Resident Evil: Horror through the eyes of an everyman

What would you do if one day you woke up and went about your day as you do, running regular errands in your life, and realised that a deadly zombie outbreak had started to ravage the world around you?

This is a question that comes to mind whenever I watch any sort of media regarding zombie apocalypses. Would I actually be able to survive like the protagonists of many of these films, with no previous experience in combat or survival? Or would I just succumb to the zombies like everyone else?

The film Resident Evil by Zach Creggor attempts to answer that exact question. The movie is based on the popular horror game series 'Resident Evil'. The film shows us exactly what might happen if a normal person is thrown into the chaos of an outbreak with almost no knowledge and experience.

The story starts with Bryan, a fidgety and nervous person, dropping off a package at a hospital. There, he is pulled aside and is asked to do another delivery, which he initially declines, but after some back and forth, he is assigned to deliver what we initially assume is a body part to Raccoon General Hospital.

This trip marks the beginning of the carnage we are about to witness, as Bryan crashes into a woman on his way to the hospital. This starts off a chain reaction of events where Bryan is thrown from one dangerous scenario to another, barely managing to survive and make it to the hospital.

The Resident Evil games always portrayed the idea that humans constantly strive for survival, whether for good or evil. An idea the movie expresses clearly through Bryan, just a guy trying to deliver the cure and make it back home, straight from the depths of hell.

Even though I was already expecting tense situations with a lot of sneaky jump scares, I was still caught off guard. The scenes were all masterfully choreographed, and each one made you hold your breath. I could not help but squirm in my seat, aware that anything could go wrong at any moment. The jump scares also felt tasteful, and despite there being quite a few, none of them felt like a cheap and easy scare.

In terms of pacing, I initially expected the movie to start slowly and then suddenly ramp up, but the stakes rose consistently throughout. It never felt rushed or too slow; instead, every plot point cohesively came together to tell a well-developed story with dynamic world-building without keeping things too vague.

The characters brought liveliness to the entire film, as though the events were actually transpiring in the real world. Each character feels like a real person, stuck in an inescapable crisis. Austin Abrams does an incredible job portraying a young man who is desperately trying to navigate this hell while also trying to do the right thing.

However, the character of Bryan is not your average Resident Evil game protagonist; rather, the opposite. He is precisely what we expect an average person to behave like in the world of Resident Evil. He reacts with fear at every little shift and stumbles through every step of the way. He is not some super agent with hyper-awareness and excessive strength; he is someone who has never held a gun before outside of video games. He is just like you and me, yet he never gives up and perseveres through it all.

This movie helps me see the games differently too, especially when I come across the many zombies I just walk past without thinking about the fact that they were once people. Their stories reflect what Bryan is going through in the film: the pain and struggle of just trying to survive with his humanity intact. With his quick quips and cultural references, he is able to further project what we, the viewers, may think while playing the games and watching movies like these.

The visuals and the aesthetic help sell the theme of a crisis very well, with the severity being translated through excellent set design and lighting. The visuals of the zombies and their designs are top-notch and are inspired by different games in the franchise, with the T and G viruses in RE2 and the Las Plagas virus in RE4. The visuals of the zombies and zombie amalgamations helped drive a sense of dread and disgust very well.

We can also see multiple Easter eggs scattered throughout, such as the typewriter and the way Bryan holds his phone as a flashlight. These are just subtle little nods to the game, which do not get too obnoxious.

The action throughout the movie is well-paced and balanced, and it makes the whole situation seem grounded in reality. The movie also draws on comedy, particularly through the quippy dialogue delivered by Bryan, similar to that of Leon Kennedy throughout the games. It builds on how a nervous yet kind-hearted person might deal with the trauma they are going through, using a bit of comedy.

Overall, the ending wraps up what the series of games really stands for: there are no real winners in this fight, as the losses are incomparable to any other situation. It portrays really well that if a situation like this were to occur in real life, many people would likely end up in a situation or outcome similar to that of Bryan or the other side characters.

The Resident Evil games always portrayed the idea that humans constantly strive for survival, whether for good or evil. An idea the movie expresses clearly through Bryan, just a guy trying to deliver the cure and make it back home, straight from the depths of hell.