# Resident Evil reboot trades depth for funky monster mayhem

> Zach Cregger ditches the video-game sludge for a lighter, loopier take on the horror franchise.
- Title: Resident Evil reboot trades depth for funky monster mayhem
- Summary: Zach Cregger ditches the video-game sludge for a lighter, loopier take on the horror franchise. Cregger's Resident Evil succeeds by abandoning the source…
- Keywords: resident evil, zach cregger, horror reboot, austin abrams, video game adaptation, film review, entertainment, culture, Resident, Evil, reboot, trades
- Source: Variety — https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/resident-evil-review-zach-cregger-1236863421
- Author: Owen Gleiberman
- Published: 2026-09-16T16:00:36+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: resident evil, zach cregger, horror reboot, austin abrams, video game adaptation, film review, entertainment, culture
## Cregger's last film was a horror masterpiece
Zach Cregger's "Weapons" became a sleeper hit by blending majestic creepiness with emotional depth, weaving witchy stolen-child mythology into suspenseful human drama.

> One of the many splendid things about Zach Cregger's "Weapons" is that it was a horror film made with humanity.
## Then he chose to reboot Resident Evil
After "Weapons" became a sensation, Cregger announced his next project would be a reboot of Resident Evil, the most inhumane horror series of the last 25 years.
## The reboot ditches video-game sludge
Cregger's Resident Evil abandons the franchise's typical grimness and source-material baggage, instead embracing a lighter, more absurdist approach to the material.
## Austin Abrams fights viral monsters
Austin Abrams, known from "Weapons," plays a medical courier fending off viral creatures in a throwaway horror film that spirals into symphonic loopiness.
## It's funky monster fun, not sludge
The film succeeds as a one-man-against-squish-zombies lark that never gets bogged down, trading the franchise's typical inhumanity for playful, energetic horror.
## Key takeaway

Cregger's Resident Evil succeeds by abandoning the source material's grimness and embracing absurdist fun instead.