How Zach Cregger's Resident Evil Captures the Game's Essence

Some Resident Evil fans have voiced dissatisfaction online with Zach Cregger’s film adaptation, calling it "not a real Resident Evil movie." Yet, despite the absence of iconic heroes like Leon or Claire, familiar villains, and well-known settings, Cregger's interpretation stands out as one of the most faithful and compelling video game films ever produced.

At its core, the film depicts a virus outbreak in Raccoon City, stemming from an accidental release by the Umbrella Corporation – the foundational elements of the Resident Evil lore. More significantly, Cregger delves into replicating and examining the series' structural and narrative conventions. The story follows Bryan Hodukavich, an ordinary courier, who is unexpectedly caught in a viral outbreak with no resources and no understanding of the situation. He is then plunged into a disorienting world of escalating danger and visceral horror. The film navigates through environments directly inspired by the games: a desolate farmhouse, a road tunnel choked with abandoned vehicles, a hospital, and the inevitable sewer level. As Bryan progresses, he discovers increasingly effective weaponry, from a handgun to an assault rifle, but ammunition remains a constant scarcity. Even typewriters make appearances in at least two scenes.

Bryan's comprehension of his surroundings, much like in any Resident Evil game, is built through discovered materials—audio logs, emails—and brief, cryptic interactions with other characters. A poignant moment occurs in the road tunnel when a recently infected young girl tells Bryan, "My mom bit me, I don’t know where she went." This exchange is quintessentially Resident Evil, delivering narrative information and an implicit threat within a single, concise sentence. The mother could be lurking nearby, ready to strike.

Cregger, possibly acknowledging the ongoing online discussions, released a video detailing his creative direction. He aimed to mirror not only the game's fictional universe but also the actual experience of playing it – that feeling of navigating a world of constantly evolving horror. Intriguing theories have also emerged, positioning Bryan as a sort of NPC precursor, leaving behind clues, tips, and supplies for a more capable protagonist.

Creator Shinji Mikami once shared his perspective: "I’m interested in vulnerable characters, in normal human beings. The horror experience is most scary when the player really isn’t sure whether their character is going to live or die – death and survival need to be on a constant see-saw. If there’s a situation where you’re not 100% sure that you can avoid or defeat the enemies, if you feel maybe there’s a chance you’ll make it – that’s where horror lies." Bryan Hodukavich embodies this precarious state throughout the entire film.

Cregger’s Resident Evil, alongside works like Kane Parsons’s Backrooms and Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8, can be viewed as films that explore video game mechanics as much as they adapt them. These cinematic experiences immerse viewers in a player-like state, trapped within a nightmarish world governed by its own unique rules, characters, and temporal dynamics that gradually unfold. Cinema has a history of deconstructing other media, from theatre to comic books, and it’s compelling to see video games now undergoing similar critical examination. After all, gaming is inherently self-reflexive; the audience is both observer and participant, and the game world, though naturalistic, is necessarily artificial, marked by its distinct visual cues and programmed boundaries.

Therefore, this is indeed a Resident Evil film, but one that shifts the camera's focus away from familiar heroics. Instead, it guides us to the periphery, revealing the ordinary inhabitants of Raccoon City facing their fate with minimal resources, scarce dialogue, and a lone voice recorder.