All The Resident Evil Movies In Order And How To Watch Them

The Resident Evil online game franchise is a beloved one, having embedded itself inside gaming tradition’s DNA over the previous three many years with eight primary, numbered titles and an enormous number of spin-off video games, a few of that are simply pretty much as good, if not higher, than the mainline collection. However Resident Evil can be a film franchise, having spawned 11 feature-length movies and two TV collection, beginning with Paul WS Anderson’s live-action Resident Evil in 2002. Given so many titles, it is likely to be onerous to determine easy methods to watch the Resident Evil motion pictures so as, particularly since there’s a couple of line of continuity.

Whereas the video video games largely all happen on one extremely sophisticated timeline, the flicks function a bit otherwise. The live-action movies and TV show are doing their very own issues fully, whereas the CGI animated movies and collection are technically part of the sport continuity. Nevertheless, these animated movies and the video games do not actually reference one another, so it isn’t as if all of them mix to kind one grand narrative. It is higher to consider the animated motion pictures as a collection of facet tales.

Under we’ll break down the advanced film portion of the Resident Evil franchise—including the right order to observe, and the place you possibly can stream them. Let’s dive in.

The unique characteristic movie adaptation of Resident Evil, written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, would spawn a six-movie horror-action collection headlined by Milla Jovovich as Alice, a personality unique to the movie—though notable recreation characters do come and go loads over the course of the collection. It is a surprisingly epic story for a mid-budget motion franchise. This collection most likely would not have labored and not using a skillful filmmaker like Anderson, who wrote all six motion pictures and directed 4 of them, answerable for issues.

The live-action Resident Evil motion pictures ought to be watched so as of release—barring the occasional flashback, they happen in chronological order.

1. Resident Evil (2002)
2. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
3. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
4. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
5. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
6. Resident Evil: The Closing Chapter (2016)

The CGI-animated Resident Evil motion pictures, not like the live-action ones, are formally part of the identical continuity because the online game collection, and so they aren’t diversifications of any specific recreation. As an alternative, these motion pictures and the animated miniseries kind a facet story, just like how a few of the spin-off video games do. What actually issues about that’s that the Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield you meet in these motion pictures are the identical ones you realize from the video games. However people who aren’t followers of the video games can have a tricky time with these motion pictures, since they do not clarify a lot of the backstory.

The animated Resident Evil movies happen within the order they had been launched, however there’s additionally a brief animated collection, launched in 2021, that serves as a prequel. So the right viewing order can be to begin with that animated collection, after which transfer on to the flicks.

1. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, animated collection)
2. Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
3. Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)
4. Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)
5. Resident Evil: Dying Island (2023)

This primary live-action movie is a really poor adaptation on paper, because it does not characteristic a single character from the video games, as an alternative specializing in an unique character referred to as Alice (Milla Jovovich). However this little zombie flick has nice vitality, an excellent rating from Tomandandy, wonderful stunts and gore, and a strong little solid of oldsters like Michelle Rodriguez, James Purefoy, and Colin Salmon.

This second movie picks up instantly after Alice escapes the Umbrella facility on the finish of the primary film. As she shoots her manner by way of a zombie-infested Raccoon Metropolis, she groups up with two primary recreation characters, Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr). This flick cements this collection as being targeted totally on action—which is ok, since they preserve the monsters and gore. However the general high quality of this one is a bit lower than a lot of the others, because it’s one of many two movies (together with Extinction) on this collection not directed by Anderson.

The T-virus has ended human civilization now, and Alice has teamed up with Carlos Olivera and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) to assist defend a big convoy of survivors who roam round making an attempt to scavenge provides from the ruins—having to deal with all types of latest threats, like zombie bats. Right here, one of many primary antagonists of the film collection emerges: Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen), a personality based mostly on William Birkin from the video games.

Alice, as soon as once more on her personal, efficiently assaults Umbrella HQ in Tokyo, solely to have her powers taken away by Albert Wesker, the sport baddie who lastly takes middle stage on this movie. Alice then goes on the lookout for a legendary place freed from an infection referred to as Arcadia, and the search takes her to a jail in Los Angeles the place she’ll need to workforce up with a brand new ragtag group of survivors—including Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller).

Alice is captured and held in a large Umbrella facility stuffed with a large faux metropolis, and Jill Valentine has been brainwashed and became a nasty man. Happily, Leon S Kennedy (Johann Urb), Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), and Ada Wong (Li Bingbing) are right here to assist. This fifth film, which had the largest finances of the collection, is each the very best of those motion pictures and a legit fashionable motion traditional.

The powers-that-be reined within the finances for this final film, which resulted in a lot of the surviving solid of the final film being murdered by dragons off display screen. As an motion film expertise, it is a step again from Retribution, however Iain Glen, returning as a brand new, fervently non secular clone of his Dr. Isaacs character, is such a blast that he makes up for lots of the movie’s deficiencies all by himself.

The White Home has been hacked, after which a variety of authorities staffers turn out to be contaminated with a zombie plague. Now, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield are off on a globe-trotting journey to learn the way and why. Whereas technically an animated TV present, it’s going to take you lower than two hours to observe Infinite Darkness in full—so it is principally simply one other film that is been divided into smaller items. However whereas the animated Resident Evil motion pictures happen within the order during which they had been launched, this collection is ready earlier than all of them, sitting on the franchise’s primary timeline between the occasions of the sport Resident Evil 4 and the movie Degeneration.

The place to observe: Netflix

Degeneration follows Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy coping with a T-virus outbreak at an airport. Whereas not a fantastic film, Degeneration and its sequels do handle to supply a extra genuine Resident Evil expertise than the live-action motion pictures do—this one feels principally like watching the cutscenes from a Resident Evil recreation that does not exist.

Leon heads to Jap Europe to research rumors of monsters being utilized in a rustic’s civil struggle. Shockingly, it is true—they’ve acquired Lickers working round everywhere, as a result of the nation’s president has been weaponizing Las Plagas. This one is so reliant on Resident Evil lore, although, that it may be powerful to comply with if you happen to do not already know concerning the totally different viruses and mutations.

The US authorities drone-bombed the marriage of a nasty man named Glenn Arias, and now Arias is creating a brand new virus that may probably enable the one that has it to regulate zombie hordes. Happily, Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield are on the case—but you realize {that a} new virus means an entire new sort of boss monster to battle on the finish. On this case, we get two monsters merging into one even worse factor.

The place to observe: Xumo

Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are investigating a small outbreak of T-virus in San Francisco, and the return of the felony syndicate from Vendetta below new leadership—there’s extra of a direct relationship between this story and that of Vendetta than we normally count on from these, and that is an excellent factor.

The place to observe: Netflix

This try to reboot the live-action portion of the franchise featured a fairly strong solid headed by Kaya Scodelario and Hannah John-Kamen, much more of the sport characters than the earlier live-action motion pictures, and a narrative that is kind of an adaptation of the unique recreation. However the movie’s shoestring finances (smaller than any of the earlier live-action motion pictures) turned out to be an enormous legal responsibility, and the result’s the least pleasant live-action Resident Evil and the franchise’s first field workplace bomb.

This live-action Netflix collection advised an all-new interpretation of the franchise, specializing in the 2 daughters of Albert Wesker, who’re unique to this present, as they develop up in an Umbrella facility and steadily find out about all of the horrible stuff their seemingly good dad is concerned in. It was a bummer that it was canceled after one season, as a result of this adaptation was a very fascinating manner of taking a look at Wesker specifically, since he is been handled largely as a one-dimensional cartoon within the different tales. However with the following loss of life of star Lance Reddick coming a number of months after that cancellation, it’s what it’s.

The place to observe: Netflix