A new Resident Evil movie is in development, with Zach Cregger, the director behind the horror hits Barbarian and Weapons, attached to the project. Cregger is a longtime fan of the games, which has raised hopes for a faithful adaptation. But the announcement also brings renewed attention to the original film series, a run of six movies that began in 2002 and took bold, often criticized liberties with Capcom's survival-horror franchise.
Those films, directed primarily by Paul W.S. Anderson, were never faithful to the games. They introduced an entirely new protagonist, Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, and built their own mythology around the Umbrella Corporation and its underground labs. The first film, released in 2002, sent Alice and a team of mercenaries into a massive subterranean facility called the Hive, where a viral outbreak turns its inhabitants into monsters. It was stylish, claustrophobic, and drenched in the nu-metal and Hong Kong action influences of its era.
Anderson chose an original cast because he believed audiences needed to be unsure who would survive. That decision frustrated fans who wanted a direct adaptation of the games, but it also gave the series a distinct identity. The sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, moved Alice onto the streets of Raccoon City, yet subsequent entries largely continued telling original stories with select elements pulled from the games. Critics panned most of them, even as they found moderate box office success.
Over time, the series grew more extravagant. Resident Evil: Afterlife stripped Alice of her powers and placed her in a post-apocalyptic world, leaning into slow-motion action and absurd set pieces. Its climax reimagined an iconic battle from Resident Evil 5, turning it into a visual spectacle that many at the time found ridiculous. Resident Evil: Retribution went further, trapping Alice in a simulation facility in Antarctica where characters from across the franchise, both film and game, could return in bizarre scenarios. The simulation framework allowed Anderson to break every rule of the series, and he did so with complete sincerity.
That sincerity is what makes these movies worth revisiting. They are excessive, exhilarating, and often ridiculous, but they reflect a singular vision rather than a committee's compromise. In an era when blockbusters are frequently reshaped by studio mandates and executive notes, Anderson's Resident Evil films stand as a reminder of a time when directors were allowed to take massive risks with recognizable intellectual property. They may not have satisfied game purists, but they left a mark on the action-horror landscape and even influenced the games themselves, as seen in the laser hallway from the 2002 film that echoed into later Resident Evil titles.
The new film from Cregger will reportedly tell an original story while staying true to the spirit of the games. If it succeeds, it will owe a debt to the series that proved Resident Evil could work on screen, even when it strayed far from its source. The old movies were not faithful, but they were genuine. That is a quality worth acknowledging as the franchise prepares for its next chapter.