First Reactions Call Zach Cregger's Resident Evil Bloody and Scary

First viewers are calling Zach Cregger's Resident Evil bloody, funny and frightening.

The Sony Pictures reboot opens on September 18, exclusively in cinemas. Cregger directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten, according to Variety.

Austin Abrams leads the cast as a medical courier. He is making a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital when a zombie outbreak takes hold. The supporting cast includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser.

Early reactions, published on September 16, lean loud. Critic Mark Cassidy called the film very bloody, very funny and easily among the best video game adaptations he has seen. Journalist Kellvin Chavez said it delivers gloriously gory action and called it the best Resident Evil movie yet. Variety writer Jordan Moreau went further, calling it one of the best video game adaptations ever made and one of the best horror movies in recent memory.

Sony Pictures itself describes the film as a thrilling and terrifying reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise, according to Sony Pictures. The studio links Cregger with Weapons and Barbarian, his two previous horror hits. Cregger also promoted the film at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

The road to release involved a sharp change in tone. Cregger said the film tested much better after he stripped away the jokes, in an interview reported by The Hollywood Reporter. He has also kept plot details tight, sharing only short snippets to avoid spoilers, he told Deadline.

For fans, this means a clean break. The film does not use established game characters Leon S. Kennedy or Jill Valentine. It is a new story, with new faces, inside a familiar outbreak.