After debuting with $60 million at the domestic box office, Cregger’s Resident Evil has now passed $100 million in the United States, scaring up $103.4 million in U.S. theaters to date.

This makes Cregger’s Resident Evil the very first movie in the Resident Evil film franchise to hit that $100 million domestic milestone, with Resident Evil: Afterlife‘s $60.1 million at the U.S. box office back in 2010 representing the franchise’s domestic high up to this point in time.

Worldwide, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is now mere days away from passing $200 million. At the time of this article being written, the film’s worldwide total is sitting at $196.4 million.

The highest grossing installment in this film franchise is still 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and its $312.2 million global haul, but Zach Cregger’s movie is coming for that record.

What’s particularly noteworthy here is that it was just five years ago that Sony had previously attempted to reboot the Resident Evil film franchise with director Johannes Roberts’ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. But that film only opened to $5.3 million in the early days of the pandemic, going on to scare up just $41.9 million at the worldwide box office.

That means in just two weeks, the new Resident Evil movie has already more than QUARUPLED the total worldwide haul of the previous installment in the Resident Evil franchise.

The production budget for Cregger’s Resident Evil movie was a reported $75 million, quite a bit higher than Welcome to Raccoon City‘s reported $25 million, but the gamble is paying off.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil currently has a 96% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best reviewed video game movie of all time on the platform. You can read our review here.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Is Franchise’s First Movie to Hit $100 Million at U.S. Box Office appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While filmmaker Zach Cregger made it quite clear that he wasn’t going to include iconic stalkers like Mr. X and other exaggerated monsters in his 2026 film adaptation, that didn’t stop him from paying homage to this terrifying tradition by coming up with his own take on a relentless pursuer enemy.

Referred to as “The Human Tumbleweed” by Cregger (though other crewmembers also called the creature “The Merged Monster”), this rat king-like amalgam of zombified corpses ended up becoming one of the most memorable parts of the movie as it hunted down Austin Abrams’ Bryan like an ironic reminder of the character’s fear of committing to a family unit.

However, horror fans might not be aware that this pulsating mass of body horror was originally brought to life by a professional group of dancers before being enhanced with CGI imagery courtesy of New Zealand’s Wētā FX.

In behind-the-scenes footage shared by stunt coordinator Jakub Hudlický and the Czech studio Movement Productions, we can see the talented group of performers rehearsing a chase scene while strapped together via a harness, with their uncanny movements feeling incredibly unsettling even without the addition of zombified makeup.

View this post on Instagram

These very same dancers also appear in the film as some of the nurse/doctor zombies that inhabit Raccoon City General Hospital, though The Human Tumbleweed was obviously their greatest challenge.

Naturally, much of this performance didn’t actually make it onto the big screen due to both safety and practical concerns, but hats off to Cregger for attempting to insert old-school effects even in the most outlandish elements of his video game adaptation.

If you’d like to check out this monster in motion, keep in mind that Resident Evil is now playing in theaters everywhere!

View this post on Instagram

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Used Real Dancers to Create the Human Tumbleweed Monster appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The recently released movie is one such miracle, with Zach Cregger going out of his way to adapt the experience of playing through a survival horror video game rather than any existing story from the series. While this approach rubbed some hardcore fans the wrong way, you really can’t argue with the results. In fact, cinephiles have even been using the new flick’s success as an excuse to poke fun at the adaptational absurdity of Paul W.S. Anderson’s previous attempts at bringing the RE series to life on the big screen.

The funny thing is that Cregger’s take on Resident Evil actually has a very similar origin story to Anderson’s adaptation from 2002.

The finished film may have been co-written by Cregger and Shay Hatten, but multiple interviews have revealed that Cregger was so passionate about translating his love of survival horror gaming to film that he wrote the initial draft of the script that would become 2026’s Resident Evil to be distinct enough from the source material that he could still produce it as a standalone movie even if Capcom didn’t approve his pitch.

As some readers may recall from my previous retrospective looking back on the 2002 Resident Evil flick, this is almost the exact same situation behind that film. Despite also being a huge fan of the games, Paul W.S. Anderson didn’t actually think he would be able to secure the rights to Resident Evil, so he decided to channel his passion for survival horror into an original horror script titled Undead (which he described as an obvious “rip-off” of the first Resident Evil). When Constantin Film actually ended up hiring Anderson to helm an official RE movie, his original zombie screenplay went through minor alterations and became the film that (some of us) know and love.

The two directors don’t exactly see eye-to-eye when it comes to what they love the most about Capcom’s long-running franchise, but it’s fun to see how such wildly different projects were born from the exact same creative desire to tell a story inspired by Resident Evil, whether the higher-ups approved it or not.

In any case, be sure to celebrate Resident Evil’s 30th anniversary by watching Zach Cregger’s film in theaters if you still haven’t, as this is one horror experience you don’t want to have spoiled for you by the internet! You can also catch up with Anderson’s films, along with other adaptations, on streaming now.

The post Paul W.S. Anderson And Zach Cregger Took The Same Unexpected Path To Adapting ‘Resident Evil’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Even though its theatrical tenure has only just begun, the good news is that the movie already has a home video release date. Resident Evil is currently slated to hit 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 15 and it is available for preorder now. At this point, there are currently no announced special features for the disc, though with the various behind-the-scenes featurettes that have already landed online, we can only hope to get a comprehensive deep dive into the experience. Additionally, the movie is confirmed to be getting a SteelBook 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, pictures of which you can see below.

As we wait for the new Resident Evil to come to home video, you can currently stream other entries in the long-running franchise.

Where to Stream the Resident Evil Movies

• Resident Evil (2002) – Available to Rent on Prime Video
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – Available to Rent on Prime Video
• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) – Netflix
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) – Netflix
• Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) – Netflix
• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) – Hulu
• Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) – Hulu

Where to Stream the Resident Evil TV Shows

• Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021) – Netflix
• Resident Evil (2022) – Netflix

Where to Stream the Animated Resident Evil Movies

• Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) – Available to Rent on Prime Video
• Resident Evil: Damnation (2012) – Netflix, Hulu
• Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017) – Netflix, Hulu
• Resident Evil: Death Island (2023) – Available to Rent on Prime Video

Will you be adding the new movie to your collection? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ SteelBook Already Available for Preorder appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Against all odds, Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil is nothing short of a triumph. Regardless of how any single viewer might feel about the movie, what’s undeniable is that it has set a number of financial and critical records not just for the franchise, but for all movies based on video games. Anyone familiar with the original live-action franchise knows just how disappointing some of those installments got, so to see such a major win for horror and for Resident Evil is truly thrilling.

In the film, Abrams stars as a medical courier tasked with transporting something to Raccoon City. It doesn’t take long for him to realize there’s something sinister happening in the town, as he confronts various otherworldly monsters. At one point, Abrams’ character is bitten by someone infested, which starts a transformation inside of him. As he races to deliver the key component of an antidote, which would allow him to recuperate, the courier gets there too late and is transformed into a grotesque beast.

It’s a bold move from Cregger to spend the entire movie with a likable character, only to turn him into a monster. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Abrams weighed in on that finale.

“I’ve been living with it for a while now, but I thought it was crazy and shocking when I first read it,” Abrams revealed. “I love that Zach takes those risks. You follow this one guy the whole time, so hopefully you’re enjoying watching him and rooting for him. Then to have him not make it is really risky and gutsy, which is what I love about all of Zach’s work. So I was surprised by it, but I also loved that he would take that chance.”

He added, “With a lot of movies nowadays, they’re a little too afraid to do something like that — to kill off a character you really like. And if they do, the blow is softened in some way so it doesn’t hurt too much. Whereas a lot of older films don’t do that; they just rip your heart out. We’re here to feel, man. We’re here to go through something. So I’m just appreciative that Zach is willing to take a risk like that.”

Early in the film, Abrams’ Bryan shares multiple calls with his girlfriend Michelle, who just found out she was pregnant. His multiple attempts to communicate with her are interrupted, though it’s very clear that he doesn’t want to be a father. At a time when he’s at his lowest, he leaves a voice note for Michelle expressing his regret over his reactions and how he had a new perspective on wanting to start a family with her.

“I wouldn’t say he deserved his fate, especially when you see him turn it around toward the end. That’s part of the tragedy of it all. It’s so damn sad when you really think about it,” the actor reflected. “He leaves this voice note for his girlfriend, and maybe they’ll find his phone and somehow get it to her. But she thinks he doesn’t want to have this baby, when he actually does. He realizes, ‘No, I love her. Having a kid isn’t as scary as I thought, and I want to do it with her.’ So the fact that she’ll never know that is pretty damn tragic. He changed and got better, but no one will ever know about it. There’s something really beautiful and tragic about that.”

Ahead of release, Cregger confirmed he wanted to pivot away from franchise films for the forseeable future. That update, partnered with Bryan’s demise, makes it seem unlikely that we would get a sequel that either Cregger or Abrams would be involved with, yet the massive success of the movie makes it seem like another entry is a certainty.

What did you think of the ending? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Star Austin Abrams Breaks Down That Shocking Ending appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Resident Evil has already passed $100 million at the worldwide box office!

Cregger’s new movie topped the U.S. box office charts over the weekend with the aforementioned $60 million haul, while the worldwide total after just one weekend is $108.3 million.

What’s particularly noteworthy here is that it was just five years ago that Sony had previously attempted to reboot the Resident Evil film franchise with director Johannes Roberts’ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. But that film only opened to $5.3 million in the early days of the pandemic, going on to scare up just $41.9 million at the worldwide box office.

The production budget for Cregger’s Resident Evil movie was a reported $75 million, quite a bit higher than Welcome to Raccoon City‘s reported $25 million, but the gamble is paying off.

The highest grossing installment in this film franchise is 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and its $312.2 million global haul, a record Cregger’s film is likely to smash in the coming weeks.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil currently has a 95% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best reviewed video game movie of all time on the platform. You can read our review here.

Resident Evil is now playing in 3,684 theaters across the United States.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Debuts With Over $100 Million at the Worldwide Box Office appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Resident Evil debuted in U.S. theaters this weekend with an estimated $60 million haul, which is by far the highest opening weekend in the entire history of Resident Evil at the movies.

The previous domestic opening weekend record holder for the franchise was the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil: Afterlife, which opened to $26.6 million back in 2010 at the U.S. box office.

“Putting Zach Cregger in charge of a major franchise like Resident Evil [made] something familiar feel fresh and original again,” analyst Paul Dergarabedian tells Variety. “Gen Z has also become such a major driver of the box office, and they obviously love horror movies.”

What’s particularly noteworthy here is that it was just five years ago that Sony had previously attempted to reboot the Resident Evil film franchise with director Johannes Roberts’ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. But that film only opened to $5.3 million in the early days of the pandemic, going on to scare up just $41.9 million at the worldwide box office.

If Welcome to Raccoon City suggested that Resident Evil‘s box office prospects were no longer what they once were, Cregger’s Resident Evil course corrects and indicates that the franchise still has a bright future ahead in the world of cinema. Cregger’s new movie is likely to become the highest grossing installment in the series when all is said and done, with 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter currently holding that record with its $312.2 million global haul.

The production budget for Cregger’s Resident Evil movie was a reported $75 million, no small price tag, but it will have no problem turning a profit for Sony in the weeks to come.

The reviews certainly help. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil currently has a 95% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best reviewed video game movie of all time on the platform!

Meagan Navarro writes in her rave review for Bloody Disgusting, “Zach Cregger captures the primal experience of playing the games, and it’s an absolute breathless blast.”

Based on the iconic video game franchise, the film is “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Resident Evil is now playing in 3,684 theaters across the United States.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Smashes Franchise Record With Massive $60 Million Opening appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Reviews for the movie started rolling in earlier this week and not only did these reactions lean heavily positive, but they are so positive that they set an all-time record for video game adaptations, with Rotten Tomatoes calculating a 96% positive rating. A key component of the movie’s success is its score from Hays Hollady and Ryan Hollady, with the score now available to stream.

Per press release, “Milan Records today releases Resident Evil (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by composers Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay. Available everywhere now, the pulse-pounding score was written by the Holladay brothers for filmmaker Zach Cregger’s highly anticipated reimagining of the iconic horror franchise. Written in close collaboration with Cregger, the score serves as a constant companion to the film’s escalating tension and terror. Built on a foundation of heavy synths, pounding brass, dark atmospheric textures and haunting vocal elements, the music heightens the film’s suspense and scale, accompanying its relentless descent into horror and chaos. From TriStar Pictures, Constantin Film and Davis Films, Resident Evil arrives exclusively in theaters today.”

The pair shared in a statement, “We collaborated closely with Zach from the earliest days of the edit through the final mix, shaping a score that’s menacing and driving, a constant push and pull between tension and release, containment and chaos. Built on heavy bass synths and bombastic brass, and threaded with vocals and dark pads, the score mirrors Bryan’s journey deeper into an increasingly hellish, mayhem-filled world.”

The tracklist is as follows:

1. “Main Titles Extended”
2. “Skybridge Reprise”
3. “B-7”
4. “The Woods”
5. “Snowcrawl”
6. “Main Titles”
7. “The Barnyard”
8. “Upstairs/Downstairs”
9. “Meet the Fenners”
10. “Arms & Legs”
11. “Journey Continues”
12. “Tunnel”
13. “Hideaway”
14. “Upsidaisy”
15. “Roll On”
16. “There’s a Gun”
17. “Alley”
18. “Subterranean”
19. “Jumpers”
20. “Voice Memo”
21. “Climb”
22. “Elevator”
23. “The Plan”
24. “Maternity Ward”
25. “The Ledge”
26. “Infection”
27. “Laboratory”
28. “Mayhem”
29. “Skybridge”

Resident Evil is in theaters now.

What did you think of the movie’s soundtrack? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Soundtrack Officially Out Now appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This week, EIGHT brand new horror movies have arrived to keep us company.

Here are the new horror movies that released September 14 – September 20, 2026!

Director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) is back this summer with dinosaurs-in-suburbia mystery box movie The End of Oak Street, and it’s now available on Digital at home.

Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor come face-to-face with a monstrous threat in The End of Oak Street, which feels like M. Night Shyamalan with retro-style Amblin vibes.

As Mitchell explained to Entertainment Weekly, inspirations for the film include Jurassic Park, The Twilight Zone, Poltergeist, The Valley of Gwangi, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs.

The End of Oak Street is set in the early 1980s…

In the film, “After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.”

Maisy Stella and Christian Convery also star.

The film is written and directed by David Robert Mitchell and produced by J.J. Abrams, Hannah Minghella, Jon Cohen, David Robert Mitchell, Matt Jackson and Tommy Harper. The executive producers are Chris Bender, Jake Weiner, Joanne Lee and Leeann Stonebreaker.

NEON ends the Summer with their existential road trip horror movie It Ends, which was released into theaters earlier this Summer. The film is now available on Digital at home.

It Ends marks the feature debut by writer-director Alexander Ullom.

“Four recent college grads on a night time drive find themselves stuck on a road that sprawls on forever, with seemingly no end in sight. They are occasionally attacked by stragglers and have to find a routine to plan their rest stops, but after a few thousand miles it all feels the same. Still, they keep on driving, only in the belief something better will come eventually.“

Akira Jackson, Phinehas Yoon, Mitchell Cole, and Noah Toth star.

From Epic Pictures’ horror label DREAD, alligator horror movie Gator Face hit Digital on Tuesday.

In the new creature feature Gator Face, “A Florida vacation becomes a blood-soaked fight for survival when a group of friends are hunted through the swamps by a savage cult that feeds its victims to ravenous alligators in the name of an ancient reptilian god.”

Amariah Dionne, Tabitha Brownstone, Scot Scurlock, and Nikolas Kolasinski star.

Padraig Reynolds directed Gator Face.

The team previews, “Blending creature horror, slasher thrills and Southern folklore, Gator Face takes an old-school approach to bringing its central threat to the screen. Reynolds and his filmmaking team shot with live alligators and relied on practical gore and in-camera effects rather than CGI or AI, grounding the film’s more extreme moments in the physical environment of the Florida swamps. The result embraces the tactile, unpredictable quality of classic creature features while creating a mythology of its own around the mysterious figure of Gator Face.”

Every so often, a new horror movie comes out of nowhere. That’s definitely the case with Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s The Last Kiss, which was released straight to Digital on Tuesday.

The premise? Mckenna Grace hunts a serial killer through prophetic kisses.

Mckenna Grace (Scream 7) stars as Laurel, a teen whose dream of a fairy-tale first kiss turns into a nightmare when she discovers she’s cursed with an ability to see the death of anyone she kisses. When a vision reveals her crush is targeted by a killer terrorizing her friend group, Laurel must unmask the murderer before her vision becomes reality.

The slasher film is directed and co-written by Yoko Okumura (Unseen).

“The Last Kiss is a colorful, fun teen slasher romance, meant to be the perfect spooky sleepover movie for the mystery lover of all ages. It takes the real anxiety and horror that surrounds a first kiss and escalates it to life-or-death stakes,” Okumura previews. “The mythology of what the kiss has meant to humans inspired the fairy tale homage woven through the film’s aesthetic, score, and visual language. In a world where many of us fear intimacy and romance, I hope Laurel’s winding journey can offer a respite and maybe even a little hope that all may not be lost.”

Jaden Michael (“Colin in Black & White”) and Arkira Chantaratananond (“Twinless”) also star.

This week’s biggest new release is of course Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger’s video game adaptation Resident Evil, which is now playing in theaters nationwide.

The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons).

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the movie’s cast.

From director Tim Kasher, the indie horror movie Who’s Watching was first brought to our attention when a flash drive containing creepy footage was sent to the Bloody Disgusting offices back in 2024. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was the first wave of viral marketing for Who’s Watching, which was just released onto Digital outlets today from Dark Sky Films.

In Who’s Watching, “Eccentric musician and aspiring filmmaker Caleb becomes obsessed with his new coworker, Krista, secretly documenting every aspect of her life in an effort to make her the subject of his latest film. As Caleb’s fixation intensifies, the lines between observer and participant begin to blur, pulling him deeper into a dangerous spiral of surveillance, manipulation and obsession. As the cameras keep rolling, the question becomes increasingly unsettling: who is really watching who?”

Who’s Watching stars Zachary Ray Sherman (A Desert, Under the Banner of Heaven), alongside Gracie Gillam (Superhost, Fright Night, Teen Beach Movie), Olivia Luccardi (It Follows, Soft & Quiet, The Baltimorons), and Steve Berg (Don’t Worry Darling, Tag).

Greg Newman, Executive Vice President of Dark Sky Films, says, “Tim Kasher has spent his career exploring relationships and the darker corners of human behavior through his music, and Who’s Watching brings those same themes to the screen in a deeply unsettling way.”

Writer/Director Tim Kasher adds, “This film has been over a decade in the making, evolving through countless drafts before becoming the story it is today. I’m incredibly proud of what we created, and the performances from Zachary Ray Sherman, Gracie Gillam and Olivia Luccardi brought it to life in ways I could never have imagined. I’m thrilled to finally share this creepy story with audiences and to bring it on the road for these special screenings.”

A supernatural horror film exploring the terror of childbirth, Goody Goody is written and directed by Raymond Creamer in his feature debut, and it’s now streaming only on Shudder.

In Goody Goody, “Lulled into a necessary sense of comfort during a long home birth process, expecting parents and their midwife begin to realize something may be horribly wrong.

“A blizzard rages outside, trapping the family as increasingly sinister complications arise.“

Colleen Foy (There Will Be Blood), Samantha Robinson (Cam, The Love Witch), Zoe Renee (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), and Colby Hollman star.

“I’m obsessed with ghost stories and folklore, so I wanted this project to have a campfire tale or storybook quality to it,” director Raymond Creamer said in a statement. “The cast is extraordinary, and working with Shudder has been a dream come true. I really hope horror fans get cozy and maybe light a couple candles when they give it a watch.”

The new horror movie from Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), the fresh-out-of-theaters Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now available on Digital at home.

Gillian Anderson stars alongside Hannah Einbinder.

In Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, after years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original movie’s star, a reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma from director Jane Schoenbrun is Rated ‘R” for “bloody violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and some language.”

The film is produced by Mubi and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.

The post These 8 New Horror Movies Released This Week – Friday, September 18 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Last night for the film’s Thursday night previews, Resident Evil scared up $8.8 million at the U.S. box office, which already gives it the highest Thursday night previews in series history.

Of note, this marks the 3rd biggest Thursday preview of all time for any video game movie!

Variety notes this morning, “It’s aiming to make $40 million to $50 million domestically this weekend, but some projections put it closer to $60 million due to positive reviews.”

Those positive reviews have given Resident Evil a 96% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes at this time, making it the best reviewed video game movie of all time on the platform.

Meagan Navarro writes in her rave review for Bloody Disgusting, “Zach Cregger captures the primal experience of playing the games, and it’s an absolute breathless blast.”

The production budget for Cregger’s Resident Evil was a reported $75 million, and it’s looking like the movie won’t have too much of a problem turning a profit in the coming weeks.

The Resident Evil film franchise is a billion dollar franchise at the box office, with the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) holding the franchise’s box office record with $312 million worldwide. The most recent installment in the franchise, 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, finished its worldwide run with just $41.9 million in theaters.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is now playing in 3,166 theaters nationwide.

Based on the iconic video game franchise, the film is “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Breaks Franchise Record With $8.8 Million at Thursday Night Box Office appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Resident Evil set the blueprint for survival horror video games, and it’s that basic blueprint that director Zach Cregger, who co-writes with Shay Hatten, adheres to in his original story set in Raccoon City during its initial outbreak. That means that while Cregger’s Resident Evil doesn’t duplicate the games’ popular characters and story, it encapsulates the survival horror and gameplay mechanics more thoroughly than any other RE adaptation to date while welcoming unfamiliar newcomers with open arms.

That begins with Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier already dealing with relationship turbulence when he’s tasked with a last-minute rush job straight to Raccoon City. To say that Bryan is an everyman ill-prepared for the horror ahead would be an understatement, first signaled by his acceptance of the job itself that sends him up into the snowy mountains while fully aware his car isn’t equipped for those conditions.

Enter the first zombie encounter, which Cregger mines for every bit of nail-biting tension possible before unleashing the scares in earnest. It’s only the start of Bryan’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

While Resident Evil is a lean, propulsive adrenaline rush that never stops moving in its efficient 90-minute runtime, Austin Abrams is the glue that holds it all together and ensures the audience remains at the edge of their seat, anxious yet hopeful the plucky protagonist can somehow evade the next gruesome attack. Not only is Bryan the rare type of horror antagonist who can and will make the wrong decision at almost every turn, but Abrams’ natural affability injects a surprising amount of humor that acts as a pressure relief valve when the horror gets too intense. And it gets intense extremely fast. It never stops.

Zach Cregger’s intimate, less-is-more approach puts emphasis on nail-biting, visceral horror. It’s a series of terrifying escalations across multiple set pieces, emulating the game’s progression. Each comes with its own unique gory hells that introduce suitably deranged, fleshy mutated beasts brought to life via Legacy Effects‘ practical effects and Wētā Workshop‘s VFX. While Cregger and Hatten keep explanations to a minimum, their original monsters adhere to familiar G-virus tactics in ways that, as Bryan often points out, are increasingly messed up.

In true Resident Evil fashion, though, it all barrels toward a final act and set piece that’s not nearly as strong as the horror onslaught that preceded it. Even still, it leads to a thematically fitting conclusion for its lead and provides one last opportunity to dazzle with a final monster. 

It is, as the games are, more about the ride versus the destination, and what a ride Resident Evil is. Zach Cregger captures the primal experience of playing the games, and it’s an absolute breathless blast. Subtle nods, like frantically searching for ammo in drawers or stumbling upon a diamond key, feel like a natural extension of this hellish journey versus overt shoehorned Easter eggs. The creature escalation and scenery changes also get translated to screen with plausibility via stunning cinematography. Cregger utilizes every scare tactic and tool in his arsenal to recreate the unease and sometimes visceral feeling of playing the games, including a brief POV switch, but the originality means it’s harder to predict what Bryan will encounter next.

That means that Resident Evil is full of surprises, Abrams’ unlikely screw-up chief among them, as well as potent scares. Cregger’s most straightforward feature yet may also make for his biggest crowd-pleaser, one that leaves its audience gasping and laughing in equal measure.

Resident Evil releases in theaters on September 18.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Review: Zach Cregger Nails The Survival Horror Formula With Intensity appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

However, this new Resident Evil comes from Barbarian and Weapons filmmaker Zach Cregger, who has more than proven his skills in the horror world.

In a bold move, Cregger made it clear that his movie, which stars Austin Abrams as a courier who is sent on a job that takes him through Raccoon City, wouldn’t be adapting specific characters or storylines from the games and would instead try to evoke the feeling of playing the games. Understandably, this creative decision elated some while completely alienating others. With the review embargo officially having lifted, it seems as though Cregger’s gamble has paid off.

With more than 70 reviews calculated, Rotten Tomatoes has Resident Evil sitting at 96% positive reactions. Not only is this the best-reviewed adaptation of a horror video game, but this makes it the best-reviewed video game movie based on any genre.

Below, you can see how the movie compares to other horror game adaptations, in chronological order.

Resident Evil (2002) – 36%

No one necessarily remembers the original Resident Evil for its cinematic achievements, so much as we remember how fun it was to see Milla Jovovich kicking tons of zombie butt in a video game movie. At the time, there wasn’t much of a precedent for video game movies getting the big-budget treatment, with 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider at least somewhat proving it was a worthy endeavor.

While the next four sequels would all have lower critical scores, the ultimate entry in this series, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, was both the top financial performer with $314.1 million worldwide and the (barely) top critical performer at 38% positive reviews.

Alone in the Dark (2005) – 1%

Unfortunately, the moderate success of some video game movies resulted in a major surge in such adaptations. Enter filmmaker Uwe Boll, who has given us video game movies like House of the Dead, BloodRayne, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal, and somehow more. As far as critics are concerned, though, there’s one of his video game movies that manages to be worse than all the others, which is 2005’s Alone in the Dark.

Starring Christian Slater, Tara Reid, and Stephen Dorff, it’s difficult to point out exactly what makes the movie such a failure, as virtually every decision made by anyone involved feels like the wrong decision.

Doom (2005) – 18%

By comparison, Doom feels like a triumph next to Alone in the Dark, despite its brutal Rotten Tomatoes score. Even though it starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Karl Urban, and Richard Brake, Doom is one of many examples of a studio hoping that a recognizable name alone would result in significant profits.

The Doom video game is known for being a seminal first-person shooter that, at the time, delivered some of the most intense violence seen in a video game. In retrospect, those graphics now seem quaint, but it’s safe to say no one was playing the game because of its complex lore; we wanted to make monsters blow up. Still, the Doom movie even failed to offer the necessary grotesque violence required to make for an even superficially entertaining experience.

Silent Hill (2006) – 34%

Much like Resident Evil, the appeal of the Silent Hill games was wandering through an unsettling environment and solving puzzles, occasionally encountering supernatural beings. What made the latter so unsettling, though, is that rather than a seemingly real-world environment, the events of Silent Hill unfolded in the liminal space of the titular town, which was under a constant snowfall, evoking a more nightmarish vibe.

The Silent Hill movie attempted to be a bit more strange and grotesque than what the Resident Evil franchise was doing, and while the Radha Mitchell-starring adaptation has its fans, thanks in large part to its surreal visuals, it still failed to resonate with critics.

Monster Hunter (2020) – 45%

While there were plenty of video game adaptations throughout the 2010s, they were largely either underwhelming sequels in the Resident Evil franchise or big-budget attempts at reinvigorating properties with major stars, like Rampage with Dwayne Johnson or Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander.

Even though Milla Jovovich said goodbye to Resident Evil in 2016, she and husband Paul W.S. Anderson decided to put their stamp on another video game series with Monster Hunter. The movie wasn’t all that more memorable than their many Resident Evil pictures, though its 45% score is at least somewhat above many entries in that franchise, with this adaptation largely just feeling like a fantasy-leaning spin on what the pair accomplished in the horror space.

Werewolves Within (2021) – 86%

A major tonal shift from a majority of the horror video game movies we had been getting up to this point, Josh Ruben‘s Werewolves Within helped prove that unexpected games could make unexpectedly successful adaptations.

The premise of the game is simple: a group of players must deduce who might secretly be a werewolf. In Ruben’s adaptation, Sam Richardson plays a Ranger who moves to a small town and soon discovers that there is secretly a werewolf living among the community. Even if it leans more into the comedic elements of the concept, it’s still a delight to see the stacked ensemble cast give way to paranoia as they embrace the absurd reality that not only do werewolves exist, but at least one of them is a lycanthrope.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) – 30%

Just four years after the previous franchise’s “Final Chapter,” a new take on Resident Evil emerged in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Coming from Johannes Roberts, fresh off of movies like 47 Meters Down and The Strangers: Prey at Night, there was plenty of hope that this new take on the concept would lean much more heavily into grounded horror than the CGI spectacles of the former series. While it fared better with critics than some of the many sequels, most reactions claimed that, while the movie was quite faithful to the game, this only cemented the fact that the original concept was best experienced as a game as opposed to being interpreted into an entirely different medium.

Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) – 33%

If nothing else, the release of Five Nights at Freddy’s at least got fans of the franchise to stop inundating Jason Blum with comments about the movie, which had been in the works for years. The effectiveness of the franchise’s animatronics are undeniably effective, so even if you didn’t play this game, you likely were familiar with its creepy mascots.

Regardless of the merits of the games themselves, it seems the filmmakers also hoped that merely by bringing to life its disturbing characters, it would satiate longtime fans. Instead, we got a movie that was an adaptation that felt like it both appealed too much to younger viewers and too much to older viewers at the same time, as a significant component of the narrative was about a custody battle as opposed to merely throwing a character into a world of animatronics coming to life. The sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 didn’t fare much better, earning only 17% positive reviews.

Until Dawn (2025) – 51%

The Until Dawn video game felt a bit revolutionary when it was released, as it was a horror game that heavily leaned into the unsettling nature of the story itself as opposed to relying on engaging gameplay. In fact, the concept involves a lot of decisions that determine the narrative trajectory of the protagonists instead of utilizing combat mechanics or complex puzzle-solving.

One might think strong source material would equate to a successful horror movie, but the 2025 movie from director David F. Sandberg proved otherwise. Even though Until Dawn successfully captured the variety of terrors depicted in the games, it failed to capture the narrative magic that made the game so entertaining.

Iron Lung (2026) – 59%

As proven by Werewolves Within, you don’t need an overly complex game to make for a compelling movie, with Iron Lung only solidifying that notion.

The game itself features a character trapped in a submarine who uses the vessel’s controls to explore their surroundings in hopes of surviving. Filmmaker Mark Fischbach embraced this minimalist concept for his $3-million film, which similarly unfolds in one contained setting. Even if the reviews don’t highlight the movie being a resounding success, its effectiveness saw it going on to earn more than $50 million at the box office.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Breaks Rotten Tomatoes Record With First Critic Reviews appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Director Zach Cregger reteams with his Weapons actor for an original story set during the initial outbreak in Raccoon City, one that sends a guy who doesn’t even have chains on his tires into the snowy mountains to complete an order only to find himself in a world of survival horror.

That Bryan is as unprepared to deal with an outbreak as he is his own personal life creates no shortage of suspense, but it’s also a very tricky role to play in an action-heavy horror movie. Even from the trailer, Abrams’ character is running through crowded streets evading dropping zombies, fleeing from an infected, and wielding guns without any experience.

In other words, Austin Abrams is tasked with playing an extremely clumsy character in an extremely stunt-heavy horror film.

“No, not really,” Abrams told Bloody Disgusting when asked if he developed any tricks to performing stunts safely while inhabiting his incapable character. “Just kind of perform them incompetently. I mean, just doing the best you can to not get hurt because you’ve got to keep working, but no.”

Much of that likely had to do with Cregger, who kept him on his toes: “Well we wouldn’t let you practice a whole lot, at anything. I think that was part of it. For example, you saw the footage where he has to jump over the electric fence? I was like, ‘We’re just going to roll, let’s just see how you do it.’ Don’t work it out, don’t try it, let’s just shoot the rehearsal. I think that’s the take.”

It added to the nail-biting urgency of the film.

Abrams agrees, “When you’re doing it, it’s kind of scary.”

It likely also helped that Zach Cregger opted to approach his take on Resident Evil using as much practical effects work as possible, including a 2,000-lbs monster puppet.

Resident Evil infects theaters September 18.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Star Austin Abrams On Playing The Franchise’s Most Unprepared Hero appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Fans of the games know that means the nightmare is only warming up for Austin Abrams‘ Bryan, as the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City is sure to unleash all varieties of mutated creatures. 

Being that this is an original story set during the initial outbreak, courtesy of Umbrella, of course, just what Cregger has in store remains to be seen. Even the marketing is playing it close to the vest.

What we do know, though, is that Cregger is taking a practical approach and has enlisted major talent to bring his monsters to life on screen: Legacy Effects and SFX legend Shane Mahan (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Shape of Water, Underwater) serves as Resident Evil‘s creature designer. 

While the monsters themselves will remain a surprise for theatergoers to discover, Cregger shared what it was like working with Mahan on the film and his decision to emphasize practical effects.

“Well, we had to have some original stuff in this movie, right,” Cregger says of the film’s original creations. “You don’t want to go a movie in the theater and see all these things you’ve seen before, so it was really fun to invent new things that fit into the world of the T-virus and Resident Evil, but were new. And Shane is just a genius.”

“For people who don’t know, this is the guy who did Aliens and Terminator II and so many of the creatures that we’ve grown up loving, Shane has had his hands in, so it was a real thrill to have him go all in on this movie,” Cregger tells Bloody Disgusting.

Zach Cregger does tease at least one monster, and it’s huge. 

“There’s one puppet that [Mahan] built in LA that’s like 2,000 lbs and takes four people to operate, that we shipped in pieces over to Prague where we were shooting.

“That was a treat because you’re acting with the thing; it’s not a tennis ball on a stick that you’ve got to imagine what it’s going to be. That’s it. Even some of our things that ended up VFX, Shane built the practical thing, and we filmed it that way. Then we would use VFX to help with the animation. It gives everything this real tactile, perfect sitting in this space kind of quality when you do it practically first.” 

“It’s such a big difference,” Austin Abrams adds. Zach Cregger agrees, “It really is, and Shane’s design sense is really top tier, so I was very honored to have him on the movie.”

Resident Evil infects theaters September 18.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Features a 2,000 Pound Practical Monster Puppet Built By a SFX Legend appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While Cregger has proved himself to be an unpredictable filmmaker with quite a few cinematic tricks up his sleeves, the new film’s extended marketing campaign. which included an exclusive event where fans were allowed to watch the first 30 minutes of the movie has given us quite a few hints about this latest reimagining of Capcom’s flagship survival horror series.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to put anxious fans at ease by coming up with this handy guide about what to expect from the long-awaited reboot.

So combine those healing herbs and organize your briefcases as we discuss everything we know so far about 2026’s Resident Evil!

Don’t Expect to See Mr. X and Other Exaggerated Monsters

While Cregger has repeatedly expressed that he’s a huge fan of the RE franchise, he’s also a serious filmmaker who understands the inherent differences between artistic mediums. That’s why he’s gone on record explaining that the upcoming film won’t feature overly “videogame-y” monsters like the trenchcoat-clad Mr. X and other over-the-top freaks.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t see any iteration of the series’ iconic Tyrants, especially since I have a feeling that Cregger is keeping cards close to his chest when discussing elements present in the latter half of the flick. But it indicates that the movie will probably focus on more traditional monsters like zombies and mutated animals.

Resident Evil is Part of an Unofficial Trilogy Including Weapons and The Flood

During a recent Reddit AMA, Cregger claimed that he wrote Resident Evil during the same single burst of creative activity that spawned Weapons and his upcoming thriller Flood. That’s why all three of these movies are apparently connected by recurring narrative themes and a similar “energy”.

If the early reactions to Resident Evil are to be believed, this also means that the movie contains roughly the same balance of absurdist humor and relentless terror that we saw in last year’s Weapons.

The Film Doesn’t Take Place in the ’90s

Both the director himself and the film’s marketing have made it clear that the new Resident Evil is an original story that takes place at the same time as the initial T-Virus outbreak first presented in 1998’s RE2. However, this doesn’t mean that the new movie is necessarily a period piece.

You see, instead of limiting himself to the existing (and admittedly convoluted) mythology of the series, Cregger preferred to update the events of the games in order to avoid alienating viewers who weren’t familiar with the source material. This also means that the events of his film don’t necessarily have to lead to the same familiar end point as the games.

Austin Abrams Will Have to Deal with Resource Management

During that aforementioned Reddit AMA, Cregger also explained that he hoped to translate some of the franchise’s game mechanics to the big screen as a way of paying homage to the moment-to-moment thrills of actually playing through the series.

While the director was coy about how he intends to implement the franchise’s iconic health system into the film, he confirmed that keeping track of Austin Abrams’ character’s items and ammunition is a big part of how the adaptation creates cinematic tension.

The Story Begins Outside of Raccoon City

The organizers behind the thirty-minute sneak preview of Resident Evil went to great lengths in order to avoid major spoilers leaking out from the event. However, we’ve learned enough from fans who were lucky enough to be invited to the experience to deduce that the film is a non-stop roller coaster ride that only escalates as the story goes on.

After all, one viewer even explained that the terrifying preview ended before Austin Abrams’ character had even made it to Raccoon City. This detail actually reminded me of how the director had previously claimed that the movie’s breakneck pacing was inspired by Resident Evil 4, his most-played game in the series, while the scares themselves are supposed to be reminiscent of the disturbing first-person horror of the more recent RE titles.

I’m of the opinion that Cregger and Sony Pictures are keeping plenty of secrets when discussing Resident Evil, but I also think it’s safe to say that the new film is set to be the most terrifying entry in the franchise so far. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own theories about the movie if you also think there’s more to the marketing than initially meets the eye.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) also star in the film directed by Cregger, who co-writes with Shay Hatten.

Of course, we’ll only know for sure once the film finally hits theaters on September 18!

The post ‘Resident Evil’: Everything We Know About Zach Cregger’s Horror Adaptation Before Release appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In a recent interview with Video Games Chronicle, Kamiya stated that he was being “one hundred percent serious” when he had mentioned back in June his idea of a “cozy” Resident Evil spin-off, where a retired Leon Kennedy walks his dog, grows vegetables and goes fishing. This comes after footage back in March of this year showed members of Kamiya’s newest development studio Clovers Inc. playing Resident Evil Requiem, with Kamiya off to the side commenting that Capcom should make a ‘non-scary’ mode.

“Speaking about that tweet the other day, specifically, I’ve never been a fan of horror. I mean, even from the time I was young, I could never handle it,” explains Kamiya. “I don’t like horror, and I don’t like scary things. I’m not able to make it through scary movies, and that was even the case back in the day.

“But nowadays, with how photorealistic and high-fidelity video games have gotten, the amount of crazy, horrifying things that people are able to put on the screen is absolutely insane, and I think anybody who’s on the Resident Evil teams at Capcom, at this point, they must all be completely numb to how scary the thing they’re making is.”

Kamiya then went on to again express his desire for Capcom to make it so that their games can also be enjoyed by people like himself, who can’t handle scary games.

“And so, it’s not a joke. I legitimately wished it would include some kind of non-horror mode for people like me, because I talk to folks who are on the Resident Evil teams at Capcom just privately, and I tell them that their games are way too scary, and they’re like, ‘what, come on, they’re not that scary’.”

Kamiya further explained his position, stated that he isn’t calling for Capcom to tone down the scares by default, but rather he argues that the horror elements could be treated like other optional elements of a game. He pointed to his Bayonetta series as an example.

“[Bayonetta is] obviously a game that at its core is an extremely technical action game targeting the most advanced action game players, but I also wanted anybody to be able to pick up the game and enjoy it, which is why we included the Very Easy Automatic mode,” he explained.

He stated that Capcom doesn’t have to do anything “super elaborate” when it comes to making future entries in the series more accessible. Something that would tone down the gruesomeness of the zombies, or lessening the oppressive darkness in the environments.

“I think even just making a few tweaks like those, it would make it so that somebody like me could make it all the way through the games. Oh, and no blood!”

Resident Evil Requiem is available on the Nintendo Switch 2, PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series. Meanwhile, Zach Cregger‘s take on the franchise with his Resident Evil film arrives September 16.

The post Original ‘Resident Evil 2’ Director Hideki Kamiya Says Current ‘Resident Evil’ Games Are Too Scary appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to come up with this handy guide collecting some of September’s most hotly anticipated genre releases in a single convenient package. While there are sure to be surprise announcements later this month (as well as unexpected bumps to release dates), be sure to check back for more updates in the near future.

As usual, don’t forget to comment below if you think we missed an exciting release.

So, without further ado, here are ten new horror movies releasing in September 2026!

Deathwoods – Streaming on Screambox September 1

There’s no better way of kicking off the Halloween season than by sitting down to watch a good old-fashioned slasher flick – especially when the filmmakers behind it have a long and celebrated history of working with gruesome practical effects.

That’s why I’d recommend Jake Kopronica and Deryk Wehrley’s killer throwback Deathwoods to horror fans looking for some retro thrills. If that’s not enough for you, the flick also features appearances from scream queen Felissa Rose and Miles Dimitri Baker – the lead guitarist of Ice Nine Kills!

Deathwoods is available now exclusively on Screambox.

Lau Chu Hoa: The Deadliest Mansion – In Select Theaters September 4

Hung Tran’s found footage romp may have already been released to rave reviews in its home country of Vietnam, but this eerie thriller about a group of livestreamers exploring a dilapidated mansion is finally making its way overseas courtesy of Mockingbird Pictures.

Not only is this Vietnam’s first theatrically released found footage movie, but it’s also based on an infamous local legend about the daughter of a wealthy family who was allegedly locked away in a secret room of their mansion after contracting leprosy.

Lau Chu Hoa: The Deadliest Mansion will be available in select theaters starting September 4.

Onslaught – In Theaters September 4

A thrilling mix of Universal Soldier, Terminator and Halloween, Adam Wingard’s latest action-horror flick appears to be a return to form for the director who got his start with low-budget thrillers before moving on to CGI-heavy blockbuster filmmaking.

Following an army sniper hellbent on protecting her son when her home is attacked by a squad of genetically engineered super soldiers gone rogue, Onslaught feels like an over-the-top throwback to the very best b-movies of the ’80s. It also takes place in the same universe as Wingard’s cult classic The Guest, which is just one more reason why we’re so excited to finally check it out.

Onslaught will be available in theaters everywhere starting September 4.

Parasomnia – Streaming on Shudder September 4

Having a character discover that her night terrors are bleeding into real life is already one hell of a chilling premise, but combine that setup with influences from horror master Wes Craven and you’ve got yourself a must-watch horror flick.

That’s why I’m excited to check out James Ross II’s Shudder original Parasomnia, especially since the director was already on our radar thanks to his award-winning horror shorts.

Parasomnia is streaming now on Shudder.

Portal to Hell – On Digital September 8

A darkly humorous blend of absurdist storytelling and supernatural horror tropes, Woody Bess’ appropriately titled Portal to Hell tells the story of a debt-collector who finds himself negotiating with a demon in order to save his elderly neighbor from eternal damnation.

The premise sounds fun enough, but it just so happens that the ill-fated neighbor is played by genre legend Keith David – a detail that immediately makes this one of my most anticipated movies on this list.

ortal to Hell will debut on Digital and Video on Demand on September 8.

Don’t Move – In Theaters September 11

Arachnophobes beware, as director Maclain Nelson’s latest thriller is an adaptation of James Murray (of Impractical Jokers fame) and Darren Wearmouth’s celebrated horror novel Don’t Move.

Following a church retreat gone wrong when our protagonists run into a giant prehistoric spider lurking in the West Virginia wilderness, the upcoming film promises to combine the book’s primal thrills with plenty of oddball humor and surprisingly expensive-looking creature effects.

Don’t Move will be available in theaters starting September 11.

Black Zombie – In Select Theaters September 11

Maya Annik Bedward’s Black Zombie may be a documentary, but this fascinating retrospective about the history of zombie mythology explores some pretty dark subject matter as it takes us all the way from Haitian Vodou to modern-day incarnations of the undead.

The film also contains plenty of entertaining interviews with genre specialists including regulars like Tom Savini and even unexpected guests like musician and horror enthusiast Slash – and that’s why I’d consider this a must-watch for genre fans.

Black Zombie will be releasing in select theaters starting September 11.

Resident Evil – In Theaters September 18

My personal most anticipated horror release of the month, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot is shaping up to be the best adaptation of Capcom’s long-running survival horror series yet.

A standalone story set during the initial T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City and starring an original character with no combat experience, the film is a welcome departure from the more action-heavy adaptations from the series’ past.

In fact, Cregger has gone on record explaining that he was more interested in emulating the moment-to-moment thrills of actually playing through classic Resident Evil titles than literally adapting their stories – an approach that I think long-time fans can appreciate due to the franchise’s convoluted mythology.

Resident Evil will be available in theaters everywhere starting September 18.

Family – In Limited Theaters and On Demand September 25

I’ve always had a soft spot for horror movies presented from the perspective of isolated children. That’s why I was pleased to see that Benjamin Finkel’s upcoming thriller makes the most of its protagonist’s vulnerability by telling a story about a little girl convinced that a malevolent entity is turning her own parents against her.

After crushing it at the festival circuit nearly two years ago, Family is finally making its way to mainstream audiences courtesy of Fifth Season. That being said, fans of Ruth Wilson beware, as you’ll probably never look at the actress the same way again after seeing her take on the role of a terrifying mommy.

Family will be available in select theaters and on VOD starting September 25.

Never After Dark – In Theaters September 25

Master of Horror Stephen King called Dave Boyle’s supernatural mystery “amazing and haunting”, so it makes sense that horror fans everywhere are excited to finally check out Never After Dark.

Starring Shogun’s Moeka Hoshi, the film follows a wandering medium as she encounters a remote house with a sinister past. Naturally, paranormal terror ensues as she realizes that the place is now home to a malicious entity capable of harming the living.

An atmospheric throwback to classic J-Horror, Never After Dark will be hitting select theaters on September 25, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Which of these September 2026 horror movies are you most excited for?

Comment below and let’s chat!

The post 10 New Horror Movies Releasing In September 2026 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

That means it’s also time for Bloody Disgusting’s 2026 Fall Horror Preview, presented by Spirit Halloween!

September and October are packed with highly anticipated new releases, including the small screen. The Creep Tapes season 3, Mike Flanagan’s Carrie, Netflix’s aquatic series Below, American Horror Story 13, and Crystal Lake are all set to debut this Fall, to name a few.

There’s no shortage of indie, VOD, and streaming releases to ensure that you won’t even have time to sleep this Halloween season. This guide covers the highlights, but expect plenty of new premieres and announcements to pop up in the coming months.

Here are 30 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Fall 2026 and beyond.

Onslaught – September 4

Adam Wingard is back with brand new action-horror movie Onslaught, set in the very same town/universe as Wingard’s hit The Guest. It sees a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, forcing a badass Army sniper to unleash hell to protect her young daughter. Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Michael Biehn, and Reginald VelJohnson star. Wingard reteams with writer Simon Barrett.

Parasomnia – September 4

A young woman long tormented by night terrors begins to suspect the demonic figure lurking in her sleep has crossed over into the real world when her best friend is the latest in a string of disappearances. Writer/Director James Ross II draws inspiration from Wes Craven in his horror movie starring Jasmine Mathews, RJ Brown, Sally Stewart, Stephen Barrington, Danny Brown, and Simon Longnight.

Portal to Hell – September 8

A debt collector gets swept into a demonic plot when a portal to hell opens up in his local laundromat in the feature debut by writer-director Woody Bess. Trey Holland (The Diabolical), Keith David (The Thing, They Live), and Richard Kind (“Spin City,” Beau Is Afraid) star in the horror comedy. Romina D’Ugo (“12 Monkeys”), Michael McDonald (Halloween Kills), Casey Deidrick (“Teen Wolf”), Trevor Newlin (Alien: Romulus), Ryan Follesé, Kevin Fonteyne (Nightmare Cinema), and Monet Weir round out the cast.

Hope – September 9

The latest from writer-director Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) centers around a series of violent attacks believed to be the work of a mysterious creature lurking in the nearby forest. As local hunters join the search, the line between predator and prey begins to blur, revealing a story that challenges assumptions about fear, humanity, and the unknown. Hwang Jung-min, Hoyeon, Zo In-sung (“Moving”), Taylor Russell (Bones and All), Cameron Britton (“The Umbrella Academy”), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), andMichael Fassbender(Prometheus) star in Hope.

Black Zombie – September 11

From writer and director Maya Annik Bedward, Black Zombie digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the zombie’s buried and unsettling origins from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, expect archival footage, vérité scenes, and interviews with cultural historians, artists, and genre legends including Yves-Grégory Francois, Mambo Labelle Déesse, Slash, Tom Savini, and Zandashé Brown. 

Don’t Move – September 11

A church retreat turns into a harrowing fight for survival when the group wanders into the wrong part of the Ozarks, awakening a prehistoric arachnid. The upcoming creature feature adapts the 2020 novel of the same name from co-authors Murray and Darren Wearmouth. Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), Russell “Russ” Vitale, and Tom Cavanagh (The Flash) star alongside Hunter King (Life in Pieces), Rob Riggle (The Hangover), and Joseph Lee Anderson (Young Rock). Expect plenty of cameos including T-Pain, Matt Biedel, and “Impractical Jokers” members James Murray and Brian Quinn.

Goody Goody – September 18

As a blizzard rages outside, a home birth inside leads to terror when unsettling complications arise in the feature debut by Raymond Creamer. Colleen Foy (There Will Be Blood), Samantha Robinson (Cam, The Love Witch), Zoe Renee (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), and Colby Hollman star in the Shudder release.

Resident Evil – September 18

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos in Zach Cregger‘s take on Capcom’s mega-popular video game series. Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

Family – September 25

A 10-year-old girl begins to believe her parents are trying to kill her. Convinced a sinister spirit is to blame, she spirals into a haunting fantasy world that mirrors her deepest fears in the feature debut by writer-director Benjamin Finkel. Cameron Dawson Gray stars as the young girl, Johanna, opposite Ruth Wilson (Victorian Psycho) and Ben Chaplin (Mrs. Davis, Murder By Numbers) as her parents.

Never After Dark – September 25

Wandering medium Airi (Moeka Hoshi, “Shogun”) finds herself breaking her most important rule when summoned to an isolated inn: never stay after dark. There she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy Airi’s experience. Kento Kaku (“House of Ninjas”), Kurumi Inagaki (“House of Ninjas”), Mutsuo Yoshioka (Chime), Bokuzo Masana (“Tokyo Vice”), and Tae Kimura (“All Around Us”) also star. Dave Boyle (Pulse) writes and directs.

Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon – September 29

The band is back together in this horror-comedy sequel receiving a one-night-only theatrical event screening on Tuesday, September 29, at select Alamo Drafthouse theaters nationwide. Milo Cawthorne is back as unwitting hero Brodie, who’s had a rough go since thwarting a heavy metal apocalypse in the last film. When he decides to ues  The Black Hymn to resurrect his fallen bandmates, well, chaos ensues. Also back are Kimberley Crossman as Medina, James Joshua Blake as Zakk, Sam Berkley, and Daniel Cresswell.

Appofeniacs – October 2

A frenzy of deepfake videos leads to chaos and death in the dark horror satire centered around AI from acclaimed music video director Chris Marrs Piliero. Aaron Holliday (Cocaine Bear), Jermaine Fowler (The Blackening), Will Brandt, Paige Searcy, Simran Jehani, Harley Bronwyn, Michael Abbott Jr. (The Dark and the Wicked), and Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) star.

Beware Boiúna – October 2

Director Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn, V/H/S/85, Silent Night, Deadly Night) unleashes a terrifying legend deep within the jungle in his new giant snake creature feature. Kiana Madeira (Fear Street). Jessica Rothe (River, Happy Death Day), Logan Marshall-Green (Upgrade) star. Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn) writes the screenplay, with story by McElroy and Tony Giglio.

Ghost in the Cell – October 2

A high-security prison ruled by feuding gangs and a tyrannical warden gets terrorized and eviscerated by a supernatural entity in the upcoming horror comedy from Indonesian horror master Joko Anwar (Satan’s Slaves, Impetigore). Abimana Aryasatya, Almanzo Konoralma, Aming Sugandhi, Arswendy Bening Swara, Bront Palarae, and Dimas Danang Suryonegoro star.

The Influencer Project – October 2

The Blair Witch Project co-creator Eduardo Sanchez and producer Gregg Hale are returning to their found footage horror roots. Influencer Chiara King travels to Copenhagen with a documentary crew promising an unfiltered look behind the glamorous business of online fame. But as the cameras and her devoted fans follow her every move, an obsessive stalker begins closing in. Mike Nybroe makes his feature directorial debut on the project.

Verity – October 2

Based on Colleen Hoover‘s best-selling 2018 novel, Verity follows renowned author Verity Crawford and Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who relocates to the remote Crawford estate to ghostwrite for Verity. After Lowen uncovers what appears to be Verity’s chilling autobiographical notes, fiction blurs with reality in disturbing ways. Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson star. Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordova, and Brady Wagner round out the cast. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) directs from a script by Nick Antosca (“Hannibal,” Antlers).

V/H/S/MIXTAPE – October 9

Music and sound become the source of terror in the latest installment of the enduring anthology film series. Directors for the music-themed V/H/S/MIXTAPE include Ernest Dickerson (Demon Knight), Flying Lotus (Ash), Ghost’s Tobias Forge, David Moreau (MadS), RZA and Renee Zhan, with the film featuring GWAR and effects from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

Other Mommy – October 9

From director Rob Savage (Host), Other Mommy is an adaptation of Josh Malerman’s (Bird Box) novel Incidents Around the House, which follows a young girl, Bela, who forms a relationship with a sinister entity in her home who looks uncannily like her own mother. Academy Award® winner Jessica Chastain (It Chapter Two, The Eyes of Tammy Faye) stars in dual roles as Bela’s mother and as “Other Mommy,” a manifestation of the entity.

Pan’s Labyrinth – October 9

Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece is headed back to theaters for the film’s 20th anniversary this Halloween season. The Academy Award-winning dark fantasy is set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and follows a young girl, Ofelia, as she meets an ageless Faun who tells her she’s a princess and that she must prove her worthiness by completing three dangerous tasks. Pan’s Labyrinth will be presented theatrically for the first time by Cineverse and Fathom in 4K, and with versions available in both 3D and HDR by Barco.  Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdu (Y tu mama tambien), Doug Jones (Hellboy II), and Sergi Lopez (Dirty Pretty Things) star.

Breeder – October 16

An eccentric poodle breeder lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. But, as he soon learns, there’s a disturbing catch. Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty star in the feature debut of director Alex Goyette.

Crawlers – October 16

Matilda Lutz (Revenge) stars as Serena, the overworked and underappreciated manager of the Paradiso Palms apartment complex who finds herself inundated by lethal eight-legged critters. Angel Gómez Hernández (Don’t Listen) directs from a script by Jayson Rothwell (Polar, Silent Night).

Hallowarrior – October 16

Hereditary‘s Milly Shapiro stars as Pumpkin, the last girl on earth and sole survivor of a humanity-ending plague, scavenging the wasteland for supplies on the eve of Halloween. Pumpkin must ferociously fight back to survive the night when savage raiders crash her Halloween festivities. Writer-director Ben Sottak makes his feature directorial debut on the project, based on his 2021 short Scavenger. Ajani Russell (“Betty”), AJ Bowen (You’re Next), and Shannyn Sossamon (Sinister 2) round out the cast.

Ken Russell’s The Devils – October 16

Based on Aldous Huxley’s 1952 non-fiction novel The Devils of Loudun and its 1961 stageplay adaptation, Ken Russell’s controversial 1971 horror movie has been restored and remastered for the first time. Oliver Reed stars as Grandeur in the film, who unwittingly triggers demonic seduction accusations, hysteria, and chaos when the jealous Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) learns of his relationship with Madeleine (Gemma Jones). This is the only version of the film that Ken Russell wanted audiences to see, uncensored and rated NC-17 by the MPA for “sexual content/graphic nudity.”

Whalefall – October 16

Following the death of his father (Josh Brolin), Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) goes diving off the central Coast of California in search of his remains, but is swallowed by a massive sperm whale. Limited oxygen compounds his nightmarish plight. Brian Duffield (No One Will Save You) directs 20th Century Studios’ upcoming aquatic survival thriller from a script he co-wrote with Daniel Kraus, based on Kraus’ 2023 novel. Elisabeth Shue (“The Boys”), Jane Levy (Evil Dead), John Ortiz (Kong: Skull Island), and Emily Rudd (Fear Street Part Two: 1978) also star.

Clayface – October 23

DC Studios’ first-ever foray into horror unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster. Tom Rhys Harries stars in the title role of the cult favorite villain from Gotham’s rogues’ gallery. James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil) directs from a script by Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House,” Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive).

The Cycle – October 23

Deborah Ann Woll (“Daredevil: Born Again“, Escape Room) stars as a woman shocked to discover that a recent body discovered at a crime scene turns out to be her estranged father. It unleashes a supernatural nightmare. Director Jordan Downey ( The Head Hunter, V/H/S/Beyond) wrote the screenplay with Kevin Stewart (The Head Hunter). Jeffrey Donovan (“Burn Notice“, Villains) also stars.

Christmas at the Kringles – October 30

The Kringles celebrate Christmas all year round. When their neighbor arrives to bring his family home, he uncovers the Kringles’ true intentions: to hypnotize and indoctrinate them. What follows is a life-or-death rescue mission involving a rogue Santa in a high-stakes, action-packed fight to save the family. Willy’s Wonderland and Pig Hill director Kevin Lewis helms from a script by Zack Imbrogno (Slayers, Fear, Inc.). Ron Livingston (The Conjuring, Office Space) and Rachel Bilson (The O.C.) lead an ensemble cast featuring Rob Riggle, Arden Myrin, Beverly D’Angelo (Violent Night), and David Wain with Thomas Lennon and Donald Faison. 

Godzilla Minus Zero – November 6

Godzilla is headed back to the big screen in Toho’s official sequel to Godzilla Minus One from director Takashi Yamazaki. The sequel picks up two years after the events of the previous film; Godzilla Minus One stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will both be reprising their roles. It marks the first Japanese movie to be filmed for IMAX.

Ebenezer – November 13

Ti West (X, Pearl, MaXXXine) is back with a brand new take on the classic tale of A Christmas Carol from Charles Dickens. Johnny Depp, Andrea Riseborough (Possessor), Daisy Ridley(Star Wars franchise),Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games franchise), Charlie Murphy (“Peaky Blinders”), Arthur Conti(Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), and Ellie Bamber(“Willow”) star.

Victorian Psycho – November 13

Maika Monroe stars as eccentric governess Winifred Notty, who arrives at a remote gothic manor where strange happenings stir suspicion that she’s not what she seems. Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary) directed the film from a script by author Virginia Feito (Mrs. March), based on her novel of the same name. Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho), Jason Isaacs (Honey Bunch), Ruth Wilson, Amy De Bruhn, and “Hamnet” breakout Jacobi Jupe also star.

Spirit Halloween stores are open across the country: Find a local store near you!

The post Fall 2026 Horror Preview: 30 Horror Movies Arriving This Halloween Season and Beyond appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the clip, Austin Abrams’ character finds himself trapped in the city with infected all around him, and this particular group of infected are standing atop tall buildings. One by one, they jump to their deaths, the bodies raining down on Abrams’ character like exploding blood bags.

It’s an AWESOME clip, and you can watch the nearly 3-minute sequence below. As you might’ve guessed, the film is Rated R for “strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout.”

Tickets for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil are on sale NOW.

Resident Evil infects theaters September 18.

Based on the iconic video game franchise, the film is “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the movie’s cast.

Zach Cregger tells Empire Magazine that Resident Evil is “definitely the most violent thing I’ve done.” He teases, “You gotta go grotesque! I wanted to go all the way.”

The post ‘Resident Evil’ – Watch an Explosively Bloody Clip from Zach Cregger’s Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Get your hands on the Resident Evil Organ Transplant Popcorn Bag when you see the film in Regal theaters! The bag comes with a large popcorn… heart not included.

Tickets for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil are on sale NOW, and you’ll find brand new IMAX, ScreenX, and 4DX posters down below. Resident Evil infects theaters September 18.

Based on the iconic video game franchise, the film is “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the movie’s cast.

Zach Cregger tells Empire Magazine that Resident Evil is “definitely the most violent thing I’ve done.” He teases, “You gotta go grotesque! I wanted to go all the way.”

“So it’s gnarly. It’s brutal,” Cregger continues. “A very bloody affair.”

He also tells Empire, “Fleshing out what [the Umbrella Corporation is] up to and how the T-virus works, that’s not what this movie is. This movie is about one dude’s journey on foot, fighting monsters. I don’t give a fuck about checking boxes. All I cared about was just telling a fun story. We step on the gas at about eight minutes in and never take our foot off the floor.”

The post The ‘Resident Evil’ Popcorn Bucket Is Actually an Organ Transplant Popcorn Bag appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Resident Evil has officially received its expected ‘R’ rating for “strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout.” 

The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Cregger.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

Cregger has stated that his upcoming Resident Evil movie is “much more focused on the weird creature stuff than the zombies,” and that’s hinted at in brand new images below, giving a look at Paul Walter Hauser’s character and plenty of tentacles. Tentacles that might belong to the classic T-virus dog as glimpsed in a recent TV spot or something else entirely.

Those glimpses also support Cregger’s previous reveal that there would be very few zombies in comparison to T-virus mutants.

“This movie doesn’t utilize zombies that much. It’s much more focused on the weird creature stuff than the zombies. There’s really only two scenes, maybe three, where there’s proper zombie stuff going on. And two of those three are in the trailer,” he teased.

Those mutant encounters should come fast and furious, according to the filmmaker. “It feels like one gigantic sequence,” the director previously said of the film’s nonstop structure. “Things pop off about five minutes in, and it basically stays like that until the end. What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge. So again, I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet.”

Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4).

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Receives R Rating For “Gore” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This brand new TV spot for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil popped up over the weekend, and it gives us our first look at a Zombie Dog/Cerberus from the upcoming video game adaptation.

While it at first appears to be a normal looking canine, it’s not long before the dog’s head bursts open and reveals it’s anything but man’s best friend. Watch the new Resident Evil spot below.

Based on the iconic video game franchise, Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX on September 18 via Sony. The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

This latest TV spot also gives us our first look at Paul Walter Hauser in Resident Evil.

New TV spot for the Resident Evil movie offers a first look at a Cerberus/Zombie dog

A new TV spot titled “Survive” has been released for the Resident Evil movie directed by Zach Cregger. The clip offers the first look at one of the zombie dogs (Cerberus) that will appear in… pic.twitter.com/5TbNHnIgUr

— ᴋᴛʏɴʏ | Resident Evil & Survival Horror (@kathyanhy) August 20, 2026

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ TV Spot Gives Us Our First Look at a Mutated Zombie Dog appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody Disgusting has learned that SIX previous Resident Evil movies are coming to Netflix in September, including live action Milla Jovovich movies and feature animated films.

First up, the live action movies Resident Evil: Afterlife, Resident Evil: Extinction, and Resident Evil: Retribution will be coming to Netflix streaming on September 1, 2026.

And then on September 2, animated movies Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Death Island, and Resident Evil: Vendetta will be joining Netflix’s Resident Evil collection.

That collection currently includes two other Resident Evil titles.

Animated series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is already streaming on Netflix at this time, along with the single-season live action “Resident Evil” television series from back in 2022.

If you want to stream the other live action Milla Jovovich movies, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But Netflix has put together a nice little starter pack while you wait for Cregger’s movie.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil infects theaters nationwide on September 18.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Comes to Netflix in September With Six Live Action and Animated Movies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

And while the Halloween season is just about to begin, we actually still have an entire month of Summer 2026 left to go. The pumpkin beer may already be flowing, but Fall doesn’t officially start until September 22. And we still have much more Summer 2026 horror left in the tank.

Here are 10 upcoming Summer 2026 horror movies arriving before Halloween 2026, including the biggest new theatrical, streaming, and VOD horror releases still on the way this Summer.

Insidious: Out of the Further – In Theaters August 21

The Further bleeds into the real world in the upcoming sixth franchise installment Insidious: Out of the Further, which will unleash all the nightmare demons from the franchise’s past.

Franchise star Lin Shaye reprises her role as Elise Rainier alongside Amelia Eve.

The film follows Gemma, a mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, who discovers she can travel into The Further, the purgatorial realm of lost souls at the heart of the Insidious universe. When something evil comes after her, Gemma discovers an ability that changes everything: she doesn’t just enter The Further, she can bring what lives there back to the real world. Once the demons realize her power, our world becomes their playground.

Jacob Chase (Come Play) writes and directs the franchise’s sixth installment, sharing story credit with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (The Conjuring: Last Rites, Orphan). 

Watch the official trailer for Insidious: Out of the Further below.

It Ends – In Theaters August 21

NEON ends the Summer with their existential road trip horror movie It Ends, which will open in NY & LA theaters on August 21 before expanding to more theaters the following week.

It Ends marks the feature debut by writer-director Alexander Ullom.

“Four recent college grads on a night time drive find themselves stuck on a road that sprawls on forever, with seemingly no end in sight. They are occasionally attacked by stragglers and have to find a routine to plan their rest stops, but after a few thousand miles it all feels the same. Still, they keep on driving, only in the belief something better will come eventually.“

Akira Jackson, Phinehas Yoon, Mitchell Cole, and Noah Toth star.

Watch the official trailer for It Ends below.

Colony – In Theaters August 28

After South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie masterpiece Train to Busan returned to theaters last week, his brand new nightmare Colony will release in theaters August 28.

The South Korean horror movie follows Professor Se-jeong as she is thrust into a terrifying hellscape when a mutating virus is unleashed during a biotech conference, forcing authorities to seal the facility to contain the outbreak. Se-jeong and a group of survivors must fight to stay alive as the infected undergo horrific transformations and threaten to spread the virus.

Colony marks Gianna Jun’s (Blood: The Last Vampire) first feature film since 2015’s Assassination. She stars alongside Koo Kyo-hwan (Peninsula, Escape from Mogadishu). 

Watch the official trailer for Colony below.

Buddy – In Theaters August 28

One of the more unique horror movies headed our way in the back half of Summer is the Barney-inspired Buddy, the latest oddball cinema from director Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks).

Buddy centers on the titular unicorn mascot — a beloved children’s TV host with a squeaky-clean persona that belies his true nature as a dark and violent force of nature.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Inside the colorful world of It’s Buddy!, a group of children spend their days singing, dancing, and helping Buddy spread happiness. But when one child refuses to play along, Buddy is not pleased and cracks begin to appear in this seemingly perfect world.”

Cristin Milioti stars as Grace, a suburban mother inadvertently drawn into Buddy’s nightmare world, while Keegan-Michael Key voices the orange unicorn known as Buddy.

Watch the official teaser trailer for Buddy below.

The Whisper Man – Streaming on Netflix August 28

The cast is stacked for Netflix’s new serial killer thriller The Whisper Man, with Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan, and Robert De Niro starring in the upcoming movie.

The film is based on Alex North‘s 2019 novel of the same name.

In the film, “When his eight-year-old son is abducted, a widowed crime writer looks to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, only to discover a connection with the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as The Whisper Man.”

Michael Keaton, John Carroll Lynch, and Hamish Linklater also star.

James Ashcroft (The Rule of Jenny Pen) directs Netflix’s The Whisper Man.

Watch the official trailer for The Whisper Man below.

Fall 2: Deadpoint – In Theaters September 2

The fear-of-heights thriller Fall gets a sequel this Summer with Fall 2: Deadpoint, and it’s taking us to a brand new location for a brand new story with brand new characters.

In Fall 2: Deadpoint, “After losing her fearless sister Hunter, a deeply damaged Jax sets out on a dangerous climb with Hunter’s old friend to honor her memory. As they tightrope walk the perilous planks of Mount Kwan, a terrifying rockslide leaves them stranded 5,000 feet above ground.

“In the face of vertigo-inducing sequences, dark truths, and cruel twists, Jax must confront her deepest fears head-on to fight for survival and closure.”

Harriet Slater (Tarot) stars in the upcoming Fall 2: Deadpoint alongside Arsema Thomas (“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”) and Tom Brittney (Greyhound).

Michael & Peter Spierig (Predestination, Jigsaw) directs the horror sequel.

Watch the official trailer for Fall 2: Deadpoint below.

Onslaught – In Theaters September 4

Adam Wingard is back this Summer with brand new action-horror movie Onslaught, which we recently learned is set in the very same town/universe as Wingard’s hit The Guest.

The duo behind The Guest, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett, are re-teaming for the upcoming Onslaught, which stars Adria Arjona in the leading role.

One of the coolest casts this year will be found in Onslaught, which features Adria Arjona alongside Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Michael Biehn, and even Reginald VelJohnson!

Here’s the synopsis: “When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, a badass Army sniper must unleash hell to protect her young daughter.”

Watch the official trailer for A24’s Onslaught below.

Hope – In Theaters September 9

From Mubi and acclaimed writer-director Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) comes Hope this September, a South Korean monster movie that was a box office sensation in its native Korea.

Set in the remote South Korean village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum-seok and officer Sung-ae are called to find a mysterious creature that has wreaked havoc on the village.

In the nearby forest, a coterie of hunters, including Sung- ki, set out to track the beast and find themselves hunted instead. But all is not as it seems, and perceptions can be misleading.

Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Zo In-sung (“Moving”), Hoyeon (“Squid Game”), Taylor Russell (Bones and All), Cameron Britton (“The Umbrella Academy”), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), and Michael Fassbender (Prometheus) star in Na Hong-jin’s Hope.

Watch the official trailer for Hope below.

Don’t Move – In Theaters September 11

From the mind of “Impractical Jokers” star James “Murr” Murray, the giant spider horror movie Don’t Move – an adaptation of Murr’s own novel – is coming to theaters next month.

Tickets are on sale now for the Kansas City premiere of Don’t Move at the Midland Theater on September 8 and the Los Angeles premiere at the TCL Chinese Theater on September 9, ahead of Don’t Move‘s wider theatrical release on September 11, 2026.

The creature feature adapts the 2020 novel from Murray and Darren Wearmouth. 

In Don’t Move, a church group’s annual retreat turns deadly when they wander into the wrong part of the Ozark wilderness, and a massive spider monster starts picking them off one by one.

Watch the official trailer for Don’t Move below.

Resident Evil – In Theaters September 18

Of course, the most hotly anticipated horror movie in the remainder of Summer 2026 is Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, a brand new take on the video games from the director of Weapons.

The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons).

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Watch the official trailer for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil below.

The post 10 Upcoming New Horror Movies Still Releasing in Summer 2026 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the Resident Evil: Requiem – The Dive haunted experience, “The hit game Resident Evil Requiem comes to life, and the creatures that stalked you in the game are now closing in on you. They come from above, from below, from every direction, unpredictable and impossible to evade. Step in and scream until your voice gives out in this nightmare like no other.”

Both Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft are featured in the haunted attraction.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Raccoon City is off-limits. On its outskirts stands The Wrenwood Hotel, abandoned and forgotten. When a series of unexplained deaths drew the FBI’s attention, intelligence analyst Grace went in to investigate. She never came back. Now you’ve come looking for her.

“One step inside and the world around you changes. Walls peel and crumble. The hallways hold what’s left of those who came before. And without warning, creatures unlike anything you’ve ever seen come closing in. Find your courage. Face the horror and make it out alive.”

Resident Evil: Requiem – The Dive features…

The 15th annual Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios Japan runs from September 11 – November 8, 2026. The event will also feature the dark ride Sadako’s Curse.

Learn more about Resident Evil: Requiem – The Dive.

The post ‘Resident Evil: Requiem – The Dive’ Coming to Universal Studios Japan for Halloween Horror Nights appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Zach Cregger tells Empire Magazine that Resident Evil is “definitely the most violent thing I’ve done.” He teases, “You gotta go grotesque! I wanted to go all the way.”

“So it’s gnarly. It’s brutal,” Cregger continues. “A very bloody affair.”

He also tells Empire, “Fleshing out what [the Umbrella Corporation is] up to and how the T-virus works, that’s not what this movie is. This movie is about one dude’s journey on foot, fighting monsters. I don’t give a fuck about checking boxes. All I cared about was just telling a fun story. We step on the gas at about eight minutes in and never take our foot off the floor.”

Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX September 18 from Sony.

The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons).

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

The post Zach Cregger Says ‘Resident Evil’ is the Most Violent Thing He’s Ever Made appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX September 18 from Sony.

The trailer below introduces Austin Abrams (Weapons) as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4).

The trailer keeps its focus on the central human character arriving amidst an outbreak, revealing very little in the way of its mutated threats. The film’s director previously teased not to expect a zombie-heavy film.

Cregger explains, “This movie doesn’t utilize zombies that much. It’s much more focused on the weird creature stuff than the zombies. There’s really only two scenes, maybe three, where there’s proper zombie stuff going on. And two of those three are in the trailer.”

“But other than that… I wouldn’t call this like a zombie movie,” Cregger previews. “I just feel like, you have this opportunity for the T-Virus to do all these really fascinating things to the human body, and to the world around you, and so to just limit it to zombies feels like a squandered opportunity. So I tried to really vary it up.”

According to the film’s listing on the AMC Theatres website, the runtime for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is 1 hour, 35 minutes, making it one of the franchise’s shortest movies.

And we are expecting a very intense, fast-paced 95 minutes from the film.

Watch the new trailer below, spot the signature Resident Evil shotgun shells and more.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Trailer Plunges Austin Abrams Into Nonstop Survival Horror Nightmare appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

According to the film’s listing on the AMC Theatres website, the runtime for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is 1 hour, 35 minutes, making it one of the franchise’s shortest movies.

And we are expecting a very intense, fast-paced 95 minutes from the film.

Zach Cregger had explained to IGN, “It feels like one gigantic sequence. Things pop off about five minutes in and it basically stays like that until the end. What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge. I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet.”

Here are the runtimes for all Resident Evil movies to date…

• Resident Evil (2002) – 100 minutes
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse – 93 minutes
• Resident Evil: Extinction – 94 minutes
• Resident Evil: Afterlife – 97 minutes
• Resident Evil: Retribution – 96 minutes
• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter – 107 minutes
• Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – 107 minutes
• Resident Evil (2026) – 95 minutes

The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons).

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4).

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Runtime Listed as 1 Hour, 35 Minutes appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

From July 9 through August 30, 2026, the Resident Evil takeover will transform Universal Horror Unleashed into an interactive journey through Raccoon City, where guests will travel across six themed zones as they work to contain the T-Virus outbreak.

The experience is included with General Admission tickets to Universal Horror Unleashed.

Guests will venture through six story-driven zones inspired by the world of Resident Evil. Expect to see the iconic characters, too.

As the press release details: “Beginning their journey in Zone 1: Arrival, they are greeted with a battered “Welcome to Raccoon City” sign. As emergency lights flash, police scramble to contain the rapidly spreading outbreak caused by Umbrella Corporation’s T-Virus. From there, fans move to Zone 2: Mission, where they arrive at the Raccoon City Police Department, ready to solve a series of interactive puzzles. As they race against the clock, they’ll enter Zone 3: Infection, where they must enter the heart of the infected zone – a quarantined spot in Raccoon City where the last remaining citizens have transformed into ravenous, flesh-eating zombies. Amid the chaos, they’ll see familiar faces like the infamous Ada Wong.

“Pushing through the outbreak, they’ll enter Zone 4: Combat and come face-to-face with iconic characters from the Resident Evil franchise, including Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine and Leon S. Kennedy. As terror turns into adrenaline, guests will be at the forefront of the battles between these heroic characters, surrounding zombies and notorious villains. Once the dust settles, guests will be invited to take photos and interact with the characters. As they approach Zone 5: Escape, guests enter the final stretch of their journey, where they must survive the final mission.

“Those who survive will enter Zone 6: Aftermath, where they can step inside Umbrella Corporation and dine on limited-time themed food and cocktails for purchase inspired by the T-Virus and its mutations – but they must be on the lookout, as they never know who may emerge around the corner…”

As for Raccoon City-themed snacks, feast on the following if you survive:

• Jill Sandwich: Brioche, hickory smoked bacon, bibb lettuce, heirloom tomato chutney, avocado mousse, and black garlic aioli served on a medical-grade surgical tray.
• The Sewer Special: Beer-battered cod, cajun fries, house tartar, and lemon sofrito served on a medical-grade surgical tray.
• Brain Freeze: Ube gelato, mango gelee, chocolate feuilletine, raspberry sauce, coco nibs, and chocolate shard served in a souvenir beaker
• The Umbrella: Tequila, pineapple thai chili syrup, lime juice, grapefruit soda, garnished with a “rotten” pineapple and umbrella

It’s a fun way to celebrate the video game franchise that’s celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. And ahead of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil no less.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Takes Over Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas This Summer appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Summer blockbuster season is now in full swing, bringing one of the year’s most anticipated horror releases to the big screen this week with Evil Dead Burn. But horror’s biggest time to shine, of course, is the Halloween season, and Fall is packed. 

After catching up on 2026’s best horror movies, games, and books so far, let’s look ahead at all the exciting theatrical releases still on the horizon. Highly anticipated originals, sequels, and restorations of contemporary classics are all headed to the big screen in 2026.

Here are 20 theatrical horror movies we can’t wait to see in the second half of 2026.

Evil Dead Burn – July 10

A visit with the in-laws in the wake of her husband’s passing instead turns into a harrowing fight for a young woman’s soul when Deadites arrive. Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, and Hunter Doohan lead the cast of the brand new Evil Dead movie alongside Luciane Buchanan, Errol Shand and Maude Davey. After shattering nerves with spider creature feature Infested, director Sébastien Vaniček will unleash Deadite carnage in what might be a continuation of Evil Dead Rise.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – August 7

An enthusiastic young director eager to remake a classic slasher instead falls head first into bloodsoaked delirium when she meets the slasher’s original star.  Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) and Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”) star in the newest vision by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow). Amanda Fix (Lowlifes), Arthur Conti (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), Eva Victor (Sorry Baby), Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Sarah Sherman (“Saturday Night Live”), Patrick Fischler (“Twin Peaks”), Dylan Baker (Trick ‘r Treat), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Scream), Kevin McDonald (“The Kids in the Hall”), and Quintessa Swindell (Black Adam) round out the cast. Check out the trailer here. 

Insidious: Out of the Further – August 21

A young woman discovers the hard way that she can bring the denizens of the Further out into our world in the sixth entry in the franchise. Franchise star Lin Shaye reprises her role as Elise Rainier alongside Amelia Eve (“The Haunting of Bly Manor”) and Brandon Perea (Nope). Island Austin, Sam Spruell (“Fargo”), and Maisie Richardson-Sellers (“Legends of Tomorrow”) round out the cast. Jacob Chase (Come Play) writes and directs, sharing story credit with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (The Conjuring: Last Rites, Orphan). Watch the trailer.

Colony – August 28

South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, “Human Vapor“) is back this summer with a new outbreak nightmare that sees a biotech conference quarantined when a mutating virus gets unleashed. Colony marks Gianna Jun’s (Blood: The Last Vampire, “My Sassy Girl”) first feature film since 2015’s Assassination. She stars alongside Koo Kyo-hwan (Peninsula, Escape from Mogadishu). Watch the trailer here and plan to double feature this with the re-release of Train to Busan, remastered for theaters.

The Dog Stars – August 28

Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein), Josh Brolin (Weapons), and Margaret Qualley (The Substance) seek hope and humanity at the end of the world in Ridley Scott‘s post-apocalyptic thriller. The film is based on Peter Heller’s bestselling novel and written by Mark L. Smith (Overlord, The Revenant). Watch the trailer here.

Fall 2: Deadpoint – September 2

Two friends take on new heights in Thailand in this acrophobia-inducing sequel, where unpredictable terrain, extreme exposure, and nowhere to hide push survival further than ever before. Harriet Slater (Tarot) stars alongside Arsema Thomas (“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”) and Tom Brittney (Greyhound). Michael & Peter Spierig (Predestination, Jigsaw) direct Fall 2: Deadpoint from a script by Fall writers Scott Mann (who also directed the original) and Jonathan Frank. Catch up on the trailer here.

Onslaught – September 4

The duo behind The Guest, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett, are re-teaming for a new action horror movie that sees a single mom unleash hell when genetically engineered super soldiers break free in the desert.  Adria Arjona leads a cast that includes Rebecca Hall (The Night House, Godzilla x Kong), Dan Stevens (The Guest), Michael Biehn, Reginald VelJohnson, Eric Wareheim, Drew Starkey, and Alex “Poatan” Pereira. Watch the trailer here.

Hope – September 9

The pursuit of a creature in the town of Hope Harbor instead leads to disaster when escalating through human conflict into a tragedy of cosmic proportions. Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Zo In-sung (“Moving”), Hoyeon (“Squid Game”), Taylor Russell (Bones and All), Cameron Britton (“The Umbrella Academy”), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), and Michael Fassbender (Prometheus) star. The Korean production is written and directed by Na Hong-jin (The Wailing).

Don’t Move – September 11

A church group’s annual retreat turns deadly when they wander into the wrong part of the Ozark wilderness, and something starts picking them off one by one in the feature adaptation of the 2020 novel from co-authors James Murray and Darren Wearmouth. Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), Russell “Russ” Vitale, and Tom Cavanagh (The Flash) star alongside Hunter King (Life in Pieces), Rob Riggle (The Hangover), and Joseph Lee Anderson (Young Rock). Expect plenty of cameos including T-Pain, Matt Biedel, and “Impractical Jokers” members James Murray and Brian Quinn. Read our preview here.

Resident Evil – September 18

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos in director Zach Cregger’s take on the popular game series. Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast. Here’s the full details.

Never After Dark – September 25

 Moeka Hoshi (“Shogun”) strars as Airi, a wandering medium who guides restless spirits back to where they belong. Hired to cleanse an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy everything Airi knows about her profession: this time the threat isn’t supernatural. The Japanese horror movie is written and directed by Dave Boyle.

Victorian Psycho – September 25

Maika Monroe (It Follows, Longlegs) stars as an eccentric governess who arrives at a remote gothic manor where strange happenings stir suspicion that she’s not what she seems. Winifred Notty is unleashing her inner Victorian Psycho, rivaling the likes of Patrick Bateman. Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho), Jason Isaacs (Honey Bunch), Ruth Wilson, Amy De Bruhn, and “Hamnet” breakout Jacobi Jupe also star. Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary) directed the film from a script by author Virginia Feito (Mrs. March), based on her novel of the same name. Find the trailer here.

Other Mommy – October 9

Up next from director Rob Savage (Host) is Other Mommy, an adaptation of Josh Malerman’s (Bird Box) horror novel Incidents Around the House. The story follows 8-year-old Bela, who lives in a home strained by her parents’ troubled marriage, only to see her life further upended by a sinister entity she calls ‘Other Mommy.’ Eight-year-old Arabella Olivia Clark (The Housemaid) is set to lead Other Mommy, with Jessica Chastain (IT: Chapter Two, Crimson Peak), Jay Duplass (“The Creep Tapes“), Dichen Lachman (“Severance”, Jurassic World: Dominion), Sean Kaufman (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), and Adam Silver (Velvet Buzzsaw) also starring.

Pan’s Labyrinth – October 9

Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece is headed back to theaters for the film’s 20th anniversary this Halloween season in 4K, and with versions available in both 3D and HDR by Barco – the dedicated HDR viewing solution offering up to 6 times higher peak luminance. Each version for this re-release has been overseen by the patron saint of monsters himself, Guillermo del Toro. The Academy Award-winning dark fantasy is set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and follows a young girl, Ofelia, as she meets an ageless Faun who tells her she’s a princess and that she must prove her worthiness by completing three dangerous tasks.

The Devils – October 16

A holy grail for cinephiles is finally within reach after half a century. Warner Bros. Clockwork will release the restoration of Ken Russell‘s controversial horror moviein theaters globally this fall, in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI) in the UK. Oliver Reed stars as Grandeur in the film, complete with the sex appeal that has all the ladies swooning, including the hunchbacked Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). Jeanne is exceptionally lustful for Grandeur, which pushes over into wrathful jealousy when she learns of his relationship with the young and stunning Madeleine (Gemma Jones). Cue the demonic seduction accusations, and hysteria and chaos ensue.

Whalefall – October 16

Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) goes diving off the central Coast of California in search of his father’s remains, only to be swallowed by a Sperm whale.  While trapped inside its belly with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to realize that the hard-earned lessons his father imparted may be the key to his escape. Brian Duffield (No One Will Save You) directs 20th Century Studios’ upcoming aquatic survival thriller from a script he co-wrote with Daniel Kraus, based on Kraus’ 2023 novel. Watch the intense teaser here.

Clayface – October 23

Described as DC Studios’ first-ever foray into the genre, Clayface unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition. James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil) directs from a script by Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House,” Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive). Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James star. Glimpse the body horror in the teaser.

Godzilla Minus Zero – November 6 

Set in 1949 — two years after the events of Godzilla Minus One — Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe reprise their roles as former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima and his girlfriend Noriko Ōishi. Godzilla Minus One writer-director-VFX artist Takashi Yamazaki is back at the helm for the sequel, which marks Toho’s 34th Godzilla film since 1954. The first teaser shows the revered Kaiju stomping past an American landmark. 

Violent Night 2 – December 4

Santa is back to dish out violence upon the naughty this holiday season, and he’s bringing the Mrs. along for the slay ride. David Harbour reprises his role as Santa Claus, joined by Kristen Bell as Mrs. Claus. Tommy Wirkola (Thrash, Dead Snow) is back in the director’s chair, reuniting with Violent Night writers Pat Casey & Josh Miller (Sonic the Hedgehog).

Werwulf – December 25

A mysterious creature stalks the land as local folklore becomes a terrifying reality in 13th-century England in Robert Eggers‘ medieval horror movie. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nosferatu) undergoes a bestial metamorphosis in the first teaser. Lily-Rose Depp (Nosferatu), Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), and Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Hamnet) also star.

The post 20 Horror Movies We Can’t Wait to See in the Second Half of 2026 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX September 18 from Sony.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

In the fresh image, Abrams’ character appears trapped with an infected passenger.

“The concept here is that we’re following an idiot,” Cregger tells Empire. “Not that he’s stupid, but he’s not your typical game character, with no combat skills whatsoever and completely inept at survival. Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything. It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor.”

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4).

“It feels like one gigantic sequence,” he said of the film’s structure. “Things pop off about five minutes in, and it basically stays like that until the end. What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge. So again, I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet.”

What’s noteworthy about this particular image, though, is that Cregger previously warned that there would be very few actual zombies in his film. Instead, expect a revolving door of T-virus mutants: “This movie doesn’t utilize zombies that much. It’s much more focused on the weird creature stuff than the zombies. There’s really only two scenes, maybe three, where there’s proper zombie stuff going on. And two of those three are in the trailer.”

The post New Look at Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Traps Austin Abrams with Infected Passenger appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

However, this more accessible environment also means that, for every Tormented Souls 2 or Ground Zero, we get a deluge of overly familiar cash-grabs that cherry-pick mechanics and imagery from classic survival horror games without really understanding what makes the genre work in the first place. That’s why I was only cautiously optimistic when I first saw the trailer for Tainted Pack’s Flesh Made Fear, a stylish throwback that was originally released on Steam back in October of 2025 and is now making its way over to the PlayStation 5.

In the game, you select between Reaper Intervention Platoon (R.I.P.) agents Jack and Natalie as your team is sent on a mission to stop the nefarious Victor Ripper – a former CIA researcher who appears to have set up shop in an isolated town. Naturally, things take a turn for the worse when the agents discover that the area is now overrun with undead mutants created by Ripper in an attempt to perfect his previous MK Ultra experiments. What follows is a retro horror adventure that takes you from secluded woods all the way to a familiar mansion-turned-laboratory as you track down a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein and his army of gruesome goons.

The setup is standard enough for a survival horror title, with the R.I.P. squad obviously riffing on the S.T.A.R.S. team and Ripper’s manor standing in for the iconic Spencer Mansion, but it’s really the over-the-top presentation that makes Flesh Made Fear stand out from its peers. The high-contrast comic-book aesthetic and stylized menus give the title a certain B-movie/exploitation flick vibe that’s rarely seen in this kind of game, with the exaggerated violence and memorable characters often making it feel like you’re playing through a grindhouse picture.

Although the low-poly graphics here are meant to harken back to classic PSX (and even early PS2) releases, a lot of care went into adjusting the textures and lighting in order to make the most of simple character models and environments. In fact, I can’t think of a single vintage horror title with the same amount of visual flair as Flesh Made Fear, despite the fact that you don’t really visit that many unique locations throughout its 6-8 hour runtime.

Unfortunately, Tainted Pack didn’t go the extra mile when it came to actually writing the game, as Flesh Made Fear suffers from a script that aims for camp but lands in cheap mockbuster territory – and I don’t mean that as a compliment. While the aforementioned R.I.P. team is consistently entertaining despite the amateurish voice-acting (which is more of a quirk of the genre than anything else), the epistolary tapes and notes that you find around the map suffer from prose so generic that I wouldn’t be surprised if large portions of it were actually written by Artificial Intelligence.

This is a huge shame, as the visuals and sound design are so lovingly crafted that the lack of narrative effort stands out like a sore thumb. While the original Resident Evil games never really focused on story as much as gameplay and atmosphere, the developers at Capcom at least went out of their way to include satisfying bits of bite-sized horror like the infamous “itchy tasty” and even Lisa Trevor’s side story in the remake of the first game. Flesh Made Fear has no such luck, with the game’s narrative elements serving as little more than an excuse to revisit age-old mechanics.

Speaking of mechanics, it’s been a while since I’ve played a game so dedicated to its retro premise that it also manages to bring back some of the less savory aspects of the genre it’s attempting to revive. From unpolished combat to awkward camera placement that often hinders level traversal, which is especially annoying when you’re left to rely on a disappointingly vague map, there are plenty of frustrating elements here that I remember showing up in many of the less popular survival horror releases of yesteryear.

Of course, it’s easy to look past most of these blemishes when the experience of hunting down Victor Ripper by solving inventory puzzles and exploding copious amounts of undead heads is so damned addicting. Flesh Made Fear won’t be joining the Mount Rushmore of survival horror anytime soon, but there’s plenty of fun to be had with this brief yet entertaining tribute to classic genre thrills. And while veteran fans may not appreciate the mostly linear level design (and I still wish Tainted Pack had invested more time and effort into writing), you’ve got to love a standalone horror game with fixed camera angles and limited saves that can still be casually completed over the course of a lazy weekend.

Flesh Made Fear is available now on PC and PS5.

The post ‘Flesh Made Fear’ Review: Retro Survival Horror That Mostly Delivers appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The five items in the collaboration include a hoodie and two t-shirts, as well as “random” acrylic keychain (one of four), and an acrylic stand.

Each of the five items features artwork by two Capcom collaborative artists: illustrator Hinanana and graphic designer GOTO, both of whom have worked on various Capcom art, including commemorative art for the Resident Evil 30th Anniversary and the Street Fighter series.

And in case you’re wondering, the Resident Evil series has now sold more than 201 million units worldwide, with Resident Evil Requiem being the fastest-selling entry in franchise history. We’re still waiting on that story expansion that was revealed earlier this year by Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi. But in the meantime, you can check out the recent LEON MUST DIE FOREVER Mode to tide you over.

Additional Resident Evil 30th Anniversary announcements will be revealed later on in the year.

Meanwhile, fans can look forward to director Zach Cregger’s take on the franchise when Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX on September 18.

https://www.twitter.com/BABYMETAL_JAPAN/status/2058911558005387468

The post Capcom Teams Up With Babymetal for ‘Resident Evil’ 30th Collaboration Merch appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Cregger. Check out the new posters below!

You’ll also find a brand new featurette video down below.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4).

Zach Cregger has been pretty clear in recent months that his upcoming Resident Evil movie isn’t a direct adaptation of any of the video games, but rather his own original story that aims to recapture the experience of playing a Resident Evil video game. That said, Cregger has revealed that in his mind, his movie is taking place during the events of Resident Evil 2.

The Weapons director told IGN in a trailer breakdown video, “My rule for this movie was to try and make a movie that felt like my experience of playing the games, and that could live in the world of Resident Evil. I feel like this movie takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2. I like to think that everything that’s going on in the police station could be happening in this world. This is just another dude on another mission on the other side of town.”

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Official Posters – Zach Cregger Unleashes Hell in Theaters This September appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

According to the latest earnings report, Dead Rising, along with Devil May Cry, Dragon’s Dogma, and Onimusha, have been earmarked as brands for “the next engine of growth”. That seems to imply either remakes, ports or new entries in these franchises. Obviously, we have Onimusha: Way of the Sword coming later this year, and Devil May Cry is currently enjoying its second season of its adaptation (read Daniel’s review) on Netflix, but where does that leave Dead Rising?

Capcom had surprised everyone with the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster a few years ago, and had also conducted a survey of fans to see just what other titles that they’d like to see get a similar treatment. Then there’s the rumour of Dead Rising 5 that popped up earlier this year that has fans’ tongues wagging, but obviously, Capcom has kept silent and (rightly so) focused on Resident Evil Requiem.

It’s an interesting turn of fortunes, since Capcom never did reveal the exact sales numbers for the Deluxe Remaster, nor has the franchise had quite the same success as other Capcom horror IPs. Still, for fans of the series, you can’t complain that Capcom is once again paying attention.

The post Capcom Looking to “Nurture” ‘Dead Rising’ Franchise appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Speaking with Time Extension regarding his work on Capcom’s titles in the 90’s and 2000’s, Shiraiwa said that unlike other titles that were being localized (which would have his involvement), Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami had the game’s English dialogue recorded at a Tokyo studio. And according to Shiraiwa, the same company who did the recording also worked on the English text.

Shiraiwa’s explanation for this was that Mikami “wanted to be directly involved in the recording session,” but also to give the game a “very Western horror-film kind of atmosphere.”

He added that due to the importance of the project for Mikami, the development team wanted to do everything internally, and were reluctant to use people from overseas. “Their philosophy was that if you use external people, they will not be able to fully convey what they are trying to achieve in the game because they are outsiders.”

The result was that Shiraiwa only submitted a rough translation of the game’s script from Japanese, with Mikami having his own team “punch up” the game’s script. Hence, Jill had her sandwich and Master of Unlocking.

Things of course changed once Resident Evil launched, and the devteam were made aware of the reactions by English-speaking fans to the game’s dialogue. As a result, Resident Evil 2‘s director Hideki Kamiya enlisted Shiraiwa’s help for the dialogue.

The post Former Capcom Localisation Lead Sheds Light on The Cheesy Dialogue for ‘Resident Evil’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

And speaking of the T-Virus, Zach Cregger also reveals in his conversation with IGN this week that he’s far more interested in mutated monsters than traditional Resident Evil zombies.

Cregger explains, “This movie doesn’t utilize zombies that much. It’s much more focused on the weird creature stuff than the zombies. There’s really only two scenes, maybe three, where there’s proper zombie stuff going on. And two of those three are in the trailer.”

“But other than that… I wouldn’t call this like a zombie movie,” Cregger previews. “I just feel like, you have this opportunity for the T-Virus to do all these really fascinating things to the human body, and to the world around you, and so to just limit it to zombies feels like a squandered opportunity. So I tried to really vary it up.”

Cregger also details two of the monstrosities featured in the teaser trailer: the bloated sewer monster seen in the still image above, and the multi-limbed beast in the doorway.

First up, the “gigantic naked hairless man”…

Cregger teases, “I really love the idea of, you’re moving through a sewer, no idea what’s in front of you, and you come around a corner and see a gigantic, obese, naked, hairless man just sitting facing you. What is about to go down? What does go down, I am pretty happy with. Part of the inspiration for the look of this guy comes from Blood Meridian. So this is just my little nod to one of my favorite books. I don’t have a Nemesis in this movie. A gigantic, hulking terminator that’s following you. But this is also a little bit of a nod to the Nemesis.”

As for the multi-limbed doorway creature…

Cregger previews, “I don’t want to give too much away of whatever it is that’s coming out of the door. But I will say that there’s a mechanic I’ve put into this movie, it might be in some of the games, but it’s a way the infected interact with each other. It’s something that pursues him throughout the movie. I’m really excited for how this creature changes and evolves.”

Based on the iconic video game franchise, Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX on September 18 via Sony. The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Watch the teaser trailer for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil below.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Goes Heavy on T-Virus Mutants, Light on Traditional Zombies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Resident Evil 2 video game, to be clear.

Zach Cregger explains to IGN in a trailer breakdown video today, “My rule for this movie was to try and make a movie that felt like my experience of playing the games, and that could live in the world of Resident Evil. I feel like this movie takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2. I like to think that everything that’s going on in the police station could be happening in this world. This is just another dude on another mission on the other side of town.”

“So yeah,” Cregger continues, “it’s not canon in that I’m using the characters, but it’s canon in that it lives in the actual day of reckoning in Raccoon City.”

“This is the first night that the T-Virus has broken out,” Cregger adds.

The dude on a mission in the film is Bryan, played by Austin Abrams (Weapons).

Zach Cregger goes on to detail in his Resident Evil trailer breakdown, “This movie follows a character who’s outside of Raccoon City, and he’s gotta get into the center of it. And we’re with him as he goes through this gauntlet of set-pieces and gets deeper and deeper into town.”

Based on the iconic video game franchise, Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX on September 18 via Sony. The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Watch the teaser trailer for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil below.

The post Zach Cregger Views His ‘Resident Evil’ as Taking Place During the Events of ‘Resident Evil 2’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Since the first Resident Evil game released in 1996, the franchise has seen nearly three dozen console games including nine mainline titles, eight feature films, live action and animated TV shows, comics, merchandise, and even multiple stage adaptations.

Cregger was given “carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do,” according to Oliver Berben, CEO of Constantin Film, which produces the Resident Evil film franchise.

For his part, Cregger says he has played “a shit ton of Resident Evil” in the last few decades but also expects some fans to “crucify” him for deviating from the lore of the video games.

While we here at Bloody Disgusting cannot personally rescue you from Raccoon City, we can collect everything we know about Resident Evil into this handy FAQ to help you prepare for the film.

Check back between now and the film’s release for regular updates.

Official Synopsis: From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Release Date: September 18, 2026

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Cast:
Austin Abrams (Weapons, Euphoria)
Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell, The Naked Gun)
Kali Reis (True Detective, Mercy)
Zach Cherry (Severance, You)
Johno Wilson (Twisted Metal)

FAQ

Is there a trailer for Resident Evil?
An official teaser trailer was released April 30th. Check it out below.

How long is Resident Evil?
In early April, World of Reel reported that a test screening of Resident Evil had a 90-minute run-time that is “all gas, no brakes.”

Run times often change between test screenings and the film’s completion, but the focus on tension and the “roller coaster ride of non-stop action” indicates that Resident Evil will likely be shorter than Cregger’s previous films.

Is Leon, Jill, or Chris in the new Resident Evil movie?
Nope! Cregger has confirmed his film is “outside of the characters of the games.”

“I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.” Cregger told Inverse in August of 2025.

What is the Prime Universe?
From Star Trek to DC Comics and beyond, the concept of the “Prime Universe” is one that recurs across some of the most popular fiction and science-fiction franchises. The conception of a Prime Universe allows storytellers to create one main canon, and separate universes for parallel stories that may or may not intersect with the main canon, a concept that will be familiar to comic book fans.

Likewise, the Prime Universe in the world of Resident Evil is the main storyline that began in the original 1996 Resident Evil game and has continued across all the console games as well as various animated movies, manga, and even a stage play, “Biohazard The Experience.” The live action film series is not considered part of the Prime Universe.

For a full list of Prime Universe media, visit the Resident Evil wiki.

Does Cregger’s Resident Evil connect to any of the video games?
Zach Cregger explains to IGN, “My rule for this movie was to try and make a movie that felt like my experience of playing the games, and that could live in the world of Resident Evil. I feel like this movie takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2. I like to think that everything that’s going on in the police station could be happening in this world. This is just another dude on another mission on the other side of town.”

“So yeah,” Cregger continues, “it’s not canon in that I’m using the characters, but it’s canon in that it lives in the actual day of reckoning in Raccoon City.”

What is the best Resident Evil movie?
This is, of course, a matter of personal taste but fans of the Resident Evil game franchise tend to prefer the animated films: Resident Evil: Damnation, and Resident Evil: Death Island.

Multiple discussion threads on Reddit tend to list the 2002 Resident Evil film as “the best,” and the film also has the highest audience score on Letterboxd.

The only way to know for sure, though, is to watch all the films and devise your own ranking.

Are the monsters practical or CGI in Resident Evil?
A report on the Resident Evil test screening from World of Reel said “practical effects dominate.” CGI monsters can always be added between test screenings and release but here’s hoping the final product feels visceral and terrifying no matter what.

Which monsters can you expect to see in Resident Evil?
Cregger tells IGN, “This movie doesn’t utilize zombies that much. It’s much more focused on the weird creature stuff than the zombies. There’s really only two scenes, maybe three, where there’s proper zombie stuff going on. And two of those three are in the trailer.”

“But other than that… I wouldn’t call this like a zombie movie,” Cregger continues. “I just feel like, you have this opportunity for the T-Virus to do all these really fascinating things to the human body, and to the world around you, and so to just limit it to zombies feels like a squandered opportunity. So I tried to really vary it up.”

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ – Trailer, Release Date, Cast & Everything We Know appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Based on the iconic video game franchise, Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX on September 18 via Sony. The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger.

Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4).

Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.

Cregger produces alongside Constantin Film’s Robert Kulzer, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee & Miri Yoon, and PlayStation Productions’ Carter Swan & Asad Qizilbash. Executive producers include Oliver Berben, Victor Hadida, Richard Wright, and Robert Bernacci.

Watch Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil teaser trailer now.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Teaser Trailer Ushers In a New Era of Evil appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

There’s nothing much on the website at this time, but it does reveal the official logo for the film (above) while also confirming that September 18, 2026 remains the release date.

Check out the website here and expect Cregger’s Resident Evil trailer soon.

Austin Abrams (Weapons) plays Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a nonstop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cregger told CinemaCon attendees this month that his Resident Evil is a “big, scary ride,” one that follows Bryan on his hellish descent through a snowy, monster-filled landscape.

Cregger teases that we’ll be “locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey through a world hell bent on destroying them.” The film has been compared to George Miller’s Fury Road.

Cregger has made one thing clear: “I’m definitely not trying to be completely obedient to the lore of the games. I’m trying to tell a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.” Stay tuned for fresh updates as we learn more about the movie.

Directed by Cregger from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 and 4), Resident Evil opens in theaters on September 18, 2026 from Sony Pictures.

The post New Website for Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Reveals the Official Logo appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Speaking of video games, one could even argue that the visceral thrills of being chased through a labyrinthian nightmare are at the heart of quite a few interactive classics that folks don’t even associate with the horror genre. For instance, there’s an argument to be made that 1980’s Pac-Man is one of the very first survival horror titles, as the game has you collecting resources while evading literal ghosts in an ultimately unwinnable situation. I’m not the only one who sees the potential for genre scares here, as even the Atari 2600’s licensed Alien tie-in happened to be a Pac-Man clone where Xenomorphs stood in for Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde!

Though the industry has changed a lot since the ‘80s arcade scene, this familiar gameplay loop continues to be used by developers wanting to add an extra layer of tension to their games. In fact, just this past month, Resident Evil Requiem terrified series veterans and newcomers alike with its latest collection of ghoulish stalker enemies, continuing the tradition of fan-favorite antagonists like Nemesis and Lady Dimitrescu.

In honor of the mini heart-attack I have whenever “The Girl” shows up onscreen, today I’d like to invite readers to look back on the evolution of video game stalker enemies in an attempt to understand why this mechanic has made such a big comeback.

The Origins of the Scary Stalker

Since Pac-Man was clearly developed as more of a tongue-in-cheek experience rather than anything meant to resemble a proper horror game, our story actually begins a year later in 1981 with the release of what many historians consider to be the first true horror game, Akira Takiguchi’s AX-2: Uchuu Yusousen Nostromo. Putting players in the desperate shoes of an astronaut attempting to escape a maze-like spaceship as they’re hunted by an alien monster, the title’s unkillable antagonist is (arguably) the first instance of a recurring stalker enemy in a video game, though several other titles with similar ideas would be released around the same time.

For instance, J.K. Greye Software’s infamous 3D Monster Maze trapped players in a literal maze inhabited by a hungry T. rex, with this early example of an interactive first-person thriller feeling strangely prescient in its design. The next few years would also see the rise of licensed horror experiences like the aforementioned Alien and even a surprisingly effective adaptation of John Carpenter’s Halloween that saw Michael Myers hunting you down while you attempted to rescue children in a looping suburban hellscape.

Of course, it was only in the 90s that survival horror would take the gaming world by storm, and we’d see the first franchise built around the stalker mechanic. While 1995’s Clock Tower was more inspired by Giallo films (specifically Dario Argento’s underrated supernatural thriller Phenomena) than slasher flicks, it proved that combat wasn’t really necessary for games to provide a satisfying survival horror experience.

While Clock Tower would continue to dominate this sub-genre of survival horror through its sequels and spiritual successors, the series was popular enough to influence rival franchises as well. That’s why we’d see stalkers show up again in games like Resident Evil 2 with the infamous Mr. X (which was originally limited to the title’s B Scenario) and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

Stalkers Slowly Creep Back in at the Turn of the Century

Though the 2000s saw the release of excellent stalker-based games like Haunting Ground and even Yahtzee Crosshaw’s Five Days a Stranger series, this decade is where we first start to see a certain backlash towards the idea of recurring enemies that can’t be killed and only serve to annoy players during their attempts to progress through the campaign. As horror games began to incorporate more action elements into gameplay in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, it seemed like the cat-and-mouse thrills of being forced to hide from antagonists were on their way out.

Thankfully, when AAA horror gaming was going through its action-heavy phase, indie developers began to look back fondly on the days of helpless protagonists that couldn’t fight back against the terrors surrounding them. While Amnesia: The Dark Descent opened the door for scarier experiences that didn’t require guns or in-depth melee combat to be entertaining, later releases like the viral hit Slender turned this new kind of first-person chase-simulator into a genre in and of itself.

This is where we get to what is arguably the best game to feature a relentless pursuer enemy, which is 2014’s Alien: Isolation, a title that features some of the most advanced stalker AI in gaming history while also harkening back to the Alien-inspired retro game that started this whole trend in the first place.

In the following years, gamers would once again become accustomed to the thrills of virtual hide-and-seek, with stalker enemies even making their way online with the rise of titles like Dead by Daylight and its legion of imitators (which often use official licenses in order to draw in hardcore horror fans). In fact, for a while there, it seemed like there was an industry bias where slasher-inspired titles could only be developed as online multiplayer experiences.

As usual, it took brave indie developers like the fan-favorite Puppet Combo to convince folks that the older style of stalker-focused survival horror was still viable, with titles like Stay Out of the House and Murder House proving that there is still a huge market for lo-fi slasher simulators.

Resident Evil Helped Ensure That Stalker Enemies Have a Bright Future

I’d argue that this resurgence in popularity is partly responsible for Capcom choosing to include Mr. X in the base game of their Resident Evil 2 remake instead of relegating him to a secondary playthrough, and it likely also influenced the decision to incorporate more unkillable pursuers in both Resident Evil 7 (the scariest entry in the series to date) as well as Resident Evil Village.

The success of this formula makes it unsurprising that the mechanic returns once again in Requiem, with the latest game treating us to a photosensitive monster that escalates tension while playing as Grace and makes it all the more satisfying when we’re finally allowed to let loose as an older and more badass version of Leon S. Kennedy. Personally, I believe that this two-pronged approach to gameplay is a much better way of appealing to mainstream gamers than Village’s more action-oriented experience, especially since Leon’s segments feel like a reward for surviving Grace’s nightmare.

Beyond the AAA space, the future of video game stalker enemies is also looking especially bright. From the final chapter of the Remothered trilogy (a spiritual successor to the Clock Tower games) to a whole slew of slasher-inspired indie titles, 2026 is shaping up to be a standout year for the genre. Hell, we’re even getting a new Halloween game with a single-player mode meant to round out the online multiplayer experience, so it seems like this is one gaming trend that will continue to pursue horror fans well into the coming decades.

The post Lurking Fear: The Evolution of the Video Game Stalker Enemy appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Of course, I’d argue that this is an excellent problem to have, especially when these releases are passion projects like Malformation Games’ Resident Evil-inspired Ground Zero.

A survival horror throwback that looks and feels like a long-lost Dreamcast title in the vein of Carrier or RE: Code Veronica, the Swedish-developed Ground Zero is the latest attempt at scratching that familiar genre itch that AAA gaming has long since forgotten.

In the game, you initially take control of South Korean special operative Seo-Yeon as she and her Canadian partner Evan investigate the aftermath of a mysterious meteor impact that devastated Seoul and the surrounding area. The agents soon discover that the impact site isn’t as dead as it seems, with the apocalyptic environment now being home to mutant creatures and a cancerous growth that may soon threaten the entire world.

Classic Survival Horror Gameplay with Modern Twists

In gameplay terms, this setup translates to players exploring a charmingly lo-fi (yet still visually stunning) rendition of South Korea as they fight monsters, solve puzzles, and deal with limited inventory space in an attempt to progress through the area and find out exactly what’s going on. This process is enhanced by modern additions such as upgradeable stats that you improve through a series of color-coded vials, an intensely satisfying critical hit system, and “genome points” that you can trade in for items at certain automated vendors.

The main gameplay loop is still pretty much identical to the survival horror hits of yesteryear, with progression involving plenty of backtracking to item boxes and consulting a detailed map (which automatically updates with icons indicating door functionality and missed items). However, you’ll soon find that the constant running around between previously explored areas means that it’s almost always better to deal with enemies as soon as possible, a situation that removes much of the tactical thinking that makes these games so thrilling in the first place.

In fact, the overall Ground Zero experience is a little on the easy side if you have any prior history with this sort of game – especially if you can master melee combat and keep an eye out for upgrades. That being said, I’d much rather deal with a title that occasionally holds my hand a little too hard than an obtuse nightmare that removes all the fun from the experience. Plus, there are separate difficulty sliders for both combat and puzzle solving, so this shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Pre-Rendered Backgrounds and Immersive Sound Design Contribute to Haunting Atmosphere

Besides, the atmosphere is the real highlight of the game, with Seoul and the surrounding area appropriately feeling more real than Raccoon City or even Silent Hill. The pre-rendered graphics and colorful art style make the devastated area look hauntingly beautiful, and the hand-crafted visuals are enhanced by a highly effective soundtrack that keeps things interesting even after you realize that the plot isn’t going to win any writing awards.

Ground Zero is also a surprisingly lengthy experience, with some of its mechanics being spread a little thin over so much game. While the title never truly wears out its welcome, things get a bit repetitive once you’ve upgraded your character to superhuman levels and understand more or less where the story is going. That being said, not only do the level and monster designs continue to be excellent throughout the entire campaign, but you also get a lot of bang for your buck here.

The title offers multiple playable characters, branching paths, and a plethora of cosmetic upgrades, and there are also alternate game modes containing a plethora of unlockable secrets that will likely have you playing and replaying for much longer than the promised 15-20 hour story mode.

Unfortunately, this embarrassment of genre riches is somewhat marred by a handful of technical issues endemic to ambitious indie projects. While I didn’t encounter any game-breaking bugs, it’s clear that the title could have gone through another round of testing in order to deal with clunky item hitboxes and unpredictable enemy collision detection (especially where the critical hits are concerned). I also had to reload to an older save file after encountering a glitch where Seo-Yeon became invincible after upgrading her stats.

Final Verdict: Is Ground Zero Worth Playing?

None of these issues kept me from enjoying the title, but it’s a shame that the developers came so close to delivering a masterpiece but ended up fumbling the details. This also applies to the game’s narrative, as the characters are all quite likable (I particularly enjoyed Evan’s charming sense of humor and Seo-Yeon’s badass demeanor), but the story itself is a retread of established survival horror tropes covered up with a South Korean-flavored coat of fresh paint.

The minute-to-minute experience of actually playing through Ground Zero is so entertaining that most of these issues simply melt away. It’s hard to worry about the occasional missed critical hit when you’re thinking about how gnarly the monster designs are and how the pre-rendered backgrounds make Seoul look beautiful in spite of the ongoing apocalypse.

That’s why I’d recommend Ground Zero to both new and veteran fans of classic survival horror, as the game’s unique blend of South Korean style with fleshy homages to the genre titans like Dino Crisis and Alone in the Dark makes it one of the best Resident Evil Clones in years.

Just be sure to play on a higher difficulty if this isn’t your first survival horror rodeo.

Ground Zero is available now on all major consoles and PC.

The post ‘Ground Zero’ Infuses Throwback Survival Horror Game with Style and Seoul [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While footage shown off at the event will not be making its way online, we do have an official synopsis for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie out of CinemaCon tonight…

Austin Abrams (Weapons) plays Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a nonstop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.

Zach Cregger told CinemaCon attendees tonight that his Resident Evil is a “big, scary ride,” one that follows Bryan on his hellish descent through a snowy, monster-filled landscape.

Cregger teases that we’ll be “locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey through a world hell bent on destroying them.” The film has been compared to George Miller’s Fury Road. Producer Roy Lee told Geek Tyrant in February, “It’s like a roller coaster ride of nonstop action, of just showing a point of view of a character and an original story in the world of Raccoon City.”

Cregger has made one thing clear: “I’m definitely not trying to be completely obedient to the lore of the games. I’m trying to tell a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.” We expect the Resident Evil trailer very soon. Stay tuned.

Directed by Cregger from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 and 4), Resident Evil opens in theaters on September 18, 2026 from Sony Pictures.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bloody Disgusting (@bdisgusting)

The post Official Synopsis Revealed for Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis MSRP for $9.99 each and launch with a limited-time 50% discount available now through Wednesday, April 15 at 10:00 am PT. 

Originally released in 1996, the critically acclaimed Resident Evil spawned a franchise that has gone on to sell more than 183 million units.

Throughout the first three entries in the series, play as iconic characters like Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Claire Redfield as you solve puzzles, disarm traps, unravel mysteries, and face off against powerful creatures and enemies like Nemesis, Mr. X, the legendary Lickers, and more.

The Steam versions of each game preserve the original experiences while also including enhancements and quality of life improvements to support compatibility with modern operating systems and controllers.

It’s a big year for the Resident Evil series. Not only does Capcom still have more Resident Evil Requiem content on the way, but Weapons director Zach Cregger will give his spin on the video games with his new Resident Evil film.

In the meantime, fix yourself a Jill sandwich and revisit the classics now on Steam.

The post Three Classic ‘Resident Evil’ Games Head to Steam Today appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“I love the idea of being pitted against a world that is hellbent on annihilating you,” Cregger tells The New York Times. “It just feels fun, and I haven’t seen a movie that offers that sort of experience.”

Cregger also admits that he anticipates some fans will “crucify” him for deviating from the franchise’s lore.

The filmmaker previously stated, “I’m definitely not trying to be completely obedient to the lore of the games. I’m trying to tell a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.”

Directed by Cregger from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 and 4), Resident Evil opens in theaters on September 18 via Sony.

Austin Abrams (Weapons), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) star.

Constantin Film’s Robert Kulzer, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan are producing.

Constantin Film CEO Oliver Berben and Davis Films’ Victor Hadida executive produce, with TriStar Pictures’ president Nicole Brown overseeing the project for Sony.

The post Zach Cregger Expects Fans to “Crucify” Him for ‘Resident Evil’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

RESURRECTION: A Biohazard Story takes place years after the mansion incident, where a viral outbreak has spread through Rosa Enferma, a remote town in Mexico. Chris, Barry, Jill, and Rebecca are pulled back into the nightmare as Albert Wesker resurfaces and a new bioterror threat emerges.

The series, which will not be tied to official Resident Evil canon (for copyright reasons), reunites members of the cast of the original Resident Evil cutscenes in Charlie Kraslavsky, Greg Smith, Eric Pirius and Linda, who played Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, Albert Wesker and Rebecca Chambers, respectively. Joining the original cast is Annie Roig as Jill.

Also joining the cast are ​Joe Whyte, who is best known for voicing Chris Redfield in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil, ​Ward E. Sexton, the voice behind the iconic “Resident Evil” title call, and Pablo Kuntz, who voiced Albert Wesker in the original 1996 Resident Evil.

And in a thoughtful gesture, stick around to the end of the film for an “In Memoriam” for Paul Haddad (voice actor for Leon in Resident Evil 2), Jeanette Maus (voice actor for Cassandra Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village), James Ward (voice actor for Jack Krauser in Resident Evil 4) and Scott McCulloch (voice actor for Chris Redfield in Resident Evil).

Watch Resident Evil fan film Resurrection: A Biohazard Story below.

The post ‘Resident Evil’ Fan Film ‘RESURRECTION: A Biohazard Story’ Now Available to Watch appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

With Resident Evil Requiem finally hitting store shelves this week, what better way of celebrating 9 mainline entries (and dozens of spin-offs) than by looking back on six of the scariest boss battles in Resident Evil history! After all, there are plenty of memorable biohazards to choose from, though some of our picks might not be the monsters you’re expecting.

As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own personal favorite boss monsters if you think we missed a particularly frightening one.

With that out of the way, onto the list!

6. Verdugo – Resident Evil 4

While the Verdugo (also known as the U-III in the remake) can be accurately described as an undead Xenomorph with insectoid qualities, it’s the overall direction behind this encounter that makes it such a frightening experience. Not only is the Verdugo itself nearly invulnerable, but the game forces you to navigate a claustrophobic sewer system as you attempt to deal with this man-made monstrosity.

In fact, this is such a terrifying fight that the game actually does you a solid and encourages you to run away from the boss entirely, as even the developers were aware that a near-perfect organism would likely be too much for most players to handle the first time around.

Of course, that only makes it that much more satisfying when you finally replay the game and bring a rocket launcher to this fateful encounter.

5. Marguerite Baker – Resident Evil 7

I’d argue that Resident Evil 7 is hands-down the scariest RE game ever made, so it’s hard to pin down a singular moment that really stands out above the rest. However, when it comes to boss fights, the blood-curdling battle against Marguerite (the Mold-infected Matriarch of the Baker family) is easily one of the freakiest entries on this list.

While her “human” appearance is unsettling enough due to the game’s grimy textures and Texas Chain Saw Massacre–inspired aesthetics, the boss battle has Marguerite elongating her limbs to inhuman proportions as she controls disgusting insects and hunts you down through a dilapidated Green House.

However, even after all that, this boss encounter still isn’t nearly as scary as constantly running across the seemingly catatonic Eveline as she stalks you throughout your playthrough.

4. HAOS – Resident Evil 6

I’m aware that Resident Evil 6 is something of a controversial topic amongst fans of the series, but I think even the game’s biggest detractors are aware that the title contains a handful of terrifying moments that are worth remembering despite being part of an overall messy experience. One such highlight is the climactic fight against HAOS at the end of Chris Redfield’s campaign.

Looking like a Kaiju-sized cross between a humanoid corpse and a translucent octopus, HAOS was Neo-Umbrella’s attempt at creating an ultimate bioweapon capable of spreading the C-virus infection across the entire planet. Of course, what really makes this malformed creature so scary is its uncanny design, with its recognizably humanoid features combined with its desperate movements and “unfinished” aesthetics, making this boss unpleasant to even look at.

3. Lisa Trevor – Resident Evil REmake

Unkillable bosses were already a familiar trope by the time Lisa Trevor was added to 2002’s Resident Evil remake, but there’s just something off about this lumbering patient zero that continues to haunt our nightmares over two decades later. Whether it’s the fact that she appears to be wearing a mask made out of human skin or her pained movements as her arms remain trapped inside of a medieval-looking torture device, Lisa Trevor feels like she was a part of Capcom’s iconic Survival Horror franchise from the very beginning.

Terrifying and tragic in equal measure, Lisa is certainly one of the most memorable monsters on this list, even if her design isn’t quite as extreme as some of the other horrors we’ve mentioned so far.

2. Donna Beneviento – Resident Evil: Village

Resident Evil: Village may have been developed as a more action-packed follow-up to the nightmarish thrills of its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean the game is completely devoid of memorable scares. In fact, I’d argue that the title actually boasts one of the most horrifying enemy encounters in the whole franchise, with the entire House Beneviento sequence serving as an extended boss battle where Ethan’s very mind is turned against him.

Combining effective genre tropes from doll-horror movies such as Annabelle and even boasting a freaky baby monster that would make Eraserhead blush, the Beneviento encounter is proof that Capcom remains fully capable of crafting innovative scares even after all these years.

1. Nemesis – Resident Evil 3

Also known as “The Pursuer”, Nemesis is probably the most obvious entry on this list, but can anyone really argue against the idea of a final boss that stalks and attacks you from the very beginning of the game?

Sure, the creature’s design and aggressive behavior are intimidating enough, but it’s the build-up to that final confrontation that earns him the number-one spot on this list. Repeatedly trying and failing to get this bio-engineered Terminator off your tail just to have him show up again is the reason why Nemesis will forever be remembered as one of the scariest bosses in all of gaming – not just the Resident Evil franchise.

The post Ranking 6 of the Scariest Boss Battles in ‘Resident Evil’ History Ahead of ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Resident Evil 7 pushed the series forward by giving us not only a new perspective, but a new protagonist, everyman Ethan Winters, and a new threat, the Mold. Despite its success, Capcom did not immediately continue from there, instead deciding to go back and remake the classic Resident Evil 2, giving you the characters you know and love with a modern mechanical twist. Since then, we’ve got more games in both these branching paths, all very successful in their own right, continuing to both move the franchise into new places and satisfy fans’ nostalgia.

Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline entry in the series, also embraces this dichotomy. With its dual protagonists, it not only gives us a new face in the franchise lore, Grace Ashcroft, but brings back the legendary Leon Kennedy, assuring new and old fans will have something to grasp onto. There is some tension here, as Requiem at times dives a bit too much into fan service while still wanting to move the overall narrative into new territory, but for the most part, it’s able to give you that classic Resident Evil vibe without being too pandering to the audience.

As you’re doing the initial game settings, one of the more interesting aspects of this game is made immediately apparent. Much like how the “Winters’ Expansion“ for Resident Evil Village allowed you to do, you can play Requiem in either first person or third person, a setting you can change at any time. Importantly, though, the default is that Grace is first person while Leon is third person, setting the tone for the types of experiences you can expect for each character. Grace’s sections feel more like Resident Evil 7, where your limited field of view contributes to a greater sense of tension, while Leon’s feel like Resident Evil 4, more of an action-packed third-person shooter. Going into the game, I was concerned that this would make the game feel disjointed, but the swapping does a great job of matching up with and justifying the normal power curve of a Resident Evil game.

So who is Grace Ashcroft? She’s an entirely new character with a connection to the PS2 online multiplayer title Resident Evil: Outbreak. Her mother, Alyssa, was a reporter who survived the original Racoon City incident as shown in Outbreak, giving you the first taste of the many ties to the original games that Requiem provides. As an analyst for the FBI, Grace is investigating a series of murders that not only lead her right back to the same place Alyssa was murdered years ago, but also put her directly in the path of Leon’s investigation. Right off the bat, you can see how they are seeding this narrative to tie into the long (and pretty convoluted) history of the franchise, going all the way back to the early games.

Grace doesn’t feel like she’s just there as a plot point to reach back into the history, but rather comes across as another strong addition to the pantheon of Resident Evil protagonists. While she’s not as capable in a fight as Leon, her compassion and problem-solving skills bring to life what could have been a pretty simple role. It’s a great balance with Leon, who’s now older but still just as wisecracking, and their dynamic during the times they get to interact feels great.

At the beginning of the game, both of their investigations lead to the Wrenwood Hotel, the aforementioned site of Alyssa’s murder, and this section does an awesome job as a thesis statement for the rest of the game. Here, we’re reintroduced to the classic Resident Evil monster that started it all, the humble zombie. Since their introduction in the original, we’ve seen all sorts of wilder creatures, but smart twists to the formula make them feel new all over again. The Grace section here makes them feel truly scary as you count your extremely limited ammo, and playing as Leon makes them feel like exciting targets that aren’t overly challenging, but can overwhelm you if you’re not careful.

As someone who initially didn’t like Resident Evil 4 because of its switch away from actual zombies, this was a refreshing return to form for me. The way they slowly stagger, making for a harder target, has always worked so well for me in both first and third person. This adds challenge to a relatively behaviorally simple enemy, but Requiem adds a neat twist that feels relevant to both the gameplay and lore. Many of the zombies here remember some of their past lives as humans, shambling their way through routines that help differentiate them from each other.

One of my favorite examples of this new gimmick was a zombie standing by a light switch muttering, “Lights off.” This was in Grace’s section, so ammo needed to be rationed, which meant tricking him by turning on various lights to move him around the hallway was the way to go. Grace’s parts are full of enemies like this, and it provides variety to the enemies in a manner beyond just making them bigger and more mutated.

Zombies in both parts of the game also have a Crimson Head-like mutation called Blister Heads. It doesn’t feel quite as prevalent or terrifying as it did in the Resident Evil remake, even though it provides the same type of threat – zombie corpses can revive as a tougher version. While Leon can deal with them more easily, I definitely remember times as Grace where they would pursue me nearly all the way across a level, showing up to complicate an encounter after I thought I lost them.

Much like the majority of the newer RE games, Requiem contains a few stalker enemies that menace Grace. These don’t have quite the same personality as the Baker Family, Lady Dimitrescu, or even Mr. X, but they do have their own visual flair to them that makes them creepy. Their size makes them particularly unique and threatening, often feeling like they barely fit in the spaces they occupy as they hunt you through the halls. For me, stalker enemies can be a bit of a mixed bag, as they end up feeling a bit like an obstacle rather than a threat after a while, but these creatures were cleverly used so that they weren’t omnipresent in the whole level, instead reserved for specific sections to keep them fresh.

Speaking of levels, this game features classic survival horror style level design, excellently represented in the Rhodes Hill Care Center, where Grace spends a large part of the game after being kidnapped. This place is textbook Resident Evil, a densely laid out area with new sections unlocking through puzzle solving that always cleverly loops back on itself for easy navigation. It’s my all-time favorite type of level design, as it rewards players’ mastery and familiarity with a location through clever use of non-tedious backtracking. I love the feeling of opening up my map and instantly being able to picture every room while I’m planning my route to an objective, and the Care Center is this feeling perfectly distilled. There are some really fun little puzzles that feel both grounded and absurd, which is a line that the franchise walks perfectly. Most of the other areas in the game are a little bit shorter, but they still exhibit the same level of mastery over design as its centerpiece location.

These places are also presented with a stunning level of graphical fidelity. Right from the start, it blew me away with a gorgeous rainy scene walking through the streets, every element looking sharp as you walked through crowds of people. The character models all look stellar, with the zombies doing some great damage effects as they get blasted away. The more mutated monsters also look equally ghoulish, thanks to a grotesque art style that feels consistent with the series, even if it doesn’t tread as much new ground as I would like it to.

Crafting returns from previous games, with a unique twist on Grace’s end. Instead of having gunpowder to make ammo, she needs to collect infected blood from zombies to be combined with parts to create the items she needs. These can be anything from ammo to health items to the new and extremely useful injector that can be used to blow up zombies or destroy their corpses. This can only be used if you are able to sneak up on them, adding another weapon to her arsenal, albeit one that comes with a good deal of tension.

Leon has the standard gunpowder-and-scrap crafting resources we’ve seen before, which isn’t as thematically fun, but works better for him in context. A fun touch to the game is that when you go into your inventory, Grace has the classic limited slot inventory, while Leon has the RE4-style inventory Tetris, both of which feel appropriate for their specific sections.

In addition to having his own version of the stealth kill, Leon has some tricks up his sleeve that add an extra wrinkle to the combat. Certain enemies will have weapons like spears or axes, and once those are dropped, Leon can pick them up to throw or swing them. It’s a great way to save some ammo during a tense firefight, but it does come with the added risk of having to rush toward the corpse, which is likely surrounded by other enemies. The classic chainsaw shows up again, but this time Leon can get his hands on it. Once you kill the guy wielding it, it spins wildly on the ground for a bit before you can pick it up and swing it yourself. After that RE4 chainsaw guy that’s haunted my dreams forever, it was a great little power fantasy moment for you to be able to finally use it to turn the tables.

While the first half of the game is focused on Grace, once you get past the Care Clinic, the majority of the game is focused on Leon, allowing for some clever twists on the RE4 style of combat. There are some really great setpieces that figure out how to change up the formula in fun ways, keeping it fresh and exciting. I won’t spoil anything because part of the fun of some of these encounters was going into them blind, but there’s one scene in particular that makes great use of the environment that was tactically clever and exceptionally tense.

It’s no big secret, in fact, it’s been a huge part of the marketing for the game, that the story of Requiem will take you back to the ruins of Racoon City. For me, this was part of where the game started to dip a bit for me. It’s the section where the focus on the past is the strongest, and I felt like some of the elements felt like they were a little too much nostalgia-bait for me, added just to make fans point at the screen when they recognize something.

The journey to Racoon City also takes place after a pivotal Grace moment, so switching to Leon for an extended period of time makes that lose a bit of impact. I felt like my momentum in this section was coming from the fact that I wanted to get back to playing as Grace, which made the retreading of the past feel a little more frustrating. This could all come down to personal taste, because this section still had strong encounters and level design to back it up, even if it wasn’t as narratively interesting to me.

Fortunately, the final stretch of the game brings the game to a great conclusion. So many people complain about how Resident Evil games kill the horror by becoming more action-packed by the end, often citing the boat sequence near the conclusion of Resident Evil 7 as a prime offender. While that does happen here, the dual protagonist setup helps keep that from feeling unnatural, allowing that arc to feel like an expected climax. The plot gets a bit in the weeds with Umbrella, and the main villains aren’t the most compelling, but the ending was really clever, with a bit more heart than I’m used to from a Resident Evil game.

Resident Evil Requiem feels like the culmination of how Capcom has been presenting the franchise since its resurgence. They’ve found ways to cleverly tweak the formula of both the first-person and third-person versions of the franchise, allowing it to alternate between terrifying and thrilling to keep the pacing fresh throughout the 14-hour runtime. While it may dip a little too much into the nostalgia pool for my taste, that doesn’t discount the excellent level design, exciting gameplay, and great new twists to the classic lore.

Nine games into the main series, Capcom is proving that Resident Evil still has what it takes to provide top-of-the-class, B-movie style horror.

Code provided by publisher. Resident Evil Requiem launches February 27 for the Nintendo Switch 2, PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Bloody Disgusting (@bdisgusting)

The post ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ Bridges the Old and New for a Terrifying, Action-Packed Experience [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Speaking with Geek Tyrant, Lee shared some insight about Cregger’s upcoming take on Resident Evil.

“It’s like a roller coaster ride of nonstop action, of just showing a point of view of a character and an original story in the world of Raccoon City, where it’s like the experience of watching the movie is similar to the experience you would get playing the game, is what Zach is trying to do,” the producer explains.

“He’s definitely spent a lot of time prepping various shots that will impress the audience in ways they’ve not seen things before,” Lee adds.

“If you think about the progression of Zach’s movies, it went from a $4 million movie to a $38 million movie to now like an $80-plus million dollar movie, and each time the money’s going on screen.”

Directed by Cregger from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapters 3 and 4), Resident Evil opens in theaters on  September 18 via Sony.

Cregger previously stated, “I’m definitely not trying to be completely obedient to the lore of the games. I’m trying to tell a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.”

Austin Abrams (Weapons), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) star.

Constantin Film’s Robert Kulzer, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan are producing.

Berben serves as executive producer alongside Davis Films’ Victor Hadida, with TriStar Pictures’ president Nicole Brown overseeing the project for Sony.

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Will Be an $80 Million “Roller Coaster Ride of Nonstop Action,” Says Producer Roy Lee appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.