As a long-time Resident Evil fan, I was very cautious going into Zach Cregger’s take on the franchise. Not because I doubted Cregger as a filmmaker, as his work is consistently entertaining (Weapons was an instant classic) and finds exceptional balance in blending horror with, for lack of a better word, comedy. But because the trailer and the director’s own commentary were clear indications that this would be a movie “taking place in the Resident Evil universe”, rather than a story with strong tie-ins to the game world. The end result is an undeniably fun movie, rife with scares, tension, gore and silliness. But if you ran a DNA heritage test, there wouldn’t be that much Resident Evil in it.
The movie stars Austin Abrams, whose star is clearly rising. He plays Bryan, a courier for hospitals, lugging the odd heart and liver where it is needed. When a last-minute job comes his way, the girlfriend’s pregnancy drama has to wait, as a double-pay trip to Raccoon City cannot be turned down. Tricky road conditions lead to Bryan running over a woman, who, it’s immediately apparent, isn’t quite of this species any more. But it’s in how Cregger weaves this sequence of scenes together, the setup of the showdown and the clumsiness of our protagonist, that this stands out as something a bit different. Same same, but different: the Cregger brand.
Bryan’s night is not one to be envied, as it goes from bad to gross to absolutely disgusting. The level of gore is definitely above average, as bodies explode, merge and get obliterated with juicy detail. Jump scares are carefully placed to give you a jolt, if not a terrible scare. And as the creatures reveal themselves, infected by parasitic organisms of the tentacled persuasion, Bryan needs to think fast and make the best of his guile, cardio and good fortune. It all leads to a finale that seems to have people split, as it plays too much like slapstick for any serious horror aficionado. I think it’s…functional, if not a home run, but unabashedly gutsy.
If you want to look at the hero’s journey, it’s all a very on-the-nose commentary on gamers growing up and embracing the responsibility that comes with real choices and family. It’s the realization Bryan comes to as the night is at its darkest, but it probably asks for more investment from the viewer than the build-up really warrants. It did make me think of Exit 8, where the protagonist gets lost in a never ending maze of underground passageways, just as he finds out he will be a father.
The movie generally made me think of a series of other distinct sources of inspiration. The creatures have a strong whiff of The Thing to them, there’s a World War Z suicidal relentlessness to the infected, the multi-membered cart-wheeling creature that haunts Bryan seems to come straight out of the popular game The Forest, some Doom-style PoV shots make an appearance and then there’s the strong Slither undercurrent. James Gunn’s 2006 genre-bender shares gore and personality with this one and it’s hard to not read one particular scene with a massive creature splitting open for larvae to flow out of it as a straightforward homage. Alongside all these influences, the Resident Evil-ness is relegated to Easter eggs and location typologies.
But just as its melanged lead creature, the thematic melange blends together smoothly, crafted with Cregger’s skillful control of tone, rhythm and pacing. There are reasons to not be awed by this movie, in spite of the absolutely stellar reviews it has received, but those reasons shouldn’t bring it down too much. If you go into it without expecting too much Resident Evil, there’s a lot of fun to be had. And if you really are a Resident Evil fan and have sat through the plethora of sub-average films that the games have spawned, then just count your blessings that something even vaguely resembling the games is as successful as this.
For decades, “we” have lived with the what if of Romero’s vision. Almost thirty years later, I am convinced that getting a Cregger treatment is as good as it will ever get for the Resident Evil movie-verse.
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