RESIDENT EVIL
Starring: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, and Sara Paxton
Director: Zach Cregger
NICK
Resident Evil is like watching someone step into a video game, and I mean that in the most complimentary way. Whether it’s the shot composition, the usage of first- and third-person perspectives, or Austin Abrams’ screams that channel Ryan Gosling from The Nice Guys, this thing fires on all cylinders. It’s a great blend of horror and humour with a surprising amount of laughs and some of the most effective jump scares I’ve seen in ages. Most importantly, it’s genuinely scary. I’m sure video game fans may have some issues, but I’m not sure what more you could ask from this.
QUENTIN
Most of my familiarity with Resident Evil comes from the not-great Paul W. S. Anderson series of movies. Compared to those, Zach Cregger’s take on the material is stellar. However, relative to Cregger’s two previous offerings, Barbarian and Weapons, this new adaptation is a distant third when ranking his filmography. I imagine fans of the video game will be pleased since the presentation is so video game-y, complete with first-person angles and obvious homages to the game that I recognized without ever having played it. There also is far more humor than I expected. Ehh…it’s fine, I suppose, but it didn’t do anything for me.
