‘Resident Evil’ review: Scary side quests

Weapons writer/director Zach Cregger returns with his own stripped-down, silly-but-spooky adaptation of Resident Evil.

Whenever you talk about liking Resident Evil, you have to be a little more specific. In the 30 years since the original horror game arrived on the PlayStation, many different creative visions have steered the ship of the franchise. Sometimes it’s a minimalist atmospheric survival/puzzle game with flashes of camp. Other times, it’s a zombie shooter with lore so dense it’s occasionally funny. And that’s just in the video game world; movies with Resident Evil in the title are even more dizzying. What started under Paul W.S. Anderson as a jumping-off point for a horror-action franchise turned into a baffling, convoluted mess that some would call “borderline experimental.”

So let’s be specific: what are the key ingredients to something good with the Resident Evil aura attached? Judging by the recent upswing in quality from the newer games and remakes of the originals, the focus is creeping dread. Something scary that’s coming towards you and you can’t do anything about it. Sometimes it’s in the shadows waiting to lunge at you. Other times it’s right behind you, clawing and snarling so close you can practically hear it breathing. You can throw in a funny line or a cool death every now and again, but the bread and butter of any Resident Evil project should be gloom and doom that’s closer than you think.

Enter Zach Cregger, writer/director of last year’s smash horror hit Weapons which thrived on creeping dread. With that we have a whole new Resident Evil with much less Milla Jovovich sword swinging. Instead we have Bryan (Austin Abrams), an unassuming delivery driver trying to make ends meet for him and his newly-pregnant girlfriend. He’s about to go home for the night when he’s asked to deliver one more package to a hospital in Raccoon City. With the promise of double pay, Bryan sputters through wintery backroads until he (literally) runs into an injured woman who looks to be mere moments from death. Bryan then has to survive one horrific situation after another to get to Raccoon City before more horrors occur.

A wink and a nod.

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures

It’s important to talk about Abrams first because all of Resident Evil revolves around him. Not just the plot, but also the atmosphere and the tone. Abrams gives a scruffy, laid-back, Dude-type aura that’s merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. Abrams certainly acts scared and horrified at what’s going on, but he often punctuates every scene with an “aw, dude” kind of reaction. He’s basically what would happen if a Judd Apatow protagonist got plopped into Evil Dead.

Does that make Resident Evil a horror-comedy? Not necessarily; Cregger plays the scary stuff completely straight with great use of background darkness and sound design. The winter setting amplifies how desolate and dire the situation is, combining with the body horror effects to make creepy tributes to The Thing and 30 Days of Night. Like with Weapons, Cregger makes excellent use of movement with no shaky cam, patient slow pans, and even a few first-person POV shots. It all makes for an effective, stripped-down thriller with only the unclear rules for its monsters and an underwhelming ending holding it back from being a slam dunk.

The main problem is that the movie seems to bend for Abrams’ energy. The way he never feels truly terrified or brushes off a lot of the horrifying events as “WTF” moments make them have a lesser impact on the audience. It’s not a bad performance by any means and some of his comedic beats land pretty well, but it keeps pulling the movie’s scariest moments away from being memorably haunting.  There’s one scene where Abrams gets to drop the act and have an emotional breakdown for charcater development, but it feels obligatory rather than earned. Then the movie immediately goes back to his character being too stupid to survive and it almost makes him less worthy of investment. He’s like a sidekick that’s just waiting for the real lead to show up.

The makings of evil.

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures.

The lack of an engaging protagonist is covered by quality filmmaking and the right inspiration from the games. Cregger’s Resident Evil is more about problem-solving than anything else as he sets up scenarios that get creepier and more perilous as the movie goes on. He starts with simple set pieces like Bryan trying to maneuver an electric fence and builds running gags like Bryan being stopped by the world’s strongest padlocks. Cregger’s comedy background likely informs his ability to make moments balance tension and humor. It’s another reason why he would’ve been better off with a less goofy protagonist because both horror and comedy scenes need a straight man to bounce things off of. That’s also likely why there are cameos from Paul Walter Hauser and Zach Cherry to add breaks of levity to the scares.

If you’re looking for a faithful adaptation of the story of the original game, look elsewhere. Stick with this, and you’ll find a couple neat nods to the franchise. Some are blatant while others are peppered into the background, but it’s never distracting. Maybe the worst thing about Resident Evil is that it’s too good for its own namesake franchise. With the other movies being so turgid and nonsensical, it’s almost shocking that it took someone 30 years to think of a premise this simple and functional. You’d think this would’ve been someone’s first attempt at adapting the game and not the reverse engineering of SIX movies filled with machine guns and slow-motion kicks.

The bottom line.

There was a fear that Cregger, after making two successful original features with Barbarian and Weapons, would be another victim of Hollywood’s IP addiction and sacrifice his promising talents on yet another franchise reboot. Thankfully, his Resident Evil is intent on being a scary good time and it mostly delivers. It flys by at 90 minutes with little fuss over plot or charcaterization. Cregger’s craftsmanship and sicko sensibilities make this a tight thrill for anyone to enjoy even if they’ve never heard of the Umbrella Corporation. Sometimes you don’t need a gargantuan, world-ending threat to make a movie seem scary. Sometimes the most horrifying thing you can watch someone do is open a door.

Resident Evil is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer below.

Images courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

Jon Winkler