Resident Evil isn’t just woke these days, it’s also unbelievably silly. Over the past two decades its CG spin-off films have leaned into that absurdity more than anything else. After the maligned reception to the sixth game, Capcom changed course as the series moved away from campy dialogue and over-the-top set pieces in a return to tense survival horror and little reliance on existing characters and locales. The films, however, did not.
The movies relished in that B-movie action tone the games left behind. Putting aside the cinematic garbage fires helmed by Paul W. S. Anderson, the real gems are the animated bonanzas that feature all our favourite characters duking it out with sexy hair and pistols that never run out of ammo. It is glorious and cheesy in equal measure, almost like an outlet for all the bottled up bullshit.
Resident Evil: Death Island gets the band back together for the first time in years. Claire and Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine, and even Rebecca Chambers must infiltrate the impenetrable walls of Alcatraz Island to track down a new strain of the T-Virus which spreads to those who haven’t been bitten. I know it’s probably airborne, but imagine if this new blend simply operated on general vibes and fancied setting up shop inside an infamous prison. But it seems the real cause is a sus new villain called Dylan and an army of zombie sharks that emit some type of toxic pink sparkles. There’s a lot of aquatic themed nasties in this movie.
Alcatraz is surrounded by water, so it makes perfect sense for the bad guys to fill this place with all manner of mutated creatures that can swim, the new trailer even focusing on a huge cage of Lickers being unleashed beneath the island and into the sewers. This raises so many needless questions, and likely factors into the usual array of rubbish these films are known for which I’m 100 percent here for. Our team of heroes are an expertly trained mixture of marines and scientists, so of course to fight their enemies they must stand in a single line and fire pistols blindly at whatever they can. It is ridiculous, and so bloody brilliant.
The variety of different character designs also make little sense. Leon looks like he’s come straight from Resident Evil 6, Claire from the Resident Evil 2 Remake, and Jill from the Resident Evil 3 Remake. Rebecca and Chris are somewhat original, but all these different designs from various parts of the canon timeline means that none of their ages nor experiences in the here and now would match up. It looks cool though, so who really cares?
Leon rides through an obscenely long tunnel on his motorcycle with a complete disregard for basic traffic safety, while Chris is hardly dressed for a combat scenario in a mix of cargo pants and a plain t-shirt. Claire and Chris are wearing the outfits found in both their latest outings, so it feels like the animators importing their models before calling it a day. These films have never been good, but they’ve always been fun and keenly aware of a reverence the core entries don’t always adhere to. I wrote about Infinite Darkness when it first launched on Netflix and described it as a bunch of beautiful nonsense, and so far the contents of Prison Island fit the bill perfectly. The trailer’s final shot solidifies my excitement.
Our ensemble is seen sliding all over the shop as a tentacled sea monster seeks to ravage them. It’s a mess of sick slides, absurd flips, and inaccurate gunfire all in service of campy spectacle. Slow-motion is utilised like it’s the coolest thing humanity has ever invented, and the shot composition is obscene, but there’s just something about it I admire. Resident Evil comes in so many different forms in the modern era that part of me is relieved that these CG films have been allowed to continue, lingering outside the plethora of remakes and sequels as their own wonderfully ridiculous thing. Fingers crossed that Chris gets to punch a shark.