Zombies in film: Resident Evil

“Survive the horror.”

Film: Resident Evil

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Written by Paul W. S. Anderson

Produced by Constantin Film Produktion, Davis-Films, Impact Pictures and New Legacy

Story: Adding to the mythology of this long running video game series, Resident Evil follows the story of Alias. A super soldier actually never named in the movie. The story of Alias and RE is very long and twisted and if you want to go into it quite a deep dive. But the story of them ovie is fairly simple. A team of Umbrella Soldiers go into a secret Umbrella building called the Hive to find out what went wrong. What went wrong is everyone turned into zombies. Alias is the soldier who was supposed to protect the mansion which serves as the entrance to the Hive. She is taken in with the team along with another man and a second man is found on the way in. These two men turn out to be part of Alias discovering her involvment in the project and trying to bring down Umbrella. Zombies, zombie dogs and Lickers (though the movie calls them Hunters) make for a very entertaining and undead filled flick.

Zombies: The zombies in this film come in three varities, much like the games the virus creates mutated versions of itself, resulting in the "Hunter" called a "Licker" in the games. This creature has an incredibly long and powerful tongue, along with huge claws that can rip through metal. The creature changes and grows as it consumes fresh DNA. Then there are zombie dogs, which some argue are possible and some argue are not. And of course normal zombies. These zombies are fairly inconsistent for being in one film. Some times they go straight for the survivors, sometimes they disapear with no explaination. The most realistic thing about them is the amount. Where there is any more then one or two zombies there are scores of zombies. And then surprise! If you look deeper into the Wesker Reports Alias' past (and future) is revealed in an interesting way.

Survival Lessons:

• If all hope seems lost, take a step back. Literally.
• Never give up on someone left for dead.
• If you warn someone that you will shoot them, and they keep coming, and you shoot them, and they keep coming, shoot them in the head, a lot.
• Shutting off the power is not always the best idea.
• You're never safe.
• If there is a cure and you're infected, it's probably too late anyway.
• If you haven't been infected there is always hope.
• Never trust corporations.
• Don't turn your back on an opening door.

Warnings: The sequels are very disapointing.

In the end this movie is an excellent addition to the zombie world. The T-virus is the perfect example of any number of real viruses being change into a bio-weapon by a corporation. It shows a fairly good course of events in which even the most elite soldiers can fall. In adition to all of this it is a fairly entertaining movie as well.

Until next time, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,

Mike D.