Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Just Became His Best-Reviewed Movie With Audiences

Zach Cregger has built one of the most trusted names in modern horror over the last few years, turning a pair of original stories into two of the genre’s biggest word-of-mouth success stories. So when it was announced he’d be taking on a video game adaptation for his next project, the reaction from horror fans was equal parts excitement and cautious curiosity.

That hesitation made sense given the franchise’s track record. Every previous live-action ‘Resident Evil‘ film had struggled to win over critics, with scores ranging from a dismal 18% for 2004’s ‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ up to a still-mediocre 38% for 2017’s ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,’ meaning none of the earlier seven installments had ever managed to land a fresh rating.

Cregger’s new ‘Resident Evil’ has now blown past that history in dramatic fashion. The film debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a 96% Tomatometer score and, perhaps even more notably, a 90% audience score on the site’s Popcornmeter, based on early verified ratings following its theatrical release.

That 90% figure is the real headline here, because it now stands as the highest audience score of Cregger’s directing career. His breakout debut, ‘Barbarian,’ currently sits at a 70% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes despite its strong 92% critics rating, reflecting how divisive that film’s back-half twist proved to be for some viewers. His Oscar-winning follow-up, ‘Weapons,’ fared better with moviegoers at an 85% audience score alongside its 93% critics rating, but ‘Resident Evil’ has now topped both.

Much of that audience enthusiasm appears tied to how directly Cregger leaned into the tone of the source material rather than trying to replicate the story beats of any specific game. The film follows Bryan, a medical courier played by ‘Weapons’ alum Austin Abrams, who gets pulled into a viral outbreak in Raccoon City while making what should have been a routine delivery.

Critics have picked up on that same energy. Writing for Variety, Courtney Howard described the film as “a wild, hilarious, unpredictably bonkers thrill ride from start to finish,” with Abrams playing the perfect hapless everyman at the center of the chaos. That mix of comedy and genuine terror has become something of a Cregger signature, and it’s clearly translating into how regular audiences are responding to the film as well.

The choice to sideline established franchise characters like Leon Kennedy or Chris Redfield in favor of an original protagonist was a gamble that could easily have alienated longtime fans of the games. Instead, early reception suggests that decision gave Cregger the freedom to build tension and set pieces around a genuinely relatable, in-over-his-head lead rather than trying to service decades of established lore.

It also helps that Cregger has now built up enough goodwill with horror audiences that they were willing to follow him into unfamiliar territory. Both ‘Barbarian’ and ‘Weapons’ earned their reputations by subverting expectations at nearly every turn, and that same unpredictability appears to be a major factor in why ‘Resident Evil’ is connecting so strongly with the people actually buying tickets.

The first trailer for Zach Cregger's ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ has been released.

In theaters on September 18. pic.twitter.com/eeVCAGzy6M

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 30, 2026

For a series that spent nearly two decades bouncing between mediocre reviews and complicated fan reactions, cracking a 91% audience score represents a genuine turning point. It suggests that Cregger’s approach, treating the material with real craft rather than franchise obligation, is exactly what ‘Resident Evil’ needed to finally click with a broader audience.

It’s also worth noting that Rotten Tomatoes scores can shift in the days following a release as more verified ratings roll in, so there’s a chance these numbers could move slightly as the film’s theatrical run continues. Even so, debuting with reviews this strong across both critics and audiences puts ‘Resident Evil’ in rare territory for the notoriously hit-or-miss video game movie genre.

With Cregger already hinting that ideas for where the story could go next are “percolating,” a strong audience reception like this one only strengthens the case for continuing to build out this new take on the franchise. For now, though, ‘Resident Evil’ stands as the best-reviewed entry the series has ever produced, and the movie that finally earned Zach Cregger his highest audience score to date.

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