The New Resident Evil Movie Should Restart the Franchise By Copying Another Blockbuster Formula

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie is finally here, and if the movie franchise wants to continue, it needs to take a page from another horror series’ playbook. Resident Evil movies have been attempted countless times, with the original live-action series and the Welcome to Raccoon City reboot being consistently poorly reviewed; though, the former film series was immensely successful at the box office. Still, Cregger’s movie seems to be turning things around for the franchise from a critical standpoint, as reviews for 2026’s Resident Evil have been overwhelmingly positive.

If a poorly-reviewed Resident Evil film, such as the 2002 installment, got tons of sequels, it wouldn’t be surprising for a good one to get sequels as well. There are endless possibilities as to what the next Resident Evil movie could be about, and Cregger and Columbia Pictures have given almost no hints as to what the future of the franchise will be. While a direct sequel is possible, there is a much better possibility for the series’ future.

Instead of Doing A Resident Evil Sequel, the Franchise Should Follow Evil Dead’s Footsteps

Evil Dead is one of the most iconic horror franchises of all time, with Sam Raimi’s 1981 masterpiece inspiring sequels, a remake, a TV show, standalone follow-ups, video games, comics, and more. Despite consistently getting entries for over four decades now, the Evil Dead franchise rarely tells a consistent serialized story. While Raimi’s movies all follow the story of Ash Williams, all of the recent Evil Dead movies are standalone stories following original characters having to deal with Deadites, the Necronomicon, and other franchise staples. While there have been some small connections, none of the recent Evil Dead films are proper sequels, allowing fans to enjoy new stories and newcomers to jump in at any point.

While it is possible that Cregger’s Resident Evil could get a proper sequel that directly continues the story of the film, following in the footsteps of Evil Dead is a much better idea. While the video games do tell a somewhat linear story, they are all over the place. The first two games follow different characters in different locations; different horror elements are introduced in each game, and recent games like Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil: Requiem spend much of their stories on original characters and villains. The Umbrella Corporation is the overarching antagonist of the franchise, and much like the Necronomicon, it should be the main connective tissue that acts as the source of new monsters in each standalone Resident Evil movie.

This would be the best way to loosely adapt each Resident Evil game, as direct adaptations probably aren’t the way to go. Cregger’s movie is already set against the backdrop of Resident Evil 2‘s Raccoon City outbreak (with some liberties), and later films could do something similar. For example, a sequel could tell the story of a vacationer who comes across the village in Spain from Resident Evil 4, or it could follow a camera crew filming recent disappearances near the Baker house like the one in Resident Evil 7. It would be hard for the movies to adapt storylines and characters directly from the games, but by doing standalone films set against the backdrop of those games, the series can get the best of both worlds.

Another benefit of this approach is that, much like Evil Dead, Resident Evil could become a showcase for up-and-coming horror directors. 2013’s Evil Dead, Evil Dead Rise, and Evil Dead Burn were all big franchise movies for directors who had successfully done smaller films, and while Zach Cregger is already a big name ahead of Resident Evil, future films could bring-on smaller ones. After all, the film’s success is due in large part to Cregger’s creative vision, and this should teach studios to be less controlling with the filmmakers they approach for franchise installments.

Evil Dead Is Already In Resident Evil’s DNA, & It Inspired Zach Cregger’s Movie

It makes perfect sense for Resident Evil movies to follow in the footsteps of Evil Dead, as Sam Raimi’s horror franchise is already in the video game franchise’s DNA. Resident Evil 7 was heavily inspired by the original The Evil Dead movie, with the game even using its main villain to directly reference Ash Williams’ “Groovy” catchphrase. Cregger has even admitted that Evil Dead II inspired his Resident Evil movie, meaning that audience members will be primed for more Evil Dead inspirations in future films.

While Evil Dead‘s inspirations can be seen in Resident Evil‘s mix of humor and horror, the aforementioned future path is the best way that Evil Dead could inspire it. Zach Cregger already has ideas for the next Resident Evil, but according to him, “anything can happen.” So, whether it’s a completely original situation or an adaptation of the video game, hopefully the next Resident Evil movie doesn’t have a “2” in the title.

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