Early responses to the Weapons director’s Resident Evil reboot are in, and they’re looking pretty good.
We’re getting a new Resident Evil movie later this year, a fact that may have slipped your mind given how convoluted the franchise is these days. This’ll be the second reboot following 2021’s little-loved Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and the eighth film overall. Plus you’ve got the Netflix TV series that swiftly sank below the surface of the algorithm – remember that?
Don’t worry, you don’t have to – it was dreadful. And so are most Resident Evil movies, if we’re being honest, no matter how fond we may be of star Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson. But this new one looks like a winner, mainly because it’s being helmed by Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger, who co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten (Rebel Moon). It’s an original story set in the world of the games, with Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier tasked with delivering a mysterious briefcase to Raccoon City during some kind of viral outbreak. We’re sure that’ll go well for him.
Resident Evil shot in Prague late last year, but they’ve hammered through post-production at a rapid clip, because according to World Of Reel there’s already been at least one test screening, and reactions are ecstatic.
One viewer called the film “a horror version of Fury Road“, which is a hell of an endorsement. Clocking in at a tight 90 minutes, the film is described as “something lean, mean, and very confident”, with Abrams character a “massive druggie in a zombie world”. And rest assured, “It’s also very gory, and will absolutely get an “R” rating.” That’ll be an MA-15 locally, then, at a guess.
Sounds like good news to me! Cregger has also cited Evil Dead II as a direct influence, and who doesn’t love Evil Dead II?
Co-starring Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson, Resident Evil hits cinemas on September 17.
MORE IN News
