The Chaotic Japanese-American Gateway To Horror – Resident Evil

March 16, 2021 ● Tom F-H

Due to blockbuster titles which we now know as classics, such as The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003), The Lord Of The Rings (2001) and – lest we forget – Shrek (2001), American cinema was booming with the more common integration of CGI allowing for larger, more ambitious projects to be projected onto the big screen. With the age of technology and convenience in full swing, the entertainment media industry grew even larger than it already was - the name ‘Hollywood’ spanning the globe, bringing joy and entertainment to audiences of all ages - many of these films charted our childhoods.

However, there flowed an undercurrent. A hunger for something that Russel Crowe’s Gladiator (2000), basking in golden Mediterranean light- or Finding Nemo’s (2003) colourful globetrotting could not satisfy. A diet of darkness, a thirst for blood, a festering post-cold war angst that opened up a gap in the capitalist landscape leaving the horrors of the abnormal up to the imagination. And imagine they did.

More than just a horror film, Paul W. S. Anderson brought a blur of action and gore to cinemas across the country with Resident Evil (2002). Following up films of varying success – Mortal Kombat (1995) and Event Horizon (1997) – Anderson was no stranger to nightmarish concepts. Being a video-gamer himself, he was inspired by Japanese company Capcom’s take on horror. The film adaptation is a loose retelling of events that may have transpired during the games. As the titles had become increasingly successful in Western countries, Shinji Mikami’s original intentions of a more traditional horror franchise became warped, as later games featured an increased focus on combat and action. Despite logic dictating that Resident Evil’s first film adaptation should reflect the content of the first game, Anderson took initiative in developing this horror/action crossover. The film generally received negative reviews from critics, but was still widely successful, grossing nearly $18,000,000 on the opening weekend, compared to its $35,000,000 budget.

As a fan of nu-metal, action and bad movies, I couldn’t help but love Resident Evil. 

From the opening scene, Anderson shocks the senses with smashing glass, screaming sirens and a particularly nail-biting elevator scene, which I had to watch through my fingers. Where a typical horror protagonist might be lucky to clumsily wave a narrow torch, lead actress Milla Jovovich’s, Alice throws spinning kicks at skinless zombie dogs while accompanying a death squad into the heart of a high-tech laboratory.

This period of tension does not last long, as some of the unfortunate commandos lose body parts to an uncomfortably sadistic AI character, which takes the form of the Umbrella Corporation’s President’s daughter, aka The Red Queen, which continually warns the team to turn back before momentarily performing a similar role to that of a cheese dicer. Resident Evil simply does not stop. The cast are shoved, grabbed, bitten and scratched out of the lab, suffering a somewhat predictable twist near the end, and an encounter with an iconic CGI monster that is drawn directly from the games. One character, who was previously thought to have been killed, returns only to be killed again. Alice recovers from amnesia and realises that one of the guys they are with is her husband. And it goes on, and on and on. 

As a horror film, Resident Evil delves into the uncomfortable feelings brought along with human and animal experimentation and the use of zombies to remind us of the fragility of our mortality. Like many other sci-fi horror movies, Resident Evil is in the race of seeing how far and unethical the theme of science can be taken. The primary narrative is driven by the release of a virus known to turn living beings into flesh-hungry monsters. While this isn’t exactly a new concept, even for the time of release, Anderson pulls a variety of creative genre decisions to turn the film into something unique and entertaining. 

Resident Evil may feature an array of laughable content, but it really shines through in the set design. The hallways of the laboratory are generally bright, but are clinical and enclosed, not bringing any kind of reassurance forward. A horrible brown liquid leaks from ceiling-high vats. A noticeable lack of dead bodies puts questions through the audience as the unknowing cast storm recklessly into the heart of, what we all know, will become their tomb.

We can’t really discuss director Anderson without also observing the character of Alice – an attempt at creating a female lead desirable to all video-game enthusiasts of the time, apparently including Anderson himself, who later married actor Jovovich in 2003. After contemplating the likelihood of the director making a reel for visual entertainment of his soon-to-be wife, it is easier to grasp the idea that the making of the film served to fulfil many of Anderson’s fantasies.

Another, slightly worrying, member of the credits is musician and self-proclaimed visionary artist Marilyn Manson, who was at the prime of his terrorisation of ‘good Christian Americans’ and music career. While later seeing many incriminating allegations, Manson was worshipped as a saint-like influencer of goths, taking the crown as possibly the most famous nu-metal personality of the time. His role in creating the soundtrack is clearly heard throughout, with the unapologetic, industrial chugging of metal guitar and rhythm hailing every action sequence (of which there are many) with the air of badassery that they so needed in-case anyone forgot that Resident Evil wasn’t just a horror film, but a nu-metal cheese-fest.

The Resident Evil film marked a key point in director Anderson’s career, as his love for gaming, horror and sexualised women wearing crudely ripped skirts conjoined with that of the Japanese digital entertainment titan Capcom, impacting the successes of further Resident Evil games and marking the series as an American work of art as much as a Japanese one. Anderson would go on to direct more Resident Evil films of varying success, and the infamous Alien Vs Predator (2004) which many loathed, but for some was ‘literally [their] favourite film ever', as one of my friends recently told me. This new genre of action/sci-fi/horror would branch off as one of the major conventions of the wider horror genre.

Without Anderson’s love for less serious, more cheesy film, and the Japanese video game invasion, many of our beloved classics would likely never have been inspired. How self-aware the creators of this questionable piece of art were is up for debate, however, it is undoubtable the end product was revered by teenage and young adult ‘edgelords’ all across the globe.

Tom F-H ● Writer

Twitter: @TomFHTA10

Instagram: @tomfhiswellgood

Blog: @straightforward_blog

A writer and journalist based in Manchester, Tom F-H has been a student of film, music and literature since he could walk, and he continues to enjoy all three every day.