There are two genres that have been having a renaissance in the last few years. Those are the horror genre and video game adaptations. So it is perhaps not surprising that one of this year’s big box office success stories is a combination of both, and after a huge $400 million box office win, Resident Evil is now infecting streaming on its streaming PVOD debut. Yet despite all of its success, which includes a record-breaking Rotten Tomatoes score to go with its franchise-best financial performance, the film has strangely found most of its criticism coming from the very people it should have pleased – long-term fans of the video games that inspired it. Yet that dissent has certainly not stopped Zach Cregger’s take on the iconic 30-year-old horror franchise from being yet another successful entry in his growing list of directorial efforts which also includes last year’s Weapons.
When Resident Evil was announced, many held only a small hope of the film being something to get excited about, as along with the long-running Milla Jovovich movies, there has been a movie reboot and TV series that both fell completely flat. However, this film’s secret weapon was director Zach Cregger, who has proven himself to be a unique and very capable horror director with Barbarian and the aforementioned Weapons. When it released in September, the movie scored an incredulous 96% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, more than double most other movies set in and around Raccoon City, and audiences were not far behind with a 90% score. Add in the film’s record-breaking opening weekend and total box office making it the most successful Resident Evil movie on all counts, and it is not hard to see why it has now added a huge digital debut to its list of accolades.
Resident Evil originally terrified gamers back in 1996, with relentless monsters, zombie dogs, and an adventure that provided as many puzzles as jumpscares. Over the following decades, multiple new games have been released, including direct continuations, spin-offs, and recently new storylines that take the franchise in bold new directions. While Cregger’s Resident Evil features plenty of links back to the games, this has not been enough for a large group of vocal fans who feel that the film is not a Resident Evil movie at all. A quick scan of the reviews reveals 1-star comments like “utter garbage,” “it doesn’t even have a plot,” and “an embarrassing addition to the Resident Evil name.”
It is clear, though, that the gripes are not coming from the majority of views, but like every movie based on a popular existing franchise, some people have a specific idea of what they want to see on screen. Anything less than this leads to some believing it is just a bad movie for not meeting their expectations. Resident Evil is not a big screen version of one of the games – that has already been done and failed – and it is not an all-out horror movie with the main elements of the game and its characters included in a new setting – that was done with the original movies. Instead, Cregger has done what many recent Resident Evil games have done and created his own story within a small part of the universe the games are set in, while injecting it with his style of filmmaking. The refreshing take has clearly appealed to most people who have seen it, and potentially pulled in newcomers who will now go back and seek out other branches of the Resident Evil world. Having already dominated the box office, it seems that Resident Evil‘s success is only just getting started as it currently tops the Apple Store and Amazon Store charts.
Have you seen Resident Evil? Is it the best adaptation, or is it overrated? Let us know what you think in the comments.
