For decades, video game adaptations were Hollywood’s favorite punching bag. Films based on beloved franchises routinely arrived to shrugging reviews and disappointed fans. That long-standing stigma has now been obliterated. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie has officially become the highest-rated video game movie of all time, and it hasn’t even hit thEaters yet.
Record-Breaking Numbers for a Horror Revival
With critics’ reviews going live ahead of the film’s theatrical release on September 18, Cregger’s take on Capcom’s survival horror icon is posting numbers that no gaming adaptation has ever managed. The movie currently holds a stunning 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 71 reviews, alongside an equally impressive score of 80 on Metacritic.
Those figures place it ahead of every video game film that came before it, from the animated Super Mario Bros. Movie to Paramount’s crowd-pleasing Sonic series. For a franchise that has already survived six live-action films with mixed-to-poor reception, this is nothing short of a resurrection worthy of the series’ own lore.
What the Critics Are Saying
GameSpot’s own review awarded the film an 8/10, praising it for successfully capturing the “breathless terror” that made the original games so unforgettable. That’s high praise for a series whose cinematic history has often drifted into action-heavy territory, losing the suffocating atmosphere that defined classics like the 1996 original and its legendary 2002 remake.
Who Is Zach Cregger?
If the name sounds familiar, it should. Cregger made his horror bona fides with 2022’s Barbarian, a breakout hit that turned a seemingly simple premise into one of the most unpredictable thrillers in recent memory. He followed it up with Weapons, further cementing his reputation as one of genre filmmaking’s most exciting voices.
Bringing a director with genuine horror instincts to Resident Evil appears to have been the masterstroke. Rather than leaning on bombast, early reception suggests Cregger understood what fans have always wanted: dread, claustrophobia, and the desperate scramble to survive.
Why This Matters for Video Game Movies
This record doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We’re living through a golden age of video game adaptations. HBO’s The Last of Us earned Emmy acclaim, Amazon’s Fallout became a breakout hit, and Arcane redefined what animated storytelling could achieve. Hollywood has finally stopped treating game properties as brand cash-ins and started treating them as rich source material.
Cregger’s Resident Evil topping the ratings chart feels like the natural next step in that evolution. If a horror adaptation can earn near-universal critical acclaim, the door swings open for studios to take even bolder swings with gaming’s vast library of stories. The old excuse that “video game movies just don’t work” is officially dead.
Want to Experience the Terror Yourself?
Watching the movie is one thing, but the games remain the definitive way to experience Raccoon City’s nightmare. If the film has you itching to play, you can pick up Resident Evil game codes, digital gift cards, and more at TURGAME.com at competitive prices. Whether you want the classic remakes or the modern first-person entries, it’s a quick and affordable way to jump back into survival horror.
Source: GameSpot