I\u2019ve been surprised by the number of Resident Evil fans complaining on social media about Zach Cregger\u2019s cinematic adaptation of the survival horror series. \u201cIt\u2019s not a real<\/em> Resident Evil movie,\u201d they\u2019ve claimed. Were we watching the same film? Certainly, it doesn\u2019t feature any of the familiar heroes \u2013 there\u2019s no Leon, no Claire, no Ada Wong \u2013 and there\u2019s a distinct lack of recognisable antagonists and well-known locations. Despite all of this, Cregger\u2019s interpretation is one of the most accurate and interesting video game films ever made.<\/p>\n On the surface, it\u2019s about a zombifying virus that gets accidentally released in Raccoon City by the Umbrella Corporation. These are, of course, the foundations of the Resi mythos. More interestingly, Cregger seeks to replicate and explore the structural and narrative conventions of the series. In the film, the player character, hapless courier Bryan Hodukavich, is thrust into a viral outbreak, with no weapons and no idea what\u2019s going on. He is then submerged into an uncanny shadow world of escalating peril and body horror. The film takes us through a series of locations dragged straight from the games \u2013 an abandoned farmhouse, a road tunnel crammed with abandoned cars, a hospital and the obligatory sewer level<\/a>. As he progresses, Bryan finds increasingly powerful weapons, from a handgun to an assault rifle \u2013 but he is always short on ammo. And there are typewriters in at least two scenes!<\/p>\n
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