Resident Evil reboot by Zach Cregger scores 96% on Rotten Tomatoes

According to that report, the film is scheduled for September 18, 2026, and had a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96 at the time of publication.

The film stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier who gets caught in a zombie outbreak during a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital.

What happened

Kotaku wrote that the early reactions to Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil film are favorable. The site describes the production as a smart homage to Capcom’s games, rather than an adaptation that follows every detail literally. In the report, the film is framed as a compact horror movie that tries to capture the atmosphere and pacing of the games without locking itself into a one-to-one recreation of specific game elements.

At the time of publication, the film was sitting at 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Kotaku cites early reviews from outlets including IndieWire, which described the film as “I.P. cinema with vision and verve,” and The Guardian, where Jesse Hassenger wrote about its “streamlined single-mindedness” and said the tension and entertainment never let up. The score is explicitly tied to the moment of publication, which means it may change later.

According to the same report, the reboot follows a medical courier, played by Austin Abrams, who runs into a zombie outbreak while making a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital. The film is directed by horror filmmaker Zach Cregger and is set for release on September 18, 2026. Kotaku also describes the production as an example of how film and video games can blend more effectively when an adaptation does not rely entirely on literal details.

The source also says the early reception praises the film’s mix of horror and humor. That fits Cregger’s broader reputation as a horror director, while the plot details in the report remain intentionally limited to a single outbreak in Raccoon City and one central protagonist.

Background

Resident Evil is one of Capcom’s best-known franchises and has been adapted into film before. In this reboot, Cregger appears to be aiming to capture the games’ atmosphere and pacing, rather than recreating specific game elements exactly. That matches how the early reviews are summarized in the article: not as a direct adaptation of a single entry in the series, but as a film that uses the franchise’s familiar elements for a tighter horror setup.

The report also lines up with earlier updates about the same film, including production and casting news. In the provided context, Zach Cregger, Austin Abrams, David Ehrlich, Jesse Hassenger, Ethan Gach, Capcom and Sony are named as relevant figures around the project and its coverage. The early reception is now mainly tied to the mix of horror, humor and a compact setup centered on one outbreak in Raccoon City.

The available information also says the film is set around Raccoon City General Hospital and centers on a medical courier. That keeps the plot description relatively limited, but still specific enough to distinguish the reboot from earlier Resident Evil films, which often followed multiple characters, locations and storylines at once. The source does not provide a full list of game elements or characters being adapted, and it does not include any further details that can be confirmed.

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• Resident Evil by Zach Cregger scores 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 80 on Metacritic
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• Capcom brings six Resident Evil games to Nintendo Switch 2, three available now and three on October 16

Sources

• Kotaku: early reviews of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot and the reported Rotten Tomatoes score of 96.
• The early reviews cited by Kotaku from IndieWire and The Guardian.