I hate horror. I hate horror games, I hate horror books, and most of all, I hate horror movies. It took me until my sophomore year here at Keene State to braven up enough to watch “Monster House.” I can’t even make myself go back to playing “Subnautica,” and that’s technically not even a horror game! (For those who have played it, you know where I’m coming from).
But something I have always made myself do is watch horror playthroughs on YouTube, as the horror would be quelled enough from watching it second hand rather than playing it myself. And one of the horror franchises I found myself watching playthroughs of often was any of the “Resident Evil” games. I pushed through the jumpscares and disturbing zombies and creatures because I found the story interesting enough to keep me from looking away. So when the news of a new “Resident Evil” movie made its way around, I was excited.
Then my friends and I got to the movie theater on premiere night, and let’s just say I had to win a plush in the crane game outside the theater to have as some kind of emotional support. And when I say plush, I mean a rubber ball I almost threw at the screen one too many times.
It was the second horror movie I had ever seen in theaters, the other being “Undertone” (some people call it “The Undertone,” but I have no idea what title is better at this point). That one kept me on my toes to some extent, but “Resident Evil” Whole other ball field. I almost popped that ball from the number of times I thought something was about to get me.
But then the movie ended, and somehow I found myself in a happy state. Yes, I actually really liked the movie. The humor in it was worth the suspense, and even the creatures in the film I thought were really well designed and in line with what the “Resident Evil” universe entails.
It seemed my opinion was widespread. All my friends liked it: the Tomatometer sits at a 96% and a Popcornmeter of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. On LetterBoxd the film is at 3.8/5 stars with 446K likes and 1.1 million views. Many of the reviews on that platform were giving appraisal to the realness of the film and the main character, Bryan. To give a quick summary of the plot, Bryan is a medical courier in charge of delivering this element that can cure the spreading plague in Raccoon City, except he has to deal with many horrifying creatures on the way with the limited weapons and resources he has.
For once, I have more than one or two takeaways from the film. The comedy, first and foremost, was amazing. Most of it wasn’t even planned jokes, it was just Bryan reacting to the situation he was in or him having to deal with padlocks over and over again and failing every time to break them.
Then there were the sets. The house that Bryan first found himself in, then Raccoon City itself and the spots he travels through in order to deliver this element. They were greatly picked and dusted in snow that added a whole new dimension to Bryan’s problems.
And then there was the choice of having the zombies and creatures share the same problem instead of having a bunch of different types of zombies like some of the games do. The main one that chases Bryan through the city at different points in time is called the Amalgamation monster, as it is a bunch of people kind of shoved into one ball-like creature with all their limbs sticking out. It’s a cool design that was practically done on set at some points with four people strapped together, which I thought was cool. All of the infected things in this movie share a problem with them having tentacles grow out from them, most likely to all become some form of the Amalgamation monster.
But this all comes from someone who has only seen people play the “Resident Evil” games and not played one myself. A lot of people who are fans of the franchise are putting down the movie because “it’s not like Resident Evil.” First off, what? This entire movie was showing that the characters you stumble across in the games all have stories of their own that you don’t think about. Bryan’s story was that his girlfriend was pregnant, and he was running away from the change of being a father, but regrets it in this film and leaves behind a voice message. Since this movie takes place in Raccoon City, the main location for the first two games and some spinoffs, it’s like the recording left behind is for a player (the character most likely being Leon Kennedy, which would be awesome to see in a sequel) to find later on and most likely dismiss, as many players do with random logs they commonly find scattered around the game. It gives thought to take a second look at the bodies you pass by or the creatures you deal with and realize that they were human at one point.
Then there’s the common inventory problem players have in “Resident Evil” where they only have a certain amount of things they can carry with them, like ammo and weapons, which limits how much they can carry. Bryan constantly has an issue with conserving and holding onto ammo and a bunch of guns at the same time, very much like the games.
And the set design and nods to the games were great. There was a typewriter, which is how you commonly save, and the ammo box that Bryan first stumbles across for his shotgun is almost an exact replica of what you can find in the games, too.
As a last point, let’s also think about past Resident Evil movies. Including this one, there have been eight films released pertaining to the game, all live-action. And let me tell you, the reason they haven’t been talked about is because there’s nothing to talk about. One of them released in 2021 called “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.” I hadn’t even heard of it until I was looking into some of the past films for this article. It has a 30% Tomatometer score and a 65% Popcornmeter score, somehow very similar to the ratings of “Good Burger.” Half the reviews say it’s a good representation of the games, and the other half is saying that the games were not good enough to be made into films, which bleeds over into the movie itself. Ouch. But it seems that a good amount of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes say it’s a great adaptation. I hope those are the same people adoring this film, too.
So if anything, lovers of the franchise should understand why this film is a great adaptation of the “Resident Evil” universe. It shines light in a place you wouldn’t think to look while still providing a lot of references to the main stories from the games. If they were to do any more, then this would have been a game-straight-to-screen situation, which, let’s be honest, is not what anybody wants. If you call yourself a fan of the franchise, then there’s no reason for this film to be anything but great, and I hope we can all realize that we don’t need a Leon Kennedy to have a “Resident Evil” film.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
hayley@kscequinox.com
