You Are Dead. Continue?
ByKevin Wong
September 21, 2026
The new Resident Evil movie tallied a franchise-best at the box office, grossing $26.3 million on its Friday launch date and over $60 million for the entire weekend. After eight films, two reboots, and 24 years, filmmaker Zach Cregger finally cracked the code on how to make an adaptation of gaming’s most iconic horror franchise.
Bryan (Austin Abrams), our main character, is a medical courier tasked with delivering a package to Raccoon City General Hospital. On the way, he runs into the zombie pandemic in progress, which places the movie at approximately the same time as Resident Evil 2 (1998) and Resident Evil 3 (1999).
It turns out that everyone, including the fans, was wrong about what makes a good adaptation. This movie didn’t have Jill, Leon, Chris, Rebecca, or Ada. It didn’t follow the reliable story beats of any of the classic games, nor did it rehash its most recognizable moments. Instead, it replicated what it felt like to play a Resident Evilgame—the panic of being chased, the dread of having your back against the wall. The movie is self-aware and clever; Bryan is a movie character who must abide by video game rules and tropes to survive.
The movie’s Easter eggs are quick and subtle; you can enjoy this film without noticing any of them, but if you do, it adds an extra layer of meta-humor to enjoy. Here are the 18 best Resident Evil references we’ve noticed so far.
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First Aid Bag
Bryan’s courier bag matches the green hue of the medkit in the first Resident Evilgame (1996), and it’s stylistically similar to the med-bag Rebecca Chambers carries in Resident Evil Zero. Participating theaters are selling a replica of the courier bag as a novelty popcorn bucket.
Zombie Designs
These are canonically T-Virus zombies, but their design borrows heavily from other zombie types in the franchise. The most evident inspiration is the Las Plagas Infected from Resident Evil 4 (2005), owing to the parasitic tentacles that grow from their necks. The same is true for the dogs, which seem most directly inspired by the Los Colmillos from the same game. In interviews, Zach Cregger has confirmed that Resident Evil 4 is his favorite title of the franchise.
Ganados Barn
Bryan hides out on a family farm, and the barn he runs to looks like the Ganados barn in Resident Evil 4, where you gather supplies after the opening village fight. It even has a loft and ladder inside with the exact same placement as in the game.
First Aid Spray
The barn has some ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-them’ healing items. When Bryan is looking for a way out of the barn, two cans of First Aid Spray are sitting on a box near the hale bays. In the games, First Aid Spray is a prized item; one spray will restore all of your health. It’s too bad Bryan doesn’t know that.
Load Screens
At a couple of points in the farmhouse, the camera shifts to Bryan’s perspective, and we see him slowly open doors to pitch-dark rooms. This is similar to the load screens in the original Resident Evil, which also build tension by making the player peer into the dark.
Green Herbs
Bryan misses at least two Green Herb health pickups in the movie. The first is on the shelf in the farmhouse’s kitchen, while he’s leaving a voicemail to Michelle; it even has the same pot design as it does in the games. And the second is in the backseat of a car, which you can spot in the blocked traffic tunnel.
Typewriter
In the farmhouse, Bryan also finds a safe room with a typewriter inside. This is the franchise’s signature Save mechanism. In the earlier games, you had to insert an ink ribbon to use the typewriter. Later games eliminated the ink ribbon, which made saving your progress a lot more forgiving
Mounted Shotgun
Bryan takes a shotgun mounted on the farmhouse wall; it’s similar in presentation to the first pump-action shotgun in Resident Evil 4, which you find on the top floor of a village house.
Bryan follows a predictable weapons upgrade sequence in the movie, starting with a handgun, moving on to a shotgun, and ending with a machine gun.
Where’s the Ammo?!
In classic Resident Evil fashion, Bryan must rummage through multiple drawers to find shotgun ammo. He eventually finds shells in a drawer nowhere near the actual gun itself, which tracks with video game logic.
Shoot the Lock!
Bryan’s progress is constantly held up by padlocked doors. The games are infamous for this; you have to locate exotic keys, cranks, or puzzle pieces, often with exotic symbols on them, to unlock the correspondingly marked doors. You can’t shoot them off (as Bryan tries to), and you can’t ram through them (as Bryan also tries to). Only the key will do.
Umbrella Corporation
As in the games, the corrupt Umbrella Corporation is behind the T-Virus—an accidental side-product of attempting to manufacture biological weapons. Bryan runs into Paul, an Umbrella corporate guy, and Maxine, an Umbrella security guard, during his run through Raccoon City.
Who’s the NPC?
Maxine suddenly runs off to save citizens being pursued by zombies. Bryan and Paul are impressed by her marksmanship, and they wonder aloud why she went into the dark building by herself.
The audience is meant to understand that Maxine is the player’s avatar, and this is her “game.” Paul and Bryan are the NPCs (non-playable characters), only there to support her larger story.
Numerous Perspectives
Throughout the movie, Cregger switches between different perspectives: the over-the-shoulder perspective of third-person shooters (like Resident Evil 5), the POV perspective of first-person shooters (like Resident Evil 7), and the cinematic perspective of the QTE sequences (like Leon’s boulder run in Resident Evil 4).
Leon S. Kennedy
During the boulder-inspired street sequence, you can see a storefront sign for “Leon S. Kennedy Guns and Ammo.” Leon is a main character in Resident Evil lore, and he takes the lead role in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil 9, among others.
Blood Meridian
The large man in the sewer is inspired by the antagonist in Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian: a massive, dead-eyed, pitiless man known as The Judge. Like the sewer man, he is bald, with no discernible body hair.
The Big Bad Chase
Although not based on any pre-existing Resident Evil monster, the amalgamation of bodies that pursues Bryan throughout the movie is inspired by the massive monsters introduced in Resident Evil 2 (Mr. X) and Resident Evil 3 (Nemesis). They constantly pursue you throughout the game, never giving you a moment’s peace even when all other threats have subsided.
Voice Recording
At the end of the movie, Bryan records his final words to Michelle on his phone. It’s similar to the many collectibles—in the form of letters, medical documents, and video cassettes—that survivors leave behind in the video games. You’re meant to realize that Bryan is making one of these collectibles, which may be picked up and listened to—out of context—at some point afterward, whether by Leon, Jill, or Ada.
Big-Eyed Birkin
At the end of the movie, Bryan grows a massive eye on his shoulder, which makes him visually similar to the G-Virus-mutated William Birkin from Resident Evil 2. Again, Cregger is playing fast and loose with the games’ most iconic images, mixing them to create a unique body horror of his own.
