Though RE: The Movie steals relatively little storyline from the games, this version does retain the basics:  The shady Umbrella Corporation is a major player in the US market.  Its products can be found in 90% of American homes, and its true operations are not fully revealed to anyone in the populous. 

 

Truth is, Umbrella deals in genetic experimentation, modifying animals and other things through the use of gene splicing and DNA manipulation.  Umbrella's secret complex, known as The Hive rests beneath a mansion, shielded from the public eye.  The Hive is run by a staff of thousands under the surveillance of a supercomputer dubbed The Red Queen.

 

The movie opens to a figure placing several strange vials into a case, and then tossing one onto the floor, shattering it and releasing whatever is inside onto the scientists in the lab.  The supercomputer reacts to the potential biohazard by sealing off any exits and preventing anyone or anything from getting out. 

 

We meet Alice, the movie's protagonist (She isn't actually referred to by name, nor is anyone I can really remember, so it's a little confusing) as she wakes up in the mansion as it is stormed by commandos, presumably the STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad), from the games.  They head down into the hidden lab, by way of an underground bullet train, and find that the whole team of scientists have been turned into bloodthirsty zombies, by way of the T Virus, which was contained in the broken vial, and carried through the ventilation system.

 

I can safely say that there isn't a genuine scare in this entire movie.  Resident Evil can't go for more than 60 seconds without some kind of metal clang or nails-on-a-chalkboard style music hitch.  It's not scary, it's annoying, and it immediately gives away the position of a zombie or mutated freak monster.  Speaking of mutated freak monsters, RE 2's Licker makes an appearance, and it's completely awesome.  You can't go wrong with a giant frog/human wrapped in worm flesh with a 9-foot tongue.

 

The movie's dialogue mainly consists of commands and exclamations, so there's little room for character development.  Not that it would matter since most of it is drowned out by the soundtrack anyway.

 

In conclusion, Resident Evil doesn't bring anything new to the table as far as horror movies go, but it has a few impressive special effects, and a sharp visual style.  While it doesn't manage to scare, it does manage to make it out of the fire less burnt than most other video game movies.

 

-James Napier