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The Resident Evil video game franchise is a beloved one, having embedded itself inside gaming culture's DNA over the past three decades with eight main, numbered titles and a huge variety of spin-off games, some of which are just as good, if not better, than the mainline series. But Resident Evil is also a movie franchise, having spawned 11 feature-length movies and two TV series, starting with Paul WS Anderson's live-action Resident Evil in 2002. Given so many titles, it might be hard to figure out how to watch the Resident Evil movies in order, especially since there's more than one line of continuity. While the video games mostly all take place on one incredibly complicated timeline, the movies operate a bit differently. The live-action films and TV show are doing their own things entirely, while the CGI animated films and series are technically a part of the game continuity. However, those animated films and the games don't really reference each other, so it's not as though they all combine to form one grand narrative. It's better to think of the animated movies as a series of side stories. Below we'll break down the complex movie portion of the Resident Evil franchise--including the correct order to watch, and where you can stream them. Let's dive in.
How to watch the live-action Resident Evil movies in order of release and story timeline
The original feature film adaptation of Resident Evil, written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, would spawn a six-movie horror-action series headlined by Milla Jovovich as Alice, a character original to the movie--though notable game characters do come and go plenty over the course of the series. It's a surprisingly epic tale for a mid-budget action franchise. This series probably wouldn't have worked without a skillful filmmaker like Anderson, who wrote all six movies and directed four of them, in charge of things. The live-action Resident Evil movies should be watched in order of release--barring the occasional flashback, they occur 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 Final Chapter (2016)
How to watch the animated Resident Evil movies in order of story timeline
The CGI-animated Resident Evil movies, unlike the live-action ones, are officially a part of the same continuity as the video game series, and they aren't adaptations of any particular game. Instead, these movies and the animated miniseries form a side story, similar to how some of the spin-off games do. What really matters about that is that the Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield you meet in these movies are the same ones you know from the games. But folks who aren't fans of the games will have a tough time with these movies, since they don't explain much of the backstory. The animated Resident Evil films take place in the order they were released, but there's also a short animated series, released in 2021, that serves as a prequel. So the correct viewing order would be to start with that animated series, and then move on to the movies. 1. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, animated series)
2. Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
3. Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)
4. Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)
5. Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)
How to watch the animated Resident Evil movies in order of release
1. Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
2. Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)
3. Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)
4. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, animated series)
5. Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)
Other Resident Evil movies and series
Aside from those series mentioned above, there are two Resident Evil films and one TV show that aren't part of any series. First is Biohazard 4D-Executer, a 20-minute short that looks like a game cutscene released for theme parks with gimmick theaters in 2000. The second is Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, an attempt to reboot the live-action movie franchise released in 2021, which hasn't yet produced any sequels. And, finally, there's Netflix's live-action Resident Evil series, which was canceled after one season. Since these all standalone, there's no reason to care what order you watch them in.
Resident Evil (2002)
This first live-action film is a very poor adaptation on paper, since it doesn't feature a single character from the games, instead focusing on an original character called Alice (Milla Jovovich). But this little zombie flick has great energy, an outstanding score from Tomandandy, excellent stunts and gore, and a solid little cast of folks like Michelle Rodriguez, James Purefoy, and Colin Salmon.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
This second film picks up immediately after Alice escapes the Umbrella facility at the end of the first movie. As she shoots her way through a zombie-infested Raccoon City, she teams up with two main game characters, Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr). This flick cements this series as being focused mostly on action--which is fine, since they keep the monsters and gore. But the overall quality of this one is a bit less than most of the others, since it's one of the two films (along with Extinction) in this series not directed by Anderson.
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
The T-virus has ended human civilization now, and Alice has teamed up with Carlos Olivera and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) to help protect a large convoy of survivors who roam around attempting to scavenge supplies from the ruins--having to contend with all sorts of new threats, like zombie bats. Here, one of the main antagonists of the movie series emerges: Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen), a character based on William Birkin from the games.
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
Alice, once again on her own, successfully assaults Umbrella HQ in Tokyo, only to have her powers taken away by Albert Wesker, the game baddie who finally takes center stage in this film. Alice then goes looking for a mythical place free of infection called Arcadia, and the search takes her to a prison in Los Angeles where she'll have to team up with a new ragtag group of survivors--including Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller).
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
Alice is captured and held in a massive Umbrella facility filled with a massive fake city, and Jill Valentine has been brainwashed and turned into a bad guy. Fortunately, Leon S Kennedy (Johann Urb), Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), and Ada Wong (Li Bingbing) are here to help. This fifth movie, which had the biggest budget of the series, is both the best of these movies and a legit modern action classic.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
The powers-that-be reined in the budget for this last movie, which resulted in most of the surviving cast of the last movie being murdered by dragons off screen. As an action movie experience, it's a step back from Retribution, but Iain Glen, returning as a new, fervently religious clone of his Dr. Isaacs character, is such a blast that he makes up for a lot of the film's deficiencies all by himself.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, Netflix Series)
The White House has been hacked, and then a number of government staffers become infected with a zombie plague. Now, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield are off on a globe-trotting adventure to find out how and why. While technically an animated TV show, it'll take you less than two hours to watch Infinite Darkness in full--so it's basically just another movie that's been divided into smaller pieces. But while the animated Resident Evil movies take place in the order in which they were released, this series is set before them all, sitting on the franchise's main timeline between the events of the game Resident Evil 4 and the film Degeneration. Where to watch: Netflix
Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
Degeneration follows Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy dealing with a T-virus outbreak at an airport. While not a great movie, Degeneration and its sequels do manage to provide a more authentic Resident Evil experience than the live-action movies do--this one feels basically like watching the cutscenes from a Resident Evil game that doesn't exist.
Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)
Leon heads to Eastern Europe to investigate rumors of monsters being used in a country's civil war. Shockingly, it's true--they've got Lickers running around all over the place, because the country's president has been weaponizing Las Plagas. This one is so reliant on Resident Evil lore, though, that it can be tough to follow if you don't already know about the different viruses and mutations.
Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)
The US government drone-bombed the wedding of a bad guy named Glenn Arias, and now Arias is developing a new virus that will possibly allow the person who has it to control zombie hordes. Fortunately, Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield are on the case--but you know that a new virus means a whole new kind of boss monster to fight at the end. In this case, we get two monsters merging into one even worse thing. Where to watch: Xumo
Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)
Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are investigating a small outbreak of T-virus in San Francisco, and the return of the criminal syndicate from Vendetta under new leadership--there's more of a direct relationship between this story and that of Vendetta than we usually expect from these, and that's a good thing. Where to watch: Netflix
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
This attempt to reboot the live-action portion of the franchise featured a pretty solid cast headed by Kaya Scodelario and Hannah John-Kamen, a lot more of the game characters than the previous live-action movies, and a story that is more or less an adaptation of the original game. But the film's shoestring budget (smaller than any of the previous live-action movies) turned out to be a big liability, and the result is the least enjoyable live-action Resident Evil and the franchise's first box office bomb.
Biohazard 4D-Executer (2000)
It's not a real movie, but rather a short film designed for theme parks equipped with novelty theaters that would poke you in the back and blow air in your face and other fun stuff like that. It's still an amusing watch for Resident Evil fans, though, and you can check it out on YouTube.
Resident Evil (2022, Netflix series)
This live-action Netflix series told an all-new interpretation of the franchise, focusing on the two daughters of Albert Wesker, who are original to this show, as they grow up in an Umbrella facility and gradually learn about all the horrible stuff their seemingly nice dad is involved in. It was a bummer that it was canceled after one season, because this adaptation was a really interesting way of looking at Wesker in particular, since he's been treated mostly as a one-dimensional cartoon in the other stories. But with the subsequent death of star Lance Reddick coming a few months after that cancellation, it is what it is. Where to watch: Netflix
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