The best horror movies always have a meta undertone. A film that is able to humour its own concept and setting makes for a most entertaining watch. That’s exactly what makes Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil so much fun. This movie reboots the franchise after those films having cashed-in on the on-screen charisma of Milla Jovovich for decades. And that’s exactly why this movie works. It’s an all-new experience and it’s got the vibe, tone and subtext of a genuine fan. A fan of zombie movies, horror culture and video game legends. It’s a complete departure from the previous movies and the exact reinvention that the franchise needed.
The story starts off with Bryan (Austin Abrams) delivering a courier to a hospital. Just as he’s completed his delivery, he’s handed another drop off from the hospital for Raccoon City. On a dark, snowy night, Bryan drives through a snowy mountain-side road heading to Racoon City with a mysterious package. All hell breaks loose when Bryan accidentally runs over a woman, who turns out to be a zombie. The first half of Resident Evil is a direct throwback to the video game that became the base of the Resident Evil movie franchise. But the pacing, the slow-burn vibe and macabre jump scares are a direct recall to zombie / horror culture icons like the Evil Dead movies, The Cabin in the Woods and even the Silent Hill games.
Bryan encounters a completely new kind of zombie / monster threat. It’s not just your Zombieland or World War Z kind of undead, it’s a The Thing (1982) kind of terror. But director Cregger laces the horror with situational and character-led humour that makes everything fresh and fantastic. What helps is, Austin Abrams performance and nervous energy adds a real Sharlto Copley and District 9 vibe and it’s an absolute masterstroke.
By the second half, the film’s setting shifts to Raccoon City and the milieu, and the action moves into more run-of-the-mill territory. But the humour, the understated wit and rhetoric in the dialogue, still keeps the drama and dread fresh. Highlight scenes are in the sewer, a chase across the street and the climactic gore fest in the laboratory.
Watch Resident Evil on an IMAX screen and you’ll truly enjoy the blood and guts in all their glory. Watch out for the red ravaging madness in a maternity ward and edge of the seat mayhem in an elevator shaft sequence. Resident Evil proves that Zach Cregger is the man with a twisted brain and a creative streak that must be celebrated. If you’ve enjoyed his previous films like Barbarian and Weapons, you’ll find Resident Evil to be the perfect horror-comedy.
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