Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ is a video game adaptation done right

There is a moment early on in “Resident Evil” when Bryan (Austin Abrams) is on the run from his first zombie – but the chase isn’t taking him very far. 

In this early sequence, Bryan, cornered up against a cop car by the bloody, screeching creature, panics and starts to frantically circle the car. The zombie gives chase, and the two run circles around the cop car for a bit longer than feels appropriate, until finally, the zombie tries a new tactic. 

It might seem silly, but that round-the-car chase solidifies that filmmaker Zach Cregger has a pretty good handle on not only how to adapt the “Resident Evil” video games, but how to adapt video games in general. The stream of expletives and yelps coming out of Bryan’s mouth are entirely reminiscent of the sounds one might make while being chased in a video game – frantically tapping at the controller, accidentally running around in circles, cursing wildly at the screen. 

“Resident Evil” is full of moments like this, ones that succinctly capture the odd marriage of nail-biting tension and blundering silliness that make up the experience of first-person shooter and survival horror gaming. Cregger is able to avoid the pitfalls of most video game adaptations by finding the similarities between his own sensibilities as a filmmaker (he co-wrote the script with Shay Hatten) and what it is that makes video games so enjoyable. It’s his most straightforward film by far, but also a bloody disgusting good time. 

Bryan works as a medical courier, and the reason he finds himself being chased around a cop car by a zombie on the outskirts of Racoon City is because he volunteered to take a high priority organ – what he assumes is a heart for a little boy, or a kidney for a kindly old lady – up into the snowy, remote mountain town. Did he decide to drive hours out of his way out of the goodness of his own heart? Not really – the money had something to do with it, and also the fact that his girlfriend Michelle just found out she’s pregnant. And he’s really not ready to have that conversation. 

Bryan’s avoidance stems from immaturity and fear. “Your body, your choice” he says shakily to Michelle on the phone – and you get the sense he believes that, but also that he hopes to God she makes a decision so he doesn’t have to. But Bryan isn’t a total dirtbag, evidenced by the fact that when he accidentally hits a strange woman with his car on a dark, wooded road, he doesn’t “I Know What You Did Last Summer” her – he gets out, he finds her, and he tries to get her to a hospital. 

This is the zombified woman who will end up chasing Bryan around a cop car – and chasing him for the rest of the movie, really, but evolving into something far more monstrous as she does. This opening sequence is a perfect example of Cregger’s strengths and disposition as a writer, his comedy background evident not just in the jokes, but in the structure. The way this opening – and the rest of the film, frankly – plays out feels a lot like an improv exercise, with Bryan tasked with saying “yes, and?” to every odd or terrifying scenario he meets. 

That mindset – the idea that anything could happen – is also present in video games, particularly “Resident Evil.” What’s inside that barn? What happens if I go down this dark tunnel? Should I take this gun, or that one? “Resident Evil” is happy to poke fun at video game tropes, getting a lot of mileage out of making jokes about how difficult it is to shoot a padlock, and there is a very funny moment where Bryan shuts the door on what amounts to an NPC (played by Paul Walter Hauser) that feels very much like pressing “skip cut scene.” But, what makes Cregger’s foray into video game adaptation feel so natural is that it doesn’t feel like a filmmaker adapting to fit that world. It feels like a new place to explore a form and style he’s already used to and does well. 

The comedy is on full display, but “Resident Evil” mixes that humor with horror quite soundly. It’s not a film that will haunt you for days to come, but the way the camera moves creates a sense of unease. It’s constantly swiveling, tilting up, moving in ways you don’t necessarily expect and focusing on things that make you wonder, “Why am I looking at this?” That anticipation helps Cregger deftly weaponize expectations against the audience. This happens most aggressively in a moment that shouldn’t be spoiled, when Bryan finds a little girl inside of an RV. But Cregger will often present a scenario that makes you expect one thing, immediately soothe that expectation, and then replace it with something infinitely more horrible, creating an exciting, whiplash-infused viewing experience. 

Central to that experience is Abrams, whose natural inclinations as an actor gel with Cregger’s mission as well here as they did in “Weapons.” When you play a video game, you’re often playing a bad *ss, and that’s the character who is then transferred over to the film. But “Resident Evil” chooses to transfer over not the bad *ss, but you yourself – the you who might accidentally make that bad *ss run around in circles for a few minutes because you’re not sure what else to do. 

But Bryan isn’t just a simple self-insert, and that’s a credit to Abrams’ eccentricities. He’s a little jumpy and a bit odd, but that jittery quality helps make Bryan’s persistent self-talk feel spontaneous and funny (there’s a moment where he says the word “ladder” that I’ve not yet been able to get out of my head). It’s a wonderful match of movie and actor, where star and filmmaker are on the same wavelength, rocking and rolling straight through to a delightfully nasty ending. 

The post Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ is a video game adaptation done right appeared first on Rough Draft.