Resident Evil Reviews: Every Movie, Our Verdict

Cinvibe's Resident Evil reviews work through the saga in three runs: the six films of the Anderson run, the 2021 reboot and the 2026 reboot. Paul W. S. Anderson directed four of the six, while Alexander Witt and Russell Mulcahy each took one. Every verdict is opinion and avoids spoilers. The Japanese animated films sit outside this run and are not reviewed.

Professional critics' scores summarize how reviewers received a film, which is a different job from judging how a film plays on a screen. A score can tell you a film was well received, but it cannot tell you whether its scares land or its action reads clearly. Outlets such as Rolling Stone publish their own reviews, and those opinions belong to those publications. A verdict is one writer's judgment, and it is only as useful as the reasons behind it.

The first six films follow Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, a character created for the films who does not appear in the games. She anchors everything, because the series became an action saga with familiar Resident Evil characters visiting, and not a straight adaptation. Resident Evil movies in order is the place to start if the sequence worries you.

Resident Evil (2002), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Alice wakes with no memory in an empty mansion, and an Umbrella commando team rides a train down into the Hive, where the Red Queen computer has sealed everyone in. It cost $33 million and took about $103 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. In my opinion, it is the tightest film of the six, because one location and one hostile computer give every scare somewhere to go. Verdict: the right place to start, and still among the best.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), directed by Alexander Witt. The T-virus reaches Raccoon City, Umbrella seals the streets, and Alice joins Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera while the supersoldier Nemesis hunts them. It made about $129 million worldwide on a $45 million budget. It could be argued that the pacing is loose, but in my opinion the Nemesis chase is what people remember. Verdict: watch it for Jill and Nemesis, and forgive the sprawl.

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), directed by Russell Mulcahy. The virus has turned most of the planet into desert, Alice wanders alone, and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) leads a convoy across the wasteland. It earned about $148 million worldwide on a $45 million budget. Perhaps the quiet part is what works, since the film plays like a road movie where the zombies are weather. Verdict: my sleeper pick of the run, and a better film than its reputation.

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. This was the first 3D film in the series. Alice searches Alaska for a rumored safe haven called Arcadia, finds Claire, and heads for Los Angeles, with Wentworth Miller joining as Chris Redfield. The $60 million production made about $300 million worldwide. The set pieces are slick, although several are plainly designed around the 3D cameras and flatten out on a normal screen. Verdict: good fun, best watched as a spectacle.

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Alice wakes as a suburban housewife with a deaf daughter, Becky, until zombies overrun the street. Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), Ada Wong (Li Bingbing) and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand) all arrive, and so do familiar faces from earlier films. It made about $240 million worldwide on a $65 million budget. In my opinion, it is the most cluttered of the eight, because there are more cameos than scares. Verdict: for completists, and the one I would skip first.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Alice wakes in the ruined White House, and the Red Queen tells her an airborne antivirus waits in the Hive beneath Raccoon City, but it will hold for only 48 hours before the last human survivors die. It is the highest earner of the six at about $312 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, though only about $27 million of that came from the US. The fights are cut so fast that they are hard to read, but the return to the Hive closes the circle neatly. Verdict: worth it if you have come this far.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), directed by Johannes Roberts. Set in 1998, it brings Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) back to a dying Raccoon City while rookie cop Leon Kennedy starts his first shift and Chris Redfield heads for a remote mansion. It cost $25 million and took about $42 million worldwide. The film crams so many characters into 107 minutes that few get a scene to breathe. Verdict: a crowded cast with a thin story, for fans of the characters first.

Resident Evil (2026), directed by Zach Cregger. Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a medical courier on a snowy night, taking a double rate job to deliver an urgent package to Raccoon City General Hospital, and a little girl bites him on the way. Variety reported the date in March 2025, and the film opened on September 18, 2026 with about $60 million in the US, a franchise best, according to TheWrap. Its worldwide total is reported at about $400 million on a $75 million budget. In my opinion, the call to choose horror over lore was the right one: at 95 minutes, it feels like a night you have to survive. Cregger also voices the hospital Intercom. Verdict: the best film in the series, and the one I would hand to a newcomer.

Start with Resident Evil (2002) if you want the original story, or with Resident Evil (2026) if you want a standalone scare with no homework. Both are self contained, and neither needs the other. Once you have chosen, where to watch Resident Evil shows what is streaming in the US, UK and Australia, and Resident Evil movies ranked puts all eight in a single order.