If you’ve never played a horror video game, you probably haven’t really considered just how much scarier they can be than a horror movie. The difference is in the control. In a game, you’re not watching someone open the creaking door to the pitch-black basement. You have to open it and tiptoe down the steps yourself. That amplification is part of games’ rush. For the first time, we have a big-screen video game adaptation that not only wants to, but has the skill, to give the audience that experience. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil isn’t interested in fan-favorite characters, heroic badassery, or reliving beats from the almost 30-year-old game franchise. Instead, he zeroes in with laser-like focus on what it felt like to be the guy playing those games.

Enter Bryan (Austin Abrams), who looks exactly like the cartoon caricature your mom might conjure up picturing a hardcore gamer. Shaggy hair. Sloppy stubble. Tiny hoop earring. A slacker-aesthetic wardrobe. Bryan’s a medical courier, shuttling organs to and from area hospitals despite his inherently squeamish nature. His latest job is to get an emergency delivery to—where else?—Raccoon City, the first—and rare—reference to any aspect of the game.

Our plot then couldn’t be simpler: Bryan’s got to get up the icy mountain roads and into the city’s hospital. Only then can he collect his payday and finally go home for the night. Of course, we already know what awaits him. He’ll have to run from, dodge, and fight off a horde of biochemical zombies ready to do far worse than turn him into a midnight snack.

In a star-making turn that makes me desperate to see him in absolutely everything, Abrams embodies a realistic everyman. He shuffles and stumbles his way through, muttering a slew of “fucks” and “shits,” a familiar refrain to anyone who’s ever gotten stuck on a particularly terrifying level of Dead Space or Silent Hill. He fumbles with the guns he picks up like someone figuring out the controls on a first playthrough. Each new area he enters, he explores in a chaotic panic. He flings open every drawer in a room looking for loot. These details show Cregger at his most brilliant, adding to the fist-pumping rooting we can’t help but do for our hero.

This grasp of what makes a horror game so compelling for players is what makes Resident Evil feel like the first (only?) worthy game adaptation. As much as many fans loved HBO’s Last of Us, the show never worked for me because it cribbed so much from the game. At times, I didn’t even know why I was watching, since I’d played through all these scenes before, in exactly the same way. There was nothing new for me.

Resident Evil, on the other hand, feels wholly fresh and downright exciting. It’s like something has finally been unlocked. Smart enough to eschew overt game aesthetics, it instead recreates the feel of the game. For example, instead of overloading the game with POV shots as if the audience is playing a first-person shooter, Cregger takes the camera low to the ground. By letting us follow Bryan’s footsteps through the snow, we feel like we’re walking along with him.

The film’s originality isn’t limited to bringing the IP to life, however. Cregger continues to prove himself as a master of tension and wit. In one of the film’s most suspenseful moments, he plays with sound design while keeping the camera focused on Bryan. As he struggles to load a gun on the second floor, all we hear are the thundering footsteps of the creature as it tears through the house and pounds up the stairs, getting closer and closer. It’s downright artful. Half my row was clutching their knees to their chests in their seats.

The film also has one of the funniest and most original zombie gags I’ve seen in any movie since Shaun of the Dead. It delighted me so much, I refuse to spoil it for you here. Just know that a few of those opening scenes are a damn joy.

As Resident Evil races toward its conclusion, audiences may have a hard time guessing where it’s going. Mega fans of the game might even be frustrated by the lack of easter eggs solely for them. But with thrills and humor combined with gorgeous creature designs so tactile you’re afraid they’ll grab you through the screen, all in a tight 93 minutes, there’s no better flick to see this fall.

Don’t tell Wesker, but Resident Evil is in theatres starting September 18.

Resident Evil Trailer: