Directed By: Zach Cregger
Written By: Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten
Cinematography: Darius Wolski
Editor: Joe Murphy
Cast: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, Will Merrick, Sara Paxton, Zoe Bella, Andrea Miltnerova
A hapless courier is tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.
Let me start off by saying I never really played the video game of this so I don’t know the actual storyline or history. All I know is the previous films. Which were entertaining, but definitely products of their time. None of them were truly masterpieces or what one might qualify is good but they were passable.
This film is another beast as this film ties into the resident evil lore of the video game, but this could’ve totally been an original film and it would’ve worked just as well. It just now has a bit more of a built-in audience as it is connected to the game. Luckily any audience members can follow as it goes along
Now let’s tackle the elephant in the room. Surprised at how much humor there is in the film throughout. There is a shocking a certain amount of laughs, but it is a horror film through and through with comedic elements thrown In. Rather then the other way around. It feels like the comedy is to acknowledge the ridiculous nature of what is happening at times. As well as way to have a release of tension every once in while. As there is still graphic violence and plenty of jump scares.
The protagonist isn’t the typical action hero nor the usual horror hero so him making bad decisions makes more sense and makes them feel more identifiable for the audience, as well as keeps the plot moving, and the action popping. The credit has to be given to Austin Abrams, as this is pretty much almost a one man show performance at least for most of the film it stays that was, very physical. Which will remind many of Bruce Campbell in THE EVIL DEAD films. As well as that type of mood. Definitely a star-making turn for him.
When other character characters appear in the film, it always feels a bit strange as we’re so used to only deal dealing with our main character. It’s nice to see Paul Walter Hauser in this film in a pivotal role that comes across more as comedic relief as well as Kali Reis as a kick ass security expert.
The film is scary yet feels fun as we get deeper in the character faces more challenges as well as discovery, which does eventually feel like the film is leveling up as it goes along.
One of the smarter aspects of the film is how they naturally create POV shots like from a video game that are thrown in time to time and made to look more makeshift as a survival method In dark places.
The fact that there’s very little dialogue keeps the film more tense.
Zach Cregger even though he doesn’t have to shows what he can do with ip that he didn’t originate and still make a film that is all his own. It’s sort of reminds one of what Frank Darabont was trying to do when he was still running the television show. THE WALKING DEAD. In wanting to obviously have the stories in the plot, but be able to take a moment for maybe a side story or give a chance for a side character to shine.
Though you have to say that for Zach Crager, this is 400 out of the successes for his films. Though he did co-direct and star in the comedy MISS MARCH. I will say that I enjoyed this more than I did his film WEAPONS.
The unexpected third act that tells the tale of what would normally be a side character and allows for them to have depth plus allow allowing us to see what role they played in the overall story.
Have to give it credit for where it goes. Especially when there are some Ty of places you don’t think it will venture to and it does and practically bathes in it.
It’s easy to agree that this is the best out of all of the franchise obviously.
Grade: A
