Editorials
[Retrospective] The Best Part of ‘Resident Evil 6’ Revisited
Six years ago today, Resident Evil 6 lurched onto consoles and made far more money than it did fans. This sloppy gung-ho mess largely feels disconnected from the atmosphere and style of what Resident Evil should be, but there is a diamond in the rough.
Split into separate campaigns with different character duos, all telling their sides to the same overall story in slightly different ways, Resident Evil 6 should, on paper, be a grand continuation of the melodramatic survival horror series. Unfortunately, Capcom leaned far too heavily into the false idea that players didn’t much care for horror games anymore and action was where the money was.
The second part of that idea was certainly true (Resident Evil 5 and 6 are the most financially successful entries in the entire series), but that needn’t have come at the expense of the horror for Resident Evil 6, especially when one of its campaigns consistently shows how the game is best when it balances the two.
Leon’s campaign felt like the only enjoyable part of Resident Evil 6 back in 2012. At the time it was simply because the others were such action-heavy retreads with a higher emphasis on shooting the hell out of everything in sight (and punching things in the vague shape they called a face for good measure). The easiest comparison between the campaigns is that while the majority were like being in a war against the bio-terrors, Leon’s journey, despite his experience, is sheer survival.
After a brief flash-forward, we get plonked straight into the middle of the latest outbreak where Leon has had to re-kill the reanimated corpse of his good pal and boss, The President of the United States of America. Leon and fellow agent Helena Harper must now escape from the grounds and seek out those responsible.
The opening area keeps much of the action claustrophobic. Dark hallways and small hordes of the shuffling undead are a regular sight during this time, which evokes Leon’s earliest adventures from 1998. It’s a shame when it does deviate a bit and head into underground caverns and labs and different flavors of virus monster are unleashed (even if that in itself is a pleasingly familiar progression), but the adventure does also head to the streets and does a damn fine job of showcasing the chaos and ragtag survival of a group of relative strangers.
The Resident Evil Games Ranked
It’s during this stage that Leon’s campaign shows its hand as a pleasing Greatest Hits package of classic Resi moments married to its less pleasant modern stylings. There’s a siege in a building that echoes the one from Resident Evil 4, with Leon, Helena, and some survivors going floor to floor, keeping the undead at bay as they stumble towards the building in numbers. It’s intense and importantly, it feels like pure survival horror, even in co-op. You’re never left to feel comfortable with your surroundings. A zombie can easily creep up on you unseen and set off a chain reaction of panic (especially with friendly fire turned on) that sees all your best-laid plans crumble to dust.
Looking back on how promising that segment felt six years ago before knowing quite how disappointing much of what followed would be is bittersweet. Arguably the game never quite reaches that high again (the plane section is interesting up until we get a rather drab retread of the aerial boss battle from Resident Evil Code: Veronica) and Leon’s campaign veers off into the same muddy waters as the other campaigns towards the end.
But those first few hours as you head through a campus, the burning streets, and a graveyard are still a pleasure for Resi fans turned off by the action-heavy direction the series was embracing otherwise. Leon’s weary snark makes a welcome return and fits nicely in the bloody, campy absurdity of everything going on around him. As with Resident Evil 4, Leon could easily be an 80’s John Carpenter lead.
Seeing the course-correct Resident Evil 7 made means Resident Evil 6‘s sting is lessened somewhat now and it’s that bit easier to appreciate what it did right, and most of that is in Leon’s campaign.
A new month means a new guide as titles are added (and dropped) from streaming services. Let’s unpack the most exciting titles that are available to watch on Tubi in July 2026.
New to Tubi July Horror Films
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
- Premise: Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.
- Why Watch It? Let’s be frank: Director Renny Harlin has made some absolute dogs in the last few years (the less said about The Strangers trilogy the better, though this year’s Deep Water was actually ok). Deep Blue Sea remains one of the Finnish director’s best contemporary efforts, though. Between the great cast (Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Stellan Skarsgård, Michael Rapaport, LL Cool J, Thomas Jane, and Jane’s sleeveless wetsuit), the ridiculous premise, and that damn/dumb song (“My hat is like a shark’s fin”), you basically can’t go wrong with Deep Blue Sea. It’s one of two great shark films gliding onto Tubi this month, so why not stay out of the water and watch this instead?
- Streaming: July 1
Exorcist II: Heretic (1977)
- Premise: Reagan (Linda Blair), a girl once possessed by a demon, finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, Father Lamont (Richard Burton) investigates the death of the priest who performed her exorcism.
- Why Watch It? August sees the release of documentary Boorman and the Devil, which is about the troubled production of this sequel. The notoriety surrounding Heretic has undoubtedly kept plenty of horror fans away from the sequel, but this truly is a “seeing is believing” kind of film. Real talk: it’s undeniably a disaster, but the John Boorman film has also become a minor cult film. Don’t you want to see it to make up your own mind?
- Streaming: July 1
Hostel: Part III (2011)
- Premise: Four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas fall prey to the Elite Hunting Club, who are hosting a gruesome game show of torture.
- Why Watch It? What does Hostel look like without Eli Roth? Part III kinda answers the question. Technically Roth is still a writer, but he hands over the directorial reins to Scott Spiegel (best known for acting in Evil Dead films). The result is a film with a terrible pedigree; it’s also the first (and last) entry to skip theatres before the franchise was permanently shelved (until that TV show with Paul Giamatti shows up?). For some horror fans, however, there’s something exciting about a bad low-budget sequel. Just bear in mind that the Hostel: Part III‘s biggest star is Kip Pardue…so adjust your expectations accordingly before hitting play.
- Streaming: July 1
Insidious 1-3 (2010/2013/2015)
- Premise: A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
- Why Watch It? It’s hard to believe that the sixth (!) Insidious movie is coming out in a month and a half, but James Wan and Leigh Whannell‘s other horror franchise has been steadily chugging along for sixteen years. It’s a shame that Tubi doesn’t have all five films available to watch, but in terms of quality, you can do far worse than the original trio. The first film is iconic, and the second is basically an extended coda (with some admittedly problematic stuff going on). I’ll go to bat for Whannell’s 2015 directorial debut, though: there’s a few banger sequences in that film that people slept on.
- Streaming: July 1
Man Finds Tape (2025)
- Premise: After finding mysterious video clips, siblings investigate the strange recordings and uncover a disturbing secret spreading through their Texas town.
- Why Watch It? Writer/directors Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall‘s well-received found footage film did an extensive tour of the festival circuit, so now is a great time to check out one of the most contemporary titles debuting on Tubi this month. Surely a title that hails from producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring and The Endless) is worth a free look?
- Streaming: July 2
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
- Premise: A depressed musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) reunites with his lover Eve (Tilda Swinton). However, their romance, which has already endured several centuries, is disrupted by the arrival of her uncontrollable younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska).
- Why Watch It? This beautiful, melancholy vampire film is courtesy of writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who doesn’t often dabble in genre fare. As always, some will quibble if this artsy drama qualifies as horror, but the existential ennui of an eternal life certainly qualifies (bonus: there’s also something inherently sexy about watching Hiddleston and Swinton just lay about). Plus: if Leviticus has you hankering for more Wasikowska, this is an under the radar pick.
- Streaming: July 1
The Shallows (2016)
- Premise:A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
- Why Watch It? What better time to watch a shark movie than July? The temperatures are soaring and the idea of escaping into the water is so tantalizing. This tight, contained thriller features a great performance by Lively (and that damn seagull!), but it’s the direction from genre fave Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan; the House of Wax remake) that keeps the movie clicking along like clockwork. At 86 minutes, this is a perfect summer flick.
- Streaming: July 1
Vacancy (2007)
- Premise: Stranded in an isolated motel, a couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) become the unsuspecting subjects of a snuff film.
- Why Watch It? I’m not going to pretend that this Nimród Antal-directed home invasion film is high art, but it is a good time. You’ll likely wish there were deeper characterizations for Wilson and Beckinsale’s David and Amy in Mark L. Smith‘s screenplay, but this mid-aughts thriller is tense, exciting, and just the right amount of grimy. Plus: another short runtime, clocking in at an expeditious 85 minutes!
- Streaming: July 1
July Tubi Originals
The One Next Door (2026)
- Premise: When a mysterious stranger moves in next door to Robert and Tabitha, boundaries are tested, loyalty is questioned, and danger comes for all.
- Streaming: July 10
I Know Where You Live (2026)
- Premise: Sarah thinks she’s found “the one” until his flaws emerge. When she pulls away, chilling threats suggest he’s watching her from inside her own home.
- Streaming: July 24
What’s your favorite from the list above? Will you check out the new Original? Sound off in the comments below
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