What next for a Resident Evil screen adaptation?

Video game to movie and TV adaptations have been in the headlines once again. We’re a month removed from Netflix’s cancellation of the divisive live action Resident Evil series (which saw obscenely counter-productive celebrations from certain sectors of the fandom). ‘Cyberpunk Edgerunners’ released on Netflix resulting in a surge of over a million players for Cyberpunk 2077 every day during a week in September. And the HBO produced adaptation of The Last of Us had its long awaited first proper trailer released – in what I’ve long suspected is a show with the potential to change the landscape of video game adaptations moving forward. These are just the recent hot topics, because video game to screen outings have never been more prevalent, with the last few years seeing some of the most well received and financially successful of all time.

This got me thinking, firstly about the upcoming Fallout TV show, due next year from Amazon. As an avid franchise fan and Fallout 76 player, for me the TV show is a perfect opportunity to ‘do an Edgerunners’ and inject some players into the live service game (which believe it or not, does have a healthy player base and regular well received new content) or at the very least provide some kind of cross-promotional game update. The days of 76’s disastrous launch are firmly in the past, and with extra devs being employed this year, along with an apparent “5 year plan” for content ahead, Bethesda’s quirky online-multiplayer-but-also-you-can-play-it-solo RPG has much life in it yet. Opportunities to link with a franchise TV show should be taken as seriously as any new content update for the game. My own hype for the show is being kept in check, but casting choices, and set-photo leaks have been tantalising, with many in the fan community believing we’ve got something interesting on the way. (hear more of my thoughts on the latest episode of Tapes From The Wastes – a fallout podcast I host!)

Secondly, the absolute shambles from the Halo TV series and their tie-in with Infinite. Paramount+ effectively launched itself off the back of the Halo show. It was a huge deal. Infinite was the first mainline game released in seven years, and they both landed within a few months of each other. All we got for our troubles were some pretty uninspiring weapon charms and banners. This is Halo. One of the biggest gaming franchises of all time. The ‘tie-in’ felt emptier than the map of Infinite’s campaign. (I’m being facetious – I loved the campaign). Infinite has been in the headlines a lot, even before launch, and for a game under such scrutiny already due to its lack of content, it did itself no favours by not capitalising on the big budget TV show with something special for fans. What could have been a momentous occasion in the franchise history, is now a fleeting blip on an already troubled first year of their new game/service-platform.

Lastly, all this has me musing once again about …sigh …the future of Resident Evil screen adaptations.

The past 15 months have seen THREE new pieces of non-game media – Netflix’s Resident Evil Infinite Darkness (Netflix CG animated series), Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City (live action movie), and Netflix’s Resident Evil (the franchise’s first live action TV series). Getting just one of these in a 15-month period would be considered a gift by many gaming fandoms, but to get three frankly seems absurd. There’s an argument that this release schedule may have even harmed the projects themselves, with confusion among more casual audiences about what was what, and marketing for each being questionable at best. This isn’t even considering the fact we’ve had 4 games in 4 years (with two more confirmed on the way at the time of writing). We’re spoilt in the Resident Evil community. Just ask Silent Hill and Castlevania fans.

When it comes to the screen adaptions though, I’m not here to re-tread the responses, I’ve instead just been considering about what’s next, what I’d like to see, and where I think we can learn from previous entries.

Animation or Live Action?

Back in my review for Infinite Darkness on First Aid Spray in July 2021, my concluding thoughts on the show mentioned that I’m done with the hyper-real CG, and that it was probably time to look at a more traditional 2D anime route. The expensive nature of the CG Animation style seems to result in corner cutting elsewhere – and this goes for the previous CG movies too. They might look nice, but they lack depth, opting for spectacle and gun-fu over any real tension building and impactful story. Going for a 2D Anime route, although not inherently cheap, is something which I think Resident Evil would have absolutely no trouble working in, delivering a tone and style which large sections of the fandom have been yearning for.

The ridiculous nature of Resident Evil, and in particular, the B.O.Ws, becomes perfectly acceptable in anime, where it feels like nothing is off limits when it comes to visuals. As for the cast, all you need to do is look at some of the fan art out there, and you’ll see that Resident Evil characters depicted this way ooze bundles of charm, and often have a much-needed edge to their appearance. I can see something closer to a Batman The Animated Series look and feel being just what an RE adaption needs. It lends itself to a more gothic cloak, with the campiness that something from DC often brings. A dimly-lit smoke-filled S.T.A.R.S office as Jill works after hours. Coffee ring-stained paperwork …rain beating on the window of the RPD. It feels like it was destined to be seen in anime.

It’s not all about the visuals of course, a good script is required, but I feel like that goes without saying. Also, despite my anime drum beating, I’m not letting go of other routes just yet, and I do believe there’s one last dose of live action left before the final malformation into 2D. We came so close with Welcome to Raccoon City …and the well isn’t totally dry…

It needs to be a period-piece

I mentioned Batman The Animated Series, and it may be no surprise that there’s a theme starting to appear here. For me, if I’m honest, Resident Evil has never felt truly at home anywhere other than the 90s. Even the strengths of the two most recent mainline games are largely in part to how cut off they are from the outside modern world, and their aesthetics wouldn’t feel out of place in a 90s setting, especially Resident Evil 7. For me, all the best parts of the original games stem from their reappropriation of the 80s and 90s references they draw from. Schlocky horror, Stephen King, George A Romero, John Carpenter, The Terminator, Aliens, and a certain TV show which I’ll get to shortly…

From biker jackets to pump-action shotguns. Moog synthesisers to bloodbaths. Cabins (or mansions) in the woods to alligators in the sewers. The music, the brightly contrasting colours (also a technical choice), the costumes, and even the cheesy dialogue all sing an 80s and 90s influenced song from the top of their rotten lungs. So much of Resident Evil is a product of its time, keeping it grounded in a more modern setting has been somewhat of a challenge in my eyes, with almost anything that brings it to an obvious “present day” location or situation, lacking in any of the horror and texture that came with the restricted, isolated, and “retro” nature of the originals.

The lack of connectivity with no prevalent internet or mobile phones. Being cut off from the outside world. The American Government being the enemy (and not some foreign terrorist). Gene Therapy, The Human Genome Project, and dare I say it – cloning, à la Dolly The Sheep - all scientific headlines from that era which seem to fall in-line with the themes of Resident Evil and undoubtedly played a part in influencing the original story.

So please, no more post-apocalyptic settings, no more globe-trotting, no more pristine modern laboratories with fancy tech. I need gritty underground secret sewer labs which evoke cold-war CIA leftovers, CRT monitor computers held together with tape, and CB radios or pagers being the only means of communication on the go. The characters of Resident Evil need limitations, not government funding. For me, it’s a story of wrong place wrong time heroes, against the hordes of walking nightmares, taking down the literal or figurative ‘Umbrella’ corporation. It's not them going out there armed to the teeth while working for one (benevolent or otherwise). Much of this is achieved through a 90s period piece, which to me is far more tangible and relatable than something in a post-apocalyptic-anderson land.

Welcome to Raccoon City wanted to do this. It was one of the strongest aspects of that adaption for me. The film was dripping with Resident Evil, and the 90s setting was a firm footing …it’s just a shame the script and other aspects fell so short. (For what it’s worth, I’ll continue to watch and enjoy WTRC forever. It’s a lot of fun. I wasn’t looking for as much fun as it gave, but I took it for what it was all the same).

All this 90s talk brings to me my final point…

The Resident Evil games copied The X-Files, so maybe a new TV show should too.

Ok, I say copy …but I need a snappy and outlandish header there. What I mean is, embrace the original influence, and put the Resident Evil spin on it, just like the games did. I feel like the most recent Netflix Resident Evil show toyed with the themes I’m about to lay out, but never pushed it as far as I’d like, and also, took itself far too seriously.

Just like most things in the original Resident Evil games, The two character dynamic was almost certainly influenced by popular western media of the time. The X-Files was one of the biggest shows on TV in the early 90s, and you don’t need to leap far to see the similarities between the trials and tribulations of Mulder and Scully against Jill/Barry and Chris/Rebecca, and Leon and Claire. Not to mention the whole S.T.A.R.S / FBI / Conspiracy deal. There’s even a few season one episodes of The X-Files with some strikingly similar music and visuals verging on copyright infringement from Capcom’s side.

The X-Files took genre TV into the mainstream in a way that Star Trek only really dreamed of. Boasting almost double the ratings of The Next Generation, thanks to its iconic leads, X-Files made sci-fi sexy, and quite frankly, far less embarrassing to watch. Don’t shoot the messenger here – I like both shows, but the fact is, Chris Carter tapped into a more grounded and less “nerdy” approach by the standards of the era, (usually), which is a big part of what drew in a wider demographic.

A staple of the The X-Files was the ‘monster of the week’ concept, which branched out from the wider mythology and conspiracy theme of the show. Resident Evil is this in a nutshell. Horrible monsters, and conspiracy (though Aliens haven’t arrived in RE …yet). Having a television series introducing us to these aspects on a week-by-week basis would make for delectable viewing. One week it’s the zombies. The next it’s a hunter. One week it’s virus lore. The next it’s a licker. You get the idea. I’m simplifying here, but I think the reason the original Resident Evil games worked so well, was how the game systematically terrified you, one creature after another, the further you progressed. It drip-fed the horror in a way where just when you’d become used to the zombies and dogs, suddenly a giant snake came to brighten your day, and so forth. A B.O.W of the week conspiracy led show is ripe for the taking. A slower paced re-telling of events leading up to the mansion incident, the horrors of that night itself, and then what followed is a structure we haven’t seen yet in any RE adaptation. It doesn't need to be 1:1, but there's so much there to play with, keeping the overall conspiracy as a back-drop, and then each episode with its own monstrous topping.

This is of course just one man’s opinion. I’m buried in my own nostalgia here, but as someone who’s been along for the Resident Evil journey, mutated eyeballs ‘n all, and as someone who DOES ENJOY much of the later entries, along with many parts of the recent adaptations, I just like to hope, after almost 30 years, that my opinion offers some fleshy food for thought is all. Maybe you have a counter opinion? Let me know! I love talking about this stuff. We all do, and we should revel in the possibility for the future.

Resident Evil going back to its roots might be what’s best for business at this point. Welcome to Raccoon City promised it would, but failed to deliver on many fronts, and had its legs cut out from it by squashing all those said roots into one film, leaving us with a small glimpse at what could have been. There’s room yet for another attempt…people want “serious” Resident Evil, and point to this Last of Us adaptation. The problem is, Resident Evil has never really been that serious. Maybe we think it was because most of us were kids when we first played it. Resident Evil embracing what it was at inception, via all the DNA I’ve mentioned above, in a TV series with time to breathe, for me, would be my preferred route for the future.

Failing that…do an Animatrix and give us a bunch of shorts instead.