Ethan Winters’ journey across this and the previous Resident Evil represent a wiry, weird fable of emotional distress. Little of Village’s kooky, raw camp fits Winters’ pain as he tries to reunite his family and save his child; that’s just Resident Evil’s way (still), paying tribute to schlock horror. Where Italian horror maestros in the… Continue reading Resident Evil: Village (Xbox Series X)
There’s a breathlessness to Resident Evil 3, a genuine urgency to cure Raccoon City of its corporately-induced infection (released by the ludicrously unethical Umbrella Corp.). Everything about Resident Evil 3 surges, desperately pushing toward the solution – a vaccine. It’s nigh impossible to imagine a game more “in the moment” than this, right now. In… Continue reading Resident Evil 3 (2020, Xbox One)
With their own police force rarely active because of limited crime (and little to no gun violence), Japanese developers of Resident Evil 2 look toward the heightened violence of western cops. It’s surreal to see American police through Eastern eyes. The fictional Racoon City police station is a towering, imposing, gothic structure. In the basement… Continue reading Resident Evil 2 (PS4)
Resident Evil 7 has many masters, from schlockbuster found footage horror to mainstream offerings. It treats the backwood bayou stereotype as a viral infection (a clever if ultimately unfilled promise), induces VCR terror tropes, eventually manifesting into killer kids, but not before blending in a touch of Sam Raimi’s off-beat Evil Dead – or at… Continue reading Resident Evil 7 (Xbox One)
Before the series was swamped by SyFy Channel-isms of capitalism and rogue genetics, Resident Evil served as a stubborn, barely ambulatory trot through movie studio Universal’s horror canon. Via pre-rendered backgrounds, Resident Evil found art in the inactive, locking cameras into place as directors of the ’20s and ’30s were often forced to do. Although… Continue reading Resident Evil Origins Collection (PS4)
