Following the wide-ranging success of his highly acclaimed “Weapons”, writer-director Zach Cregger stays in the genre he knows best with his latest feature, “Resident Evil”. Yes, the long-running and wildly popular survival horror video game series that began all the way back in 1996. Cregger plucks a few things from the chilling and twisted franchise while bringing along his own grisly blend of horror and humor. The result is a mixed bag that has a better chance of satisfying casual horror fans and the RE faithful.

Of course this isn’t the first time Resident Evil has found its way onto the screen. Regardless of whether you’ve seen them all, most people are at least familiar with the six live-action Resident Evil features from creator Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich which ran from 2002 to 2017. Fewer will remember the failed attempt to reboot the series in 2021. Now Cregger is taking his own dramatically different swing at it.

It’s hard to tell Cregger’s level of affection for RE just by watching his adaptation. On one hand, the world he creates is dark, mysterious, and appropriately grotesque. The zombies are fittingly creepy and the mutating monsters are the kind of macabre creations that have frequented the RE games for years. But on the other hand, rather than making a gnarly, blood-lathered chiller, Cregger seems far more interested in making a gnarly, blood-lathered comedy. He routinely undermines the horror by rarely taking anything seriously. And it begins with with his relentlessly goofy protagonist.

Rather than pulling an established name from the pre-existing mythology, Cregger smartly introduces a brand-new character into the chilling RE world. Austin Abrams plays Bryan, an ordinary guy thrust into an extraordinary (and quite horrific) situation. Bryan is a medical courier by day, transporting critical and time-sensitive supplies between hospitals, clinics, and laboratories. But he’s somewhat distracted by his personal life, more specifically the news that his girlfriend Michelle is pregnant.

After delivering a vital organ to an awaiting surgeon, Bryan agrees to take an urgent late-night delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital. He does so partially because he’ll be paid double, but also to avoid going home and facing the pregnancy with Michelle. But it doesn’t take long before the job takes an ill-fated turn. While slipping and sliding along a dark, snow-covered mountain road, Bryan strikes a woman who lurches out in front of his car. This kicks off a gruesome chain of events that propels the story forward.

One of the film’s biggest strengths is its intense focus on survival horror which happens to be where it resembles the RE video games the most. Cregger thrusts Bryan into a series of harrowing encounters, leaving him to manage each on his own despite being in way over his head. He fumbles with guns, fights off ferocious dogs, scrambles to find keys, navigates tunnels, etc., all while running for his life from an array of hideous and vicious nasties. The pacing is electric and there is no shortage of insanely imaginative carnage.

At the same time, outside of the opening few minutes, it’s hard to consider any of “Resident Evil” scary. That’s because the frequent attempts at humor overpower nearly every effort to frighten us. And it starts with Bryan. When he’s not endlessly muttering profanities at himself for laughs, he’s comically blundering about which often puts him in more precarious situations. Yes, the idea is that he’s just a normal guy who’s ill-equipped for the crisis he’s facing. But his mishaps are too often played as jokes. I’m certainly not opposed to moments of levity. But when it neuters the impact of the horror, it’s too much.

The above frustrations might have been easier to overlook if the movie could have delivered a solid finish. Instead we get a glaring non-ending, where stupidity is laced with brutality, right up to the point where Cregger seems to shut the camera off mid-scene. It’s a silly and hollow final fifteen minutes. And despite a couple of good blood splats and some delightfully disgusting monster mutations, it leaves you with an unsatisfying aftertaste.

Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” can be a maddening experience. It does so much well – the crisp pacing, the chilling world, the gruesome monster mayhem. But its fixation on injecting some degree of humor into nearly every situation often kills the suspense. And the ludicrous and lazy non-ending certainly doesn’t help. Still, the film packs some truly wild and gory set pieces and has enough Easter Eggs scattered throughout to entertain those with their expectations in check. But it’s a far cry from being the movie it could have been.