The six-film Resident Evil franchise may have proven hugely popular with fans after raking in over $1.2 billion at the box office to become the highest-grossing series of video game adaptations ever made, but it would be an understatement to say that the action-packed movies hardly stayed true to the roots of the source material.
In its original medium, Resident Evil has always been characterized by an atmospheric sense of dread, increasing the tension with each level as players skulk around while living in constant fear that something terrifying is lurking just around the corner. The previous big screen versions, meanwhile, were much more in favor of effects-heavy set pieces and bombastic pyrotechnics, but the upcoming reboot looks to mark a complete creative overhaul.
Fans are already on board with the cast, which was announced yesterday and features a solid roster of up and coming stars filling the roles of familiar favorites, and director Johannes Roberts has admitted that his focus will very much be on the horror aspects of Resident Evil, something the previous efforts failed to touch on in any sort of meaningful way.
“With this movie, I really wanted to go back to the original first two games and recreate the terrifying visceral experience I had when I first played them whilst at the same time telling a grounded human story about a small dying American town that feels both relatable and relevant to today’s audiences.”
Not only that, but the all-new Resident Evil will also double as an origin story set in 1998, reinforcing the fact that the first two games will be serving as both the basis and inspiration for the plot. Of course, video game movies are experiencing something of a creative renaissance right now, and a horror-influenced take on the beloved series set in 1998 offers the perfect balance of recognizable characters and iconography, nostalgia and jump scares that could see Roberts’ reboot appeal to a much wider audience that just those who loved the Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich franchise.