One Thing I Love About Resident Evil

The best part of the new Resident Evil is the extended opening sequence, which could be an outstanding short horror film on its own, before it even shows us a title card. Austin Abrams is fantastic as Bryan, a medical courier who agrees to take on an urgent request (at double pay) to deliver a mysterious package to the hospital in Raccoon City. We see him driving in the snow at night, knowing far more than he does about what’s going to be waiting for him as soon as he reaches his destination. But things take a turn for the disastrous before he even gets anywhere near the city limits. This is all Zach Cregger doing what he does best: impeccably timed and paced horror scenes featuring characters who aren’t aware that they’re in a horror movie. And it has what I liked best about Barbarian: so much of the tension comes from following a character who’s absolutely and unwaveringly committed to doing the right thing. Unlike Abrams’s character in Weapons, and Justin Long’s in Barbarian, Bryan…