Screen Test - Resident Evil

Based on the best-selling Playstation video game series the newest survival-horror film from Columbia Pictures, Resident Evil, is now showing in Peninsula Cinemas Warragul.

Directed by Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian), the eighth live-action adaption of the franchise is an entirely new story that centres around a medical courier who accepts a high priority delivery to a faraway location, strangely titled Racoon City.

Traversing treacherous snowy terrain an ill-equipped 2005 Subaru Outback (and no snow chains), the anxious driver accidentally hits a stranger who appears on the trail out of nowhere. He picks her up, promising her medical care at the hospital he's delivering the coolerbag to, and from there he finds himself in an increasingly nerve-wracking and supernatural chain of events on route to Racoon City General.

Our Gazette critics, Nick Duck and Aidan Knight caught the film on opening night, and put it to the Screen Test...

Aidan Knight: This was unexpectedly one of the funniest films I've seen all year, and easily the funniest horror title my immediate memory can recall.

I really liked the plot of a medical courier, delivering organs for surgery in cooler bags seems like a cool job (or at least higher stakes than Uber Eats), and definitely not an occupation you see often in cinema.

Austin Abrams (Wolfs, Weapons) gives a stellar performance as the main protagonist, especially in the believability department as an 'ordinary guy.'

Grumbling like a Home Alone villain at every plot twist, and reacting to absurd situations the same way anyone would, rather than simply overcoming everything "somehow" really sells it, between the gritty aesthetic and body-horror visuals.

Much of the monsters pursuing him throughout Racoon City appear a bit too derivative of other popular spooky franchises, such as Stranger Things, or John Carpenter titles.

Interestingly it's one of the more accessible horror titles, not overly gory or filled to the brim with jumpscares (maybe one too many), I am testament to the fact zero knowledge of the game is required to enjoy it, and as reboot title in the film world, it's almost recommended to skip every other film adaptation.

Fans of The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, or M3gan will enjoy, but can expect a bit of a Hangover approach to the genre in some ways.

It also taught me never to try shooting a padlock.

Nick Duck: Zach Cregger goes three for three and hits this one out of the park in an unfiltered, unhinged 90-minute rollercoaster of a great time.

As someone a little familiar with the game series there was plenty to appreciate here - Cregger isn't aiming for a one-to-one adaptation of the games but instead wants to capture the spirit of them, and in that he fully succeeds.

The dread at what might be around any corner, the frustration of getting hopelessly lost in a sprawling city and the desperation to make every bullet count are emotions every Resident Evil player has felt before and they're all evoked in cinematic form here.

By taking the material and putting his own spin on it, Cregger avoids the pitfalls most video game adaptations stumble into and instead crafts a brilliant horror showcase that gets right to the point, gripping you early and never letting go.

Abrams is asked to do a lot as the film's only real character for a solid 90 per cent of the run time and does so with aplomb, hitting the comedic moments while giving the story a relatable core in a turn not dissimilar to Bruce Campbell in the original Evil Dead trilogy.

In general the balance between scares and laughs is a fine one but Resident Evil threads the needle beautifully, never letting one undermine or overpower the other.

The runtime is also a genuine bonus for mine - horror films often run the risk of losing an audience the longer they are, but Resident Evil hits the hour-and-a-half mark bang on. That's only to the film's benefit, allowing it to be all
The film admittedly loses a bit of steam right towards the end despite a killer final shot, but it's hard to complain too much when the rest delivers exactly what any horror fan would want. Fully recommend.

Aidan: ★★★★★
Nick: ★★★★⯪
Resident Evil is rated MA15+ for scenes of gore, violence and coarse language, and is now showing at Peninsula Cinemas Warragul