How to Watch the Resident Evil Movies in Chronological Order

How Long to Watch each of the Resident Evil Movies?

If you're looking to ticker each 6 of the archetypal Resident Evil movies, it volition instrumentality implicit 9 and a fractional hour to decorativeness the series. If you see Welcome to Raccoon City, that ads a an further 107 minutes to your movie marathon.

Where Does Resident Evil: Death Island Fit connected the Timeline?

The astir caller movie successful the Resident Evil franchise is Resident Evil: Death Island - a machine animated movie that released successful 2023 - and you whitethorn beryllium wondering wherever it fits connected the timeline. Well, it's a sequel to Resident Evil: Vendetta (which took spot successful 2014) and is acceptable successful 2015, which places it betwixt Resident Evil 6 (set successful 2013) and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (set successful 2017).

Read our reappraisal of Resident Evil: Death Island

The Resident Evil Movies successful Chronological Order

1. Resident Evil (2002)

2002’s Resident Evil introduced the satellite to Alice (Jovovich), an archetypal quality created for the films who awakens with amnesia earlier remembering she is simply a backstage information operative for the Umbrella Corporation. This archetypal movie shows however the genetically engineered T-virus, which causes dormant radical to instrumentality arsenic zombies, was released successful a laboratory called The Hive. It besides reveals however the lab’s AI information system, the Red Queen, killed each surviving happening wrong the laboratory to effort to incorporate the virus.

The program didn’t enactment and the zombies escaped the lab. Alice and her squad person to effort to incorporate the outbreak by uncovering an anti-virus that is thought to inactive beryllium successful the Hive.

This archetypal movie included respective references to the archetypal 2 Resident Evil games, not the slightest of which was the archetypal tease of the iconic Resident Evil 3 villain, the terrifying, rocket-wielding Nemesis.

Read our review of Resident Evil.

2. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is simply a nonstop sequel to the archetypal movie and brings backmost Jovovich’s Alice to erstwhile again instrumentality the combat to the undead. Resident Evil manager Paul W.S. Anderson did not instrumentality to nonstop this caller movie owed to different commitments, but helium did enactment connected arsenic a shaper portion Alexander Witt took the helm. Apocalypse sees Alice attempting to flight Raccoon City earlier it is attacked by a atomic rocket that is attempting to halt the spreading T-virus plague.

Nemesis is besides a large portion of this 2nd movie and he’s seen terrorizing the survivors passim it, but that is hardly the lone motion to the games. There are galore influences pulled into Apocalypse, including characters Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and definite shots that were recreated for live-action, including a shootout astatine constabulary section successful the opening that is reminiscent of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and a country successful a cemetery that precise overmuch harkens backmost to Resident Evil CODE: Veronica.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

3. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

2007’s Resident Evil: Extinction reveals that the T-virus has dispersed crossed the world. In summation to the instrumentality of Alice, the storyline besides follows respective attempts by the Umbrella Corporation to clone her, successful hopes of replicating her powers. As the communicative progresses, the superior Alice and different survivors are moving their mode toward Alaska successful an effort to outrun the ever-expanding zombie apocalypse.

Extinction continues to bring successful much aspects and characters of the games, including Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and Albert Wesker (Jason O’Mara).

Read our review of Resident Evil: Extinction.

4. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

Resident Evil: Afterlife is the archetypal movie aft the archetypal to spot Anderson backmost successful the director’s chair, wherever helium stays for the remainder of the series. Set 1 twelvemonth aft the events of Extinction, Alice and her clones enactment unneurotic to battle Umbrella Headquarters HQ and Albert Wesker. Unfortunately, each doesn’t spell arsenic planned and Alice finds herself without the powers that person assisted her truthful good successful this zombie apocalypse.

Afterlife continues the streak of bringing successful characters from the games, and this clip it's Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) that gets the invitation.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Afterlife.

5. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

2011’s Resident Evil: Retribution picks up aft the events of Afterlife. Alongside introducing specified crippled characters arsenic Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), Retribution besides sees Alice teaming up with Wesker successful an effort to halt the reactivated Red Queen AI from the archetypal film, who present controls Umbrella and wants to destruct each beingness connected earth.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Retribution.

6. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017)

The aptly named Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is the past diagnostic movie successful the bid to impact husband-and-wife squad Anderson and Jovovich. It follows Alice arsenic she returns to Raccoon City and the Hive successful bid to halt the Red Queen and Albert Wesker, but besides reveals much of the root of the T-virus and who is truly down each the chaos that has been gathering since the archetypal film.

Read our review of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Bonus: Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Directed by Johannes Roberts, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is simply a reboot of the franchise and requires nary anterior cognition of the movies. Along with the caller manager comes a caller formed and a communicative that much intimately follows the events of the archetypal 2 Resident Evil games. Several acquainted characters from the games and earlier movies return, including Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Leon Kennedy (Avan Jogia), Ada Wong (Lily Gao), and more. The film’s communicative is acceptable successful Raccoon City and tells the aboriginal days of a zombie outbreak.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Resident Evil Movies successful Order of Release

• Resident Evil (2002)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
• Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
• Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
• Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)

The Future of Resident Evil Movies

Although Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City wasn't received peculiarly good by audiences, rumors person been swirling for years astir different movie. Those rumors were yet confirmed successful January, with Barbarian manager Zach Cregger acceptable to nonstop the newest instalment. Instead of carrying connected the existing movie timeline, the presently untitled movie volition reboot the Resident Evil movie franchise. Deadline reports that Sony has besides acceptable a merchandise day for the film: September 18, 2026.

Adam Bankhurst is simply a quality writer for IGN. You tin travel him connected Twitter @AdamBankhurst and connected Twitch.

Originally posted:

Mar 10, 2025 3:32 pm