Resident Evil — Scary, Gory, and Somehow Pretty Damn Fun

I won’t normally talk about movies on here, but luckily, I got to watch a video game movie! Resident Evil just came out last week, and to my dread, my boi dragged me to go watch a horror movie. (I know you’re reading this btw!) There may have only been a shred of free will involved, so ultimately I had to suck it up and go face my fears.

For those who may not know, I am a complete wimp when it comes to scary movies.

All that to say, despite knowing I was going to be stressed outta my mind during Resident Evil, I had a feeling it was going to be worth the scaries. And it definitely did not disappoint! Resident Evil was a straight-up thriller! You’re gonna get hit with jump scares and some mad intense moments. But it was a great time, and I definitely recommend checking it out.

Despite one of the major criticisms being that the movie does not follow the video game lore directly, there are more than enough references here to make us RE fans pretty damn happy. Sometimes you’ll catch yourself enjoying the film for what it is (a horror movie) and almost forget that this thing is based off of a video game! And Zach Cregger must be an RE fan because the movie catches some elements so well. The tension is palpable, and you just wanna yell at Bryan for not loading his guns quicker. It’s exactly like it is in the video game when you miss a shot and know you better get the next one. It genuinely feels like this movie was directed by someone who actually likes the games.

You’ll see some first-person shooting sequences that feel like a clear homage to the games. There’s a save station, a familiar gun case, certain enemies, and a hell of a lot more that I KNOW I probably missed.

Even the way the main character comes across new weapons during his courageous little adventure feels like an homage to the games. The scrambling for bullets, managing what he has available, navigating his inventory, there are so many little touches that make this feel like Resident Evil without even needing to adapt any of the staple characters of the Resident Evil world.

There’s a lot to like here. But again…I’m the grumpiest guy you know.

The main character can be so damn annoying, and there were definitely moments where I honestly didn’t care if he made it or not. I also found that during the latter half of the movie, they started killing so much of the tension that the film had done such a sexy job of building up with waaaay too much humour. It’s funny, don’t get me wrong, but takes away from the intensity. I guess it is a comedy-horror so they don’t want it to be overly intense. But still, this proved to halt the high octane pacing.

A lot of the side characters also feel more like cameo appearances than actual characters, which sucks because some of their scenes are really good. It would’ve been nice to get a few more moments away from Bryan and spend a little more time with some of them instead.

For those who love gore and horror though, this movie definitely has both in abundance. That one zombie design is naaassssttyyy, the gore is plentiful, and there are more than enough moments here to make horror fans happy.

And apparently, enough to make this horror-movie wimp happy too.

Mr. Grumpy