Resident Evil movies are bad. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, but it’s also not necessarily a bad thing that they’re so dismal. Rather, it’s the good kind of bad, the one that gives them a special place among videogame adaptations. They’re full of great references that fans of game will appreciate even if you can’t help but laugh at things like Nemesis bursting through the wall – his first big screen appearance is one for the history books.
So, while they’re kinda nonsense, they’re also excellent. If you’ve got a hankering to watch all the Resident Evil movies, we’ve got the best order to do so. Once you’ve worked out your watching schedule, check out our guides to Resident Evil Licker, Resident Evil Tyrant, Resident Evil Carlos, Resident Evil Ashley, Resident Evil Ada Wong, Resident Evil Sheva, and Resident Evil Hunk.
Here’s what you need to know about the Resident Evil movies:
How many Resident Evil movies are there?
There are 11 Resident Evil movies. Six are the ones that Milla Jovovich stars in, which, with the 2021 reboot Welcome to Raccoon City, gives a total of seven live-action Resident Evil movies. Next up, there are four animated movies, giving 11 total films. However, the franchise doesn’t stop there, as there’s both one animated mini-series and one live-action series on Netflix.
What’s the best Resident Evil movie?
According to film criticism aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Resident Evil: Damnation is the best Resident Evil movie, so it’s the animated films that take the lead here, though that’s not to last when we head over to Metacritic.
It’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter that takes the crown on Metacritic, but it’s worth noting that the animated movies aren’t present on this aggregator. It’s important to note that the two Capcom-made animated movies do not feature on either website, though it’s unlikely they’d be topping the list…
Using Rotten Tomatoes ratings, here is every Resident Evil movie ranked:
- 100% – Resident Evil: Damnation (2012, animated)
- 67% – Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008, animated)
- 63% – Resident Evil: Death Island (2023, animated)
- 50% – Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, animated miniseries)
- 43% – Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017, animated)
- 37% – Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
- 35% – Resident Evil (2002)
- 30% – Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City (2021)
- 28% – Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
- 24% – Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
- 21% – Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
- 19% – Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
Using Metacritic ratings, here is every Resident Evil movie ranked (note: none of the animated features are on Metacritic):
- 49 – Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
- 44 – Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City (2021)
- 41 – Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
- 39 – Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
- 37 – Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
- 35 – Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
- 33 – Resident Evil (2002)
Admittedly, while the Resident Evil movies are objectively bad, we love them and wholeheartedly agree with Rotten Tomatoes that Damnation is the best one. Mind you, Death Island, the most recent animated movie, is also very good if we do say so ourselves.
Resident Evil movies release date order
Here’s every Resident Evil movie, including the animated ones, in the order of release.
- Biohazard 4D-Executer (2000, animated)
- Resident Evil (2002)
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
- Biohazard 4: Incubate (2006, animated)
- Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
- Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008, animated)
- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
- Resident Evil: Damnation (2012, animated)
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
- Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017, animated)
- Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, animated miniseries)
- Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City (2021)
- Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)
Resident Evil movies in chronological order
Here are the various storylines in chronological order.
Resident Evil live-action movies in chronological order
Watching the live-action Resident Evil movies in order is very simple, you just have to look at then each one released. Yes, both the release date and chronological order sync up for Milla Jovovich’s movies. The order is:
- 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)
Of course, Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City is a new, separate Resident Evil movie line. It doesn’t relate to the other movies, and given it’s only one film, I’m sure you can guess which order to watch it in…
Resident Evil animated movies in chronological order
In a similar vein to the live-action movies, the chronological order to watch the animated Resident Evil movies is also the release date order. We chose to omit the early Biohazard films Capcom created, as they’re a completely separate entity. Here’s how to watch the animated Resident Evil movies in order:
- Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
- Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)
- Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)
- Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021, miniseries)
- Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)
There you have it, all of the Resident Evil movies in chronological and release date order. You can also play Resident Evil in order if you fancy picking up a controller, which gives you a bit of a different story to the live-action films, though they do coincide a bit with some of the events from the animated films.