselves were never primarily action experiences. Although later entries such as Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5, and Resident Evil 6 increased the emphasis on combat, the franchise built its reputation on tension, limited resources, and the constant fear of what might be waiting around the next corner. Fortunately, director Zach Cregger appears determined to change that with his 2026 Resident Evil reboot. Zach Cregger Is Moving Resident Evil Away From Action As a theatrical franchise, Resident Evil has largely existed as action horror. The Anderson movies turned zombie outbreaks into globe-trotting blockbusters that were entertaining on their own terms, but they rarely felt like the games that inspired them. Cregger has made it clear that his upcoming Resident Evil reboot will take a different approach. The director explained to Deadline: "It sounds like an action movie, but it's not. Resident Evil is a survival horror, not a survival action. He's not a badass going around and karate kicking these zombies. It's more intense, grounded dread, tone, and atmosphere. One of the things those games do so well is that they lay out such a distinct and effective atmosphere. And so, I feel like to me, what makes this a real love letter to those games is I'm trying to replicate that experience of feeling dread and tension." That distinction is hugely important. The best Resident Evil games are around vulnerability. Whether it's Jill Valentine exploring the Spencer Mansion, Leon Kennedy navigating a ruined Raccoon City, or Ethan Winters wandering through the Baker estate, the protagonists spend most of their time frightened, isolated, and underprepared. Those qualities are difficult to preserve when a movie prioritizes explosions over suspense. Zach Cregger Is Getting Resident Evil Right What makes Cregger's comments so encouraging is that they demonstrate a clear understanding of what actually made Resident Evil successful in the first place. The franchise's defining feature has never been zombies. Countless horror series have zombies. What separates Resident Evil is the atmosphere. The creaking hallways of the Spencer Mansion, the distant sounds echoing through the Raccoon City Police Department, and the constant anxiety of managing limited ammunition are just as important as any monster encounter. Cregger has already shown a talent for building tension with Barbarian, one of the most acclaimed horror films of the 2020s. That movie worked because it understood how effective uncertainty can be. Rather than relying solely on action or jump scares, it created sustained dread through pacing, mystery, and atmosphere. Those skills seem perfectly suited to Resident Evil. Perhaps most importantly, the director appears to recognize that survival horror and action horror are fundamentally different experiences. The games that established Resident Evil as a cultural phenomenon weren't trying to make players feel powerful. They were trying to make them feel trapped. Now, with Cregger steering the franchise back toward genuine horror, Resident Evil finally seems positioned to become the kind of movie series it should have been all along. Release Date September 18, 2026 Runtime 90 Minutes Director Zach Cregger Writers Shay Hatten, Zach Cregger Producers Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Miri Yoon, Robert Kulzer, Roy Lee, Zach Cregger, David Minkowski Franchise(s) Resident Evil