It’s now official: Resident Evil is not only Zach Cregger’s highest-grossing film (ahead of hits like Barbarian or Weapons), it’s also the most successful in the entire history of the franchise. So far it’s at 321 million, and it’ll keep climbing, on an $80 million budget. I mean, it’s made profits hand over fist and cements Cregger as the true messiah of modern horror… no matter how much the most purist fans complain.
Like a zombie
However, despite support from much of the community and the general public, we still hadn’t heard from our official movie-buff gamer: Hideo Kojima, whose little Twitter reviews are gospel for thousands of followers. Well, the creator of Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid has finally gone to see the adaptation and has not only approved of it, but fully understood what its director was trying to do.
“I wasn’t particularly interested at first”, he admits, “but since it’s the latest from Zach Cregger, I went to see Resident Evil. Right from the start it hits you with music that recalls The Thing. From there, it unleashes a barrage of classic horror techniques, terrifying situations and scares nonstop, and never disappoints until the end”. Hear that? It’s the fans of the original game grinding their teeth.
And why did he like it so much? Because, instead of adapting the game as-is, it adapts the way it’s played. “This isn’t a Resident Evil adaptation. It’s a movie about the experience of playing it, with the controller in hand. It reminded me of how I felt when I played the original on PlayStation back in 1996. I was like Bryan in this movie. I kept getting Game Over after Game Over, shouting “Fuck!” over and over again”. Of course, his mentions are full of people telling him he’s wrong, but Kojima doesn’t seem to have cared in the slightest. True to form, now and always.
