Ranking the Live-Action Resident Evil Movies from Worst to Best.

My first exposure to Resident Evil was through the movies.
I actually did not begin playing the video games until Biohazard in 2017.
Realizing a much better experience lay in the games, I ditched rewatching the movies until this year, when Zach Cregger released the latest Resident Evil adaptation.
Before going to the theater, I watched all seven movies.
Now that I have seen the most recent film, I will rank all eight from worst to best, spoilers included.
Unfortunately, we are going to have to get through a lot of bad first before I can talk about the good.

8. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

The Final Chapter was actually a first watch for me.
Back when the movie came out, I heard the terrible reviews it was getting, even in comparison to the other Milla Jovovich movies, so I decided to steer clear of it.
When I sat down to watch the film, I wondered if it was bad as everyone had warned me it was.
Was it?
It is at the bottom of this list, so what do you think?
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is an absolutley atrocious movie with the worst action editing I have ever seen put to film.
Every single action scene is depicted through disorienting quick-cuts, with multiple cuts per-second from different angles.
This makes it impossible to tell just what the hell is going on, and makes every action sequence deeply unpleasant to look at.
Say what you will about the other Milla Jovovich movies, but at least we could tell what was happening.
The story is just as poor, with countless retcons and bland characters, many of whoms names I do not think we were even told.
As for the game characters who were adapted, they were done just as much of a disservice.
Wesker is killed by a freaking door for god’s sake.
The only good thing I can say about this movie is that Iain Glen gives a good performance as the villain, even if his character is retconned into being alive.
Otherwise, this movie is a travesty with the worst editing I have had the displeasure of witnessing.
There is no doubt in my mind this is the worst Resident Evil movie.

7. Resident Evil: Retribution.

The penultimate movie in the Paul W.S Anderson series, Retribution is better than The Final Chapter, although that is not saying much about its quality.
To get my few positives out of the way, I like those cast as the video game characters, especially Kevin Durand as Barry Burton.
There were also a few scenes I would call so bad that they are enjoyable, at least on an ironic level.
And that is all I have for positives.
Retribution begins with an awful slow-motion rewind scene which completely undercuts the ending of the previous movie.
From there, we follow Alice as she explores various apocalypse biomes developed by Umbrella.
She is aided in her escape by characters from the games and gains an adopted daughter along the way, all of whom disappear in the next movie.
Along with characters from the games, those from previous movies return as clones but they all pretty much have no personality so there is nothing of value there.
Retribution honestly feels of little value, especially since it all builds up to a cliffhanger that is abandoned in the final movie.
But at least the action is understandable, so that puts it above The Final Chapter.

6. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Alongside the latest adaptation and The Final Chapter, Welcome to Racoon City was the other first-time watch for me.
Starting the movie, I expected it would be high on this list because I had heard it tried to be faithful to the games.
Unfortunately, that did the movie no favors.
Welcome to Raccoon City jams the stories from the first two Resident Evil games into a single movie, creating an extremely bloated movie, with too many characters to focus on in such a short amount of time.
Despite the bloated nature of the movie, it also somehow felt too small scale.
Welcome to Raccoon Small Town would have been a more accurate title than Raccoon City.
And even though this adaptation tried to be faithful in some aspects, it absolutely failed in others, especially with the characters.
The characters from the Milla Jovovich movies were more faithful to the games, which I cannot believe I am saying.
The director, Johannes Roberts, clearly knew a lot of details about the original story so, for the life of me, I cannot understand why he decided to depict Leon Kennedy as a bumbling buffoon who primarily serves as comedic relief.
Claire was the only character who felt even remotely like her video game counterpart.
That and a very-well shot scene where Chris fights zombies in the dark were the only saving graces of this movie.
Otherwise it was a big disappointment, which bumped it this low on the list.

5. Resident Evil: Afterlife.

From here on out, I find the movies on this list to be enjoyable.
Not necessarily great, but the kind of film you can just turn your brain off while watching and have a good time.
Still, that does not mean Afterlife is devoid of issues.
For one, the trend of undercutting the previous movie’s ending continues here, with all of the clones from Extinction being killed off in the opening scene.
Sure, that scene itself was good, but it was disappointing to see.
I also personally found a few logical inconsistencies with the movie, which drew my brain out of its off mode to question things.
Also, there is entirely too much slow motion.
This is epitomized by a fight scene between Claire and a bioweapon, which takes place entirely in slow-mo.
However, although there was a lot of bad, there is also some good.
I liked the Luther West character, and the adaptation of Chris Redfield was good (even if his character was never mentioned again afterwards).
The final fight with Wesker was also a lot of fun, and its final moment with the exploding plane was a good bit of payoff that made me laugh.
Speaking of, the payoffs in this movie were also really good, like Alice loading coins into the shotgun.
So, although there is a lot of bad, there is enough good in Afterlife to make it at least enjoyable.

4. Resident Evil: Extinction.

I remembered not liking Extinction when I was younger, so I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying it on rewatch.
Sure, it is not stunning, but it has a lot of good qualities, like the action scenes.
The crow scene felt inventive, and the scene of Alice and the gang fighting advanced zombies in Vegas had a lot of fun.
Carlos’ sacrifice after this scene is the best written death in the Jovovich movies (not like it had much competition though).
Iain Glen is also once again great as the antagonist, and I really liked the practical elements of his final transformation.
The way they brought back the lasers for Alice to defeat him was a nice touch, as well.
Although I liked the practical effects, the CGI is very dated, but that is the case for almost all of these films.
Also, Extinction just often does not feel like a Resident Evil movie.
The wasteland gives off more of a Mad-Max vibe, and Alice’s telekenetic abilities felt especially ridiculous here.
Even if it does not feel like Resident Evil, though, Extinction still provides enough good for me to rank it higher than I originally thought I would.

3. Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Before rewatching Apocalypse, I was confident it would be my favorite of the Milla Jovovich movies.
This was the first Resident Evil movie I watched after all, so it had a lot of nostalgia for me.
Unfortunately, the action was less stellar than I remembered, with a lot of shaky-cam and bad editing, which made me rank it a spot lower than I expected.
Still, Apocalypse is one of the better Jovovich movies.
The characters from the games it adapts, like Jill, Carlos and Nemesis are all great.
Even some of the movie-original characters, like L.J, are a lot of fun.
His “Because I usually drive a cadillac” lines still gets a laugh out of me to this day.
I would also say that I like this depiction of Raccoon City the best out of any movie.
It actually felt like I was seeing the collapse of a city, rather than a small town like in Welcome to Raccoon City.
While not outstanding, Apocalypse will always be a movie I feel nostalgia towards for introducing me to the Resident Evil franchise.

2. Resident Evil (2002).

Yes, I think the Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich get worse as they go along, with the first being the best of them.
Sure, it might not make for the most interesting of lists, but I am being true to myself here.
Much like with Extinction, I was surprised by how much fun I had with this movie on rewatch.
Watching the fall of the Hive in the opening scene is tense, and what follows is a very solid zombie flick.
The laser scene is a highlight, being probably the most memorable moment from the Jovovich films.
As for the undead, they are well done in this movie, with the depiction of Spencer’s zombie being particularly unnerving.
What I especially like about this adaptation was that, if you removed the Hive being located beneath Raccoon City and set the story elsewhere, it would still feel like the movie fit into the universe of the games.
If there were never any sequels, then this could have been a decent, standalone story set in the world of Resident Evil.
For better or worse though, there were sequels, and if those films lead to Zach Cregger’s adaptation then I am at least grateful for that.

1. Resident Evil (2026).

Speaking of which, is anybody surprised that the latest adaptation of Resident Evil is my favorite?
Even having only seen it once, I can confidently say this movie is leagues above the rest.
Set during the fall of Raccoon City, the film follows medical courier Bryan, who gets caught up in the madness.
We follow him as he goes through scenes which could all work in a video game format.
I would say the first act is definitely the best with its tension building and terrifying jump scares.
The reveal of the infected dog, and the farm owner attacking Bryan both nearly made me jump out of my seat.
The rest of the film is almost as good with one grim set-piece after another, many of which I am going to remember for a while.
There is the infected girl, the rats bursting through the fat guy in the sewers, the raining zombies, the acid elevator and, most disturbing of all, the maternity ward.
All of this builds to the tragic ending where Bryan fails to get the cure and transforms into the kind of monstrous abomination we would expect to fight as Leon or Claire.
The entire movie is basically the backstory for a Resident Evil boss.
Despite the tragedy of this ending, I do think it could have hit harder emotionally if there was less humor in the third act, which is my only criticism of the film.
As it stands, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is the first live-action film in this franchise I can truly call a great movie.
It tells a simple story, full of intense and terrifying set-pieces, which all build to a tragic ending, which places it firmly at the top of this list as the best Resident Evil movie.

Resident Evil Review: Survival Horror the Movie.

Zach Cregger has emerged as one of the great horror directors working today.
Barbarian was a lot of fun and Weapons is one of my favorite movies of 2025.
So, knowing that he would be the mind behind the latest Resident Evil movie, I was interested to see if he could deliver.
Given how bad some of the previous live-action Resident Evil films were, there was this little speck of doubt in my mind about whether this newest adaptation would be good.
Well, having seen the movie a few hours ago, I can thankfully say my doubt was unwarranted.
Zach Cregger has done it again, delivering a great story set in the Resident Evil universe.

The mutated monstrosities seen in many RE games translate well to Cregger’s film.

The film follows Austin Abrams’ Bryan, a medical courier taking a package to Raccoon City just as the zombie outbreak is beginning.
Upon Bryan’s first encounter with the undead, the film puts its foot on the pedal and does not let up until the credits role.
Bryan encounters one disgusting biohazard after another in scenes which felt like moments I could potentially play through in a survival horror game.
Zach Cregger has been met with some backlash that his adaptation does not center around any characters from the games but, honestly, I think it is better this way.
It gave him complete freedom to do what he wanted with Bryan’s character and those infected with the virus.
And, boy, does he make some bold choices by the film’s end.
Austin Abrams also does a solid job as the main character.
He gave my favorite performance in Weapons (excluding Amy Madigan), and he feels especially relatable here as just an average joe dropped into a gore-filled, traumatising hellscape.

Let’s just say if Bryan did not want to have kids by the film’s end I would totally understand his reasoning.

Speaking of the gore, there is a lot of it to wince in disgust at.
Most of it is CGI, but it is of good quality, as are the jump scares.
There were two in particular from the first act which had me leaping from my seat in fright.
Along with the effects and horror, the cinematography is also great, with some shots reminding me of the first-person perspective from the most recent RE video game entries.
So, the movie feels like it takes place in the game’s universe, the gore and jump scares are unnerving, and the performances are solid.
Is there anything I did not like about the film?
Well, unfortunately, I do think the comedy was a bit overplayed at times.
Comedy is nothing new with Zach Cregger.
He comes from a comedic background after all, and there was plenty of humor in Barbarian and Weapons.
Still, I do think the humor should have been toned down a bit in the third act, so the horror of the situation could have been allowed to shine better.

Less humor would have made the ending hit harder than it already does.

As for the conclusion, I can see some people being unhappy with it.
Personally, I liked what Zach Cregger was going for, but I can definitely understand if anyone ends the movie feeling a little bitter.
Overall, though, despite these minor gripes, the movie is still great.
I would say it is better than Barbarian but I do enjoy Weapons more.
And what about the other live-action Resident Evil movies?
Where does this latest adaptation rank among them?
Well, that would be spoiling things because I did a rewatch of these movies before going to the theater, and I plan to release a post ranking all eight live-action films sometime next week.
Until then, know that Resident Evil is a gory and tension-filled time.
If you are a fan of the games, I would definitely recommend it.

Weapons Review: A Creepy and Hilarious Mystery.

2025 has been quite the year for horror movies, with the likes of Sinners, 28 Years Later, and now Zach Cregger’s Weapons.
I remember the first piece of promotional material I saw for this film.
It was an over two-hour long video of security footage showing seventeen kids running from their homes and into the night, their arms spread out like airplanes, never to be seen again.
The footage creeped me out and made me wonder what the film would be like.
Then the first trailer floored me, along with most of the internet.
If anyone wants to know how to make a good horror movie trailer, I will point them to that first trailer.
It does an incredible job of building suspense for the film, without telling the audience what is going to happen.

“Matthew, where are you?” Josh Brolin’s Archer states, showcasing the mystery of the film.

From there, I became obsessed, watching every piece of promotional material I could find about this movie.
Now, after months of waiting, I have finally seen Weapons.
Did it live up to the hype?
Well, yes, but, much like 28 Years Later, not in the way I thought it would.
The trailers made this movie look horrifying and, while I would argue that a lot of it is still pretty disturbing, Weapons is also much funnier than I expected.
I was anticipating some humor.
After all, Zach Creggor’s previous horror film, Barbarian, had a lot of comedy.
But even I was surprised by the amount of humor in this movie.
This is certainly not a bad thing because a lot of the humor is very good.

And that is not to sell the horror short, either.

But I am getting ahead of myself.
As I said earlier, Weapons centers around the events following the disappearance of seventeen kids from the same classroom.
The film divides itself into various chapters, depicting different characters’ reactions to the tragedy.
We follow the kids’ teacher Justine (Julia Garner), grieving father Archer (Josh Brolin), police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), drug addict James (Austin Abrams), school principal Marcus (Benedict Wong), and Alex (Cary Christopher), the only kid in the class who did not go missing.

Among all of the characters, Julia Garner’s Justine is the lightning rod for suspicion.

Each chapter, with one exception, uncovers part of the mystery, building up to where the storylines collide in an intense and highly cathartic climax.
Seriously, the ending is incredibly satisfying.
It got a lot of laughs and cheers in my theatre, along with quite a few groans of disgust.
The ending mixes perfectly with Weapons’ blend of horror and comedy.
There were quite a few jump scares which got me good, and plenty of unnerving scenes, supported by great cinematography.
What helps sell the horror and humor are the actor’s performances.
If I had to choose who my favorites were, I would say Austin Abrams is fantastic as James, and Amy Madigan may just steal the whole thing with her performance.

Abrams probably gives the best performance of the main POV characters.

That being said, what about the ultimate explanation of why the kids went missing?
Is that satisfying?
For me, it definitely was, but I can see this being a swing and a miss for some viewers.
Another potential issue is that there is some imagery that seems to be there solely for symbolism’s sake, rather than tying into the actual plot.
This may cause some to wonder what the point of these things happening are in the story.
However, although I could see these being issues for others, they were not for me.
Personally, my biggest problem with Weapons is that one of the chapters, the one centering around Paul, did not really seem necessary.
It felt like Justine and James’ chapters explained everything there was to know about him, and his chapter did not have anything to do with the mystery like the other characters.

Paul’s part of the story could have been skipped, to be honest.

That being said, I certainly did not hate his chapter.
It just felt like if you removed it, very little in the plot would change.
Paul would still end up where he needed to be for the climax.
Other than that, though, Weapons is a blast.
It has fun jump scares, creepy imagery, great performances, and an ending which mixes comedy and horror excellently.
As a certain character says in this movie, “Are you watching?”

Barbarian: A Prelude Review to Weapons.

Months ago, advertisements for Zach Cregger’s latest movie Weapons began dropping, and I quickly became obsessed.
The trailers did a perfect job of intriguing me, without telling me too much.
So, with the film releasing in a week’s time, I decided that the perfect way to prepare myself was to finally sit down and watch Cregger’s first horror film, Barbarian.
I had heard of Barbarian when it first released, along with the praise the movie was getting, but I had never watched it before.
After having seen it, I can say that it is a fun movie, which got me even more excited for Weapons.

Since the movie has been out for a few years, I will be discussing spoilers in this review.

The movie follows Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell), a woman who books an Airbnb, only to discover a man named Keith (Bill Skarsgård) has been booked in at the same time.
Forced to share a home with him, Tess quickly becomes suspicious, not only of Keith but of the secrets the house may be hiding.
The first half of the movie does a great job building tension, as the audience are left to wonder if Keith is the threat Tess faces or something else.
This tension builds up masterfully to reveal of the Mother (Matthew Patrick Davis), a giant, naked, inbred woman, who brutally murders Keith and takes Tess hostage, wanting the woman to be her baby.
I had heard of this reveal before watching the movie, but I can still imagine how shocking it must have been for many going into this movie blind, expecting Keith to be the bad guy, only for it to turn out to be an incest monster.

Casting Skarsgård to play this role served as the perfect misdirect.

Speaking of bad guys, it is after Tess’ capture that we meet A.J (Justin Long), an actor who is exactly the kind of guy Tess was worried Keith would turn out to be.
Fleeing to the Airbnb to escape allegations of sexual assault, A.J quickly finds himself drawn into the same horror Tess is facing, albeit in a much more comedic way.
This makes sense given Cregger’s history as a comedian, making him similar to other directors who went from comedy to horror, like Jordan Peele.
The second half of Barbarian is much campier than the first, but it is thankfully the fun kind of campy, as both Tess and A.J are relentlessly pursued by the Mother.

Justin Long brings a lot of welcome comedy to the film.

Escaping to a water tower, A.J attempts to sacrifice Tess to save himself, only for the Mother to rescue her in a moment that I unfortunately found to be unintentionally comedic.
Really, though, that is my only big criticism of the film.
Otherwise, it’s a lot of fun, especially the ending.
Seeing A.J get his eyes gouged out by the Mother was great karma, and I ended up actually feeling sorry for the Mother at the end.
She never asked to be born a monster.
In the end, all she wanted was a baby to love and care for, and Tess had to kill her to save herself.
It honestly is a credit to Zach Cregger that he made me feel sorry for the giant, naked, incest monster.

Wow, that is a sentence I never thought I would say.

In the end, Barbarian definitely got me more excited for Weapons.
It has an intense first half, a fun and campy second, and a surprisingly sad ending.
I have already booked a ticket to see Weapons the day it releases, and I hope it lives up to expectations.