Production notes

German production company Constantin Film bought the live-action film rights for Resident Evil in January 1997, and hired screenwriter Alan B. McElroy to write the script. At the time, McElroy was also writing the film adaptation for another video game, Doom, which ultimately wasn't used. The June 1998 issue of PlayStation Magazine published an article about McElroy's Resident Evil script. Described as action- and horror-packed and very violent, the script was similar to the original game. Some changes were made; for example, there was no mention of the Umbrella Corporation or STARS. Instead, the plot followed a special forces team sent by the government to rescue scientists from the mansion laboratory after the SWAT team sent in earlier was killed, during which they realize the mission was a trap and that they are specimens in a medical experiment. The script included all major characters and monsters from the game. McElroy's script was rejected. In 1998, George A. Romero directed a television commercial for the video game Resident Evil 2. The original game's director, Shinji Mikami, is a fan of Romero and had been influenced by his films. The commercial was only shown in Japan, but impressed Sony enough for them to ask him to write and direct Resident Evil. Romero stated that he had his secretary play the entire game through and record the gameplay so he could study it as a resource. Romero's screenplay was based on the first Resident Evil game and included characters from the video games. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine were the lead characters, involved in a romantic relationship. Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers, Ada Wong, and Albert Wesker were to also appear. The ending to the film would have been similar to the first Resident Evil game. Romero also hired artist Bernie Wrightson to design some concept artwork of creatures for the film, and Wrightson did several designs of Tyrant, based on its look in the original game and its description in Romero's script. In a 2002 interview in Fangoria, Romero said that he wrote a total of five or six different drafts, but that they were rejected. Robert Kulzer, head of the production, said that, although he felt Romero's script was good, the film would have received an NC-17 rating if it had been approved. He also said that the producers thought that McElroy did well with his script, but that they rejected it because, by the time it was finished, the second game would have been released and they felt a film based on the first game would appear dated. Romero said a number of people from Capcom and Constantin supported his script, but Constantin head Bernd Eichinger ultimately rejected it. In 2019, the University of Pittsburgh's Library System acquired the "George A. Romero Archival Collection", which included material involving his work on Resident Evil. These include several more copies of Romero's Resident Evil script, and a first draft of McElroy's script, dated May 29, 1997, all of which are available to read at the university. A documentary based on this adaptation was released on digital on January 7, 2025. In 2000, director Jamie Blanks was attached to a new adaptation that was said to borrow more elements from the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis games. In 1995, Paul W. S. Anderson's film Mortal Kombat became one of the first commercially successful video game adaptations. After playing Resident Evil, Anderson saw its cinematic potential and wrote a script titled Undead, which he described as "a ripoff" of the game. Bernd Eichinger, head of Constantin Film, was enthusiastic, so Anderson developed it into the script for Resident Evil. In late 2000, Anderson was announced as director and writer, and Resident Evil re-entered pre-production stages. Anderson stated the film would not include the same characters from the video game series because "The suspense dynamic of who is going to live, who is going to die and what people's allegiances are, was only going to work with new characters.”

In early 2001, Michelle Rodriguez, James Purefoy and Milla Jovovich were the first of the cast to be signed on the project. David Boreanaz was intended to portray the male cop lead of Matt Addison, but he turned down the role to continue work on the WB series Angel. Boreanaz suggested that he was in negotiations to have a smaller role in the film, but he later declined the role. The role of Matt Addison then went to Eric Mabius who was cast in March 2001, along with Heike Makatsch, who was cast as Matt Addison's sister Lisa Addison, an employee working for Umbrella's Hive facility. Jovovich's martial arts training for her role was initiated by actor-martial artist Robin Shou.

In early March 2001, half of the film was to be shot in Adlershof Studios in Berlin and its surroundings. Principal photography began on March 5, 2001, at numerous locations including the then-unfinished station U-Bahnhof Bundestag of the Berlin U-Bahn, Landsberger Allee, Kaserne Krampnitz and the Schloss Lindstedt. The film was originally subtitled as Resident Evil: Ground Zero when it was considered a prequel to the games, but the subtitle was removed following 9/11. The film's synopsis as of March 16, 2001 revealed that Jovovich's Alice and Rodriguez's Rain were the leaders of a commando team sent in to prevent a viral outbreak from spreading to the rest of the world. The character of the Red Queen was added into the film's story as an homage to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. During production, professional dancers were hired to star as zombies as they had better control of their body movements. While computer effects were used on some zombies, much of the undead appearances were accomplished through make-up while their movements were a more laissez-faire approach, as Anderson told the actors to move however they thought a zombie would, given their conditions. Whilst filming, there was a shortage of manpower where the available dancers were not enough to represent the required numbers of undead, but some of Capcom's executives and several of the film producers including Jeremy Bolt agreed to make appearances. The film's stunt coordinator also made an appearance as the dog trainer while Bolt's girlfriend and sister both appeared as zombies. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson during mid-2001. Manson described the score and soundtrack as being more "electronic" than his previous work.

The film opened in 2,528 theaters and grossed $17,707,106 on its opening weekend (March 15–17, 2002), ranking in second place behind Ice Age. The film grossed $40,119,709 domestically and $103,787,401 worldwide.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 36% based on reviews from 162 critics and an average rating of 4.6/10. The consensus reads, "Like other video game adaptations, Resident Evil is loud, violent, formulaic, and cheesy." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 35 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Robert K. Elder from the Chicago Tribune thought the film "updates the zombie genre with an anti-corporate message while still scaring its audience and providing heart-pounding action". Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly noted: the film is as "impersonal in its relentlessness as the video-game series that inspired it". Resident Evil and its sequel appeared on Roger Ebert's most hated films list, published in 2005. In his review, Ebert described it as a zombie movie set in the 21st century, where "large metallic objects make crashing noises just by being looked at", and criticized the dialogue for being a series of commands and explanations with no "small talk".

In 2014, filmmaker James Cameron named Resident Evil his biggest guilty pleasure. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film on its 100 Best Zombie Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer. A 2026 Salon commentary noted that the Resident Evil films created by Paul W.S. Anderson "are so remarkably stylized, so absurdly over-the-top, so referential and deferent to Anderson’s own inspirations, that they’ve become singular visions." A GameSpot retrospective echoed similar sentiments, stating, "Were they faithful to the games? Not in the slightest. Were they kickass Y2K/nu-metal-drenched action films inspired by Hong Kong actioners? You bet, and I’m tired of acting like these movies aren’t enjoyable." In 2022, Vogue highlighted the film's costume design, calling it the "most stylish zombie movie ever made."