Entertainment

Now Playing: Resident Evil

Horror and comedy join forces in Zach Cregger’s latest masterpiece.

Published

September 16, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The intersection between horror and comedy is separated by a thin wall of air. In modern times, we’ve seen comedy legends, such as Jordan Peele and John Krasinski, make the successful jump into horror. Some have theorized that laughter is a pain response, which links it to the adrenaline-filled thrill of experiencing horror. Personally, I believe that mastering comedic timing also complements the timing of scary moments in horror. Comedy-trained directors just get it. That’s why the melding of the two genres is always something to look for, and that’s why Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is a must watch.

Coming from last year’s Weapons, Cregger established himself in the annals of horror history, despite learning the art of filmmaking from cult comedy classics like Miss March and The Whitest Kids U’Know. Weapons (and Barbarian before it) expertly balances the essentials of horror with dark comedy. If you’ve seen either of these movies, then you know what you’re in for with Resident Evil.

Based on the games or the past movies?

Resident Evil is tagged as second reboot of the movie franchise after 2021’s disastrous attempt, starring Kaya Scodelario, which barely registered a hiccup in the oeuvre of Resident Evil films. However, like 2021’s failure, Cregger’s take bases itself primarily on the events of the games, specifically around the plot of Resident Evil 2.

Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, is tasked with delivering a top-priority package to Raccoon City. Unbeknownst to him, the way leading into Raccoon City (and the fabled city itself) is already overrun with mutated monstrosities.

And so, Bryan, a courier inexperienced with combat (much less surviving against zombies), must fight his way into the city to deliver his charge.

A worthy protagonist

Over the years, the franchise has seesawed between capable action heroes, like Leon Kennedy, and those who can barely survive, like Biohazard‘s Ethan Winters. On that scale, Bryan falls deeply into Winters’s side of the spectrum. He’s ill-equipped to survive a zombie apocalypse. He even admits that his barebones knowledge of guns comes from videogames. He attempts to shoot locks, thinking they’d work as they do in games. He is not a character you’d want to follow if you’re looking for a gruff man gunning down hordes of zombies with a machine gun.

But that’s exactly what makes this horror film worth watching. Bryan is us. Though there were times I was screaming at the screen because he wouldn’t do the obviously logical thing of running away from blatant traps, our fragile protagonist mimics how we would all react in a horrific situation: a deer in the headlights stuck staring.

Every situation feels more frightful. You don’t know how you’d react. He doesn’t know how he’d react. We’re just stuck trailing along for his ride. If he lingers too long looking at a zombie about to bite him, you have no choice but to look along with him. As a horror protagonist, he’s perfect.

When a camera does the work

Of course, inept protagonists aren’t new to horror. Practically all good horror films will feature a helpless hero standing up to the monster. See: the “final girl” era of horror.

Resident Evil elevates this trope by allowing the camera to do the heavy lifting. The film’s expert transitions into first-person perspectives and over-the-shoulder ones amp up the frights. When Bryan sweeps a room with a gun, the camera takes you down to the muzzle. You become the one sweeping along with him. You see the darkness as he does. The style creates an impressive layer of immersion that brings you into his trauma. Plus, if we’re going with comparisons, the transitions feel like a game taking you from a cutscene back into control of your character.

And it’s not just the perspectives, too. The film mimics several tense moments oft found in horror games, like gingerly creeping through a thin ledge when one false move can mean plummeting to your death. Resident Evil also has scenes in a dark tunnel, the sewers, and an overrun hospital. It’s a veritable who’s who of horror settings. But they all just work. It’s like you’re in a Resident Evil game.

When goofy becomes scary

But that’s enough of how the movie was made. How scary is it?

Taking them from their respective contexts, each monster is goofy. There’s an infirm zombie spewing acid bile that Bryan just bullies around. There’s a seemingly innocent young girl with a tentacle foot. There’s a zombie katamari.

And if that’s not enough, the casting is filled with masters of comedic timing like Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Austin Abrams himself. The first two play bumbling representatives of Umbrella Corporation, people who are too incompetent to do their job. Abrams is the bumbling everyman who can’t make heads or tails of what’s happening. Comedy is a living, breathing presence in this film.

But that’s not to say that this is a comedy film. The horror is still top notch. Cregger just knows how to time everything right.

Unlike modern films today, like in The Conjuring universe, Resident Evil is not a scare-a-minute film. It will not bombard you with jumpscares.

Now, to be fair, there are a fair bit including fakeouts. In fact, under normal circumstances, I’d dislike how many there are. But here, each jumpscare comes with a lengthy period to catch your breath. The film gives you time to relax, to laugh, and, eventually, lower your guard for the next scare. It’s a balanced pace that’s kept up throughout the entire film.

This is exactly how you should pace a horror movie.

Should you watch Resident Evil?

Even with its uniquely comedic style, Resident Evil is one of the most faithful adaptations of a video game I’ve ever seen. Like a game, Cregger’s pacing knows when to let you, the viewer, breathe and when to thrust you back into its monstrosities.

Humor will always go hand in hand with horror. Though the responses to these two categories are technically different, they’re both genres about facing the unexpected. On the box, Resident Evil says that it’s a horror film, but it’s so much more. If you want to laugh, cry, and cower in fear all in the same movie, this is the movie to watch.

Entertainment

Max vs 100 will feature Max Verstappen race against 100 go-karters

The live event will stream at midnight on September 17.

Published

September 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

As a child, one of my favorite thought experiments is to imagine who would win in a fight between my favorite characters at the time and a number of other random beings. For example, will Superman prevail against 100 Magnetos? Those are the ways I kept my young mind occupied. Now, as a former child, I still do the same thing but with more realistic people, like imagining if Steph Curry can win against 100 high schoolers. This week, ESPN and Disney+ are making one of those imaginary fights real: Formula 1 legend Max Verstappen versus 100 go-karters.

In an upcoming live event streaming exclusively on Disney+, Max vs 100 will pit the four-time world champion against 100 go-karters from everywhere in pop culture. This gaggle of 100 will include popular content creators such as Twitch streamer ExtraEmily, car photographer Larry Chen, and NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews.

All 101 drivers will race around one of the most iconic tracks in Formula 1 history, Silverstone in England. The track will be reconfigured to match the special race.

Of course, this is more than just a parade of go-karts. Max Verstappen will start at the back of the grid, meaning he has to overtake all 100 racers to win. Now, the Dutch driver is no stranger to winning from the back. In 2024, he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite starting from P17 (out of 20 racers). Max vs 100, though familiar for the driver, presents a different challenge. Can he overtake 100 times to win the race?

Max vs 100 will stream live through Disney+ on September 17, 12:00am PHT.

Entertainment

PH to celebrate 1st ever National Cinema Day; movies start at less than $2

Watch a movie on September 12 for a fraction of the cost

Published

September 10, 2026

GadgetMatch

The Philippines will be celebrating its first ever National Cinema Day on September 12. On this day, movie tickets will go for as low as PhP 100 (US$ 1.60) at regular 2D cinemas.

The campaign aims to make moviegoing more accessible to audiences. This includes families, friends, students, and cinephiles in general.

Such initiative has been a staple in other countries, like the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and more. The same concept applies, with movie tickets going on sale for a lot less.

What’s great about the celebration is that all movies scheduled for exhibition on September 12, whether local or international, shall get the special admission price.

Advanced tickets sales have already begun. Customers can purchase through participating box offices, official websites, mobile apps, and authorized platforms.

Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis and remain subject to theater capacity. Prices vary for other viewing formats like Director’s Club or IMAX, for instance.

The campaign is organized by the Cinema Exhibitors Association of the Philippines (CEAP), along with industry and government partners.

The initiative is supported by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), and the Metro Manila Film Festival through the MMDA.

Participating cinemas include Ayala Malls Cinemas, SM Cinemas, Robinsons Movieworld, CityMall Cinema, Megaworld Cinemas, and more.

Entertainment

Now Playing: The Dog Stars

The supposed post-apocalyptic thriller fails to deliver

Published

August 29, 2026

Manila Connoisseur

All photos c/o 20th Century Studios

It’s easy to mistake The Dog Stars for a canine-centric survival tale if you aren’t familiar with the source material.

Peter Heller’s 2012 novel uses the title as a double meaning — referencing both the star Sirius within the Canis Major constellation (hence, “the Dog Star”) and the very real bond between a man and his dog.

In Ridley Scott’s cinematic adaptation, the premise delivers a grounded, post-pandemic world devastated by a global flu. The narrative is driven by a mysterious radio transmission intercepted by Jacob Elordi’s Hig, a quiet pilot pushed by grief and an irrepressible human curiosity to see what’s left of the world beyond his refuge.

With a stacked cast, a legendary director, and rich thematic material, general moviegoers and book fans alike have plenty of reason to expect a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Sadly, as an adaptation, The Dog Stars underwhelms. What promises to be an edge-of-your-seat survival ride settles into a surprisingly dull story that lacks the punch of a post-apocalyptic thriller.

It isn’t a bad film, but it struggles to balance its atmospheric build-up with a rushed, squandered third act.

⚠️ Warning: Some spoilers ahead! ⚠️

Ridley Scott’s signature touch

For what it’s worth, Scott doesn’t take long to make his visual presence felt. The director fills the screen with sweeping tracking shots of Hig’s Cessna plane gliding over vast mountain ranges.

This is juxtaposed with melancholic, muted sequences of his daily survival routine with Josh Brolin’s Bangley.

There is a sense of desolation; unaddressed grief for Hig’s late wife and the sheer fatigue of scavenging alongside his loyal Belgian Malinois, Jasper.

The quiet routine switches gears dramatically during action sequences. Scott brings dynamic flair to the screen. Notably, when Bangley holds off a horde of Reapers, the cinematography turns into a video game-esque, FPS-style night-vision POV shot.

Ditto with the high-stakes chase at Margaret Qualley’s Cima’s place, and during the final act in the trap that is Grand Junction.

Brolin and Pearce anchor the wasteland

What’s problematic here is that the lead supports, Josh Brolin and Guy Pearce, give the film its most grounded and reliable energy.

Fresh off playing a father searching for answers in Weapons, Brolin again slips effortless into his role of Bangley.

This badass survivalist with ex-Marine credentials complement Hig with a contrasting manner, making defending their abandoned airstrip look routine.

The initial friction between Hig and Bangley also drives the film’s early momentum. Bangley is perfectly content just chilling at the airstrip, while Hig is consumed by a curiosity to see what’s left on the other side of the horizon given the tools he has.

Bangley eventually concedes to Hig’s urge to chase the radio signal, but gets an earned “I told you so” moment near the end. This is fittingly a chef’s kiss to his character’s consistent demeanor.

Yet you don’t mistake Bangley’s isolation for passivity as well. He is practically itching for a reason to unleash a barnyard full of weapons (pun not intended) he’s been hoarding. It’s as if treating the invading Reapers like the ultimate survival battle he’s eagerly been waiting for in the post-pandemic world.

Complementing this heavy-duty presence is Guy Pearce’s Pops. His fiercely overprotective father persona to Cima steals the spotlight given how everyone is cherishing what’s (or who’s) left.

There are sharp one-liners aimed at keeping Hig at arm’s length, as he’s understandably paranoid after surviving the apocalypse.

Together, these are two highly enjoyable flavors of post-apocalyptic fatherhood. Eventually, Bangley warms up as the entire protagonist group relocates to integrate with the Mennonites in the end.

Pacing turbulence, squandered climax

The film’s momentum begins to stall in the second half. Once Hig crash-lands and meets Cima nad Pops, the narrative slows down considerably.

Sure, it’s a way to establish the emotional foundation and romantic spark between the couple for audiences unfamiliar with Heller’s novel. Perhaps, an attempt to balance the quiet character work with the surrounding chaos.

However, the scales still tip heavily toward sluggish pacing, with the film losing much of the earned tension. This turns what should have been a tense journey into a noticeably dull movie experience.

Quite ironically, this is where Elordi and Qualley’s acting shines the most. It doesn’t help that there is an exposition-heavy writing as you just wait for a climactic finale to unfold, yet it never quite materializes.

By the time the story finally moves to Grand Junction, what should have been a defining act feels like a rushed afterthought.

Given the creative independence, Grand Junction could have been executed like a harrowing, inescapable maze. More frustratingly, the film completely drops the ball on its most disturbing revelation.

When the group stumbles upon roomfuls of discarded passports and piles of dead bodies, it should have been a heart-stopping, horror-thriller pivot. It’s the ultimate “we are completely fucked” moment, exposing the radio signal as a trap rather than a beacon of hope.

Had the film leaned into this nightmare, it would have rolled out the red carpet for Scott to flash his brilliance even further, recalling the tight, claustrophobic dread he mastered in Alien.

Instead, the movie glances past it in a split second. The protagonists overpower the opposition far too easily, robbing the climax of any real danger or lingering tension.

Should you watch it?

Undeniably, The Dog Stars movie succeeds in grounding itself on the human side of post-pandemic survival.

This isn’t a high-octane, “suspend-your-disbelief” blockbuster stuffed with outrageous sci-fi gimmicks; it is a thoroughly logical, realistic look at how real people would handle isolation, grief, and the instinct to rebuild community after everything crumbles.

The film’s core ideas are sound, and its emotional logic is intact. Still, it simply lacks the sharp execution and narrative punch needed to elevate it into a masterpiece.

On our Watch Scale, it falls under Wait on streaming. There’s plenty of technical flair and solid performances from grizzled veterans, but the rushed finale and missed horror-thriller pivot leaves you wishing Scott had been allowed to unleash the full extent of his cinematic powers.