Why Can't Hollywood Make Resident Evil Work?

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Riddle me this, dear viewer. In a world where Hollywood are somehow able to hammer together viable, crowd-pleasing movies that retain the spirit and characters of platformer games like Mario and Sonic or fighting tournaments like Mortal Kombat, which basically have no plots to speak of and very little lore to build on, then how in the name of holy do they manage to fail at Resident Evil time and time again? I mean, it's like being able to consistently nail a hole in one at golf, but failing to sink a putt from like 2 feet away. It's a franchise that's literally tailorade for film adaptations. I mean, the whole reason it was created in the first place was to replicate the look and feel of cheesy bem movie horror films, complete with zombies, traps, spooky houses, and bad acting.

[00:00:47]>> That was too close. You were almost a Jill sandwich.

[00:00:51]>> YOU'RE RIGHT.

[00:00:58]I MEAN, you're telling me you can't make a movie out of that? Why? It's not like Resident Evil is some devious enigma that requires fivedimensional quantum mega chest to unravel. It's a simple formula, but holy do they make it hard on themselves. If anything, the harder they've tried, the worse it's gotten over the years. And by golly, have they tried. First up were the Ma Javich movies from the early 2000s. I mean, I can at least say they bore some kind of vague resemblance to the games.

[00:01:29]At first, yeah, they were cheesy and hamfisted and trying so hard to be cool in that cringy postmatrix world of 20 years ago that you can't help but smile when you look at them now. They're like charming little artifacts from a different age. Their fundamental flaw though was that they tried to bend the events and mythos of the Resident Evil universe around a brand new protagonist with all the charm and personality of Sabrina Carpenter. Seriously, why is that astroturf bimbo suddenly everywhere played by an actress with all the emotional range of Galgadot on horse tranquilizers? There was nothing to root for with Alice because her plot armor was so impenetrable. It made Ry look positively vulnerable in comparison. The series was also a case study on the principle of really, they want us to make another one. By the time you got to the third film, the series had abandoned any pretense of following the games and went completely off in its own batshit crazy direction. Each new movie undoing and recconing the events of the previous film because it was obvious the writers had absolutely no plan for where they wanted to go next. They were just winging it really, making each new movie as if they thought it was going to be their last, only to find out, oh, we need to make another one. But somehow, against all the odds and logic and common sense, they kept making money.

[00:02:45]And so, they kept churning them out until the series finally died for good in 2017. But worse was to come, dear viewer. Oh, yes. Then came Welcome to Raccoon City in 2021, a movie that valiantly tried to fuse together the events of the first two games into one disjointed, barely coherent narrative. I mean, in its defense, it at least tried to stay faithful to the video games, bringing in somewhat recognizable locations, plot events, and characters.

[00:03:12]Yeah, most of them looked, talked, and acted like completely different people.

[00:03:16]Yeah, the dialogue and the acting were so wooden you could build chunky, rustic coffee tables out of it. And yeah, it was very obvious the movie was reaching way beyond what it could do with its tiny budget of 25 million, but it was something at least. Then came the Netflix show.

[00:03:36]Oh god, the Netflix show. Truly, there are no curses in Entish, Elvish, or The Tongues of Men to properly convey my absolute disgust for that despicable piece of part teen high school drama, part post-apocalyptic survival story, part feminist power fantasy with a good old dash of race baiting lumped in and all garbage. It had about as much respect for the Resident Evil series as I have for the Last Jedi. It's painfully clear now that the showrunner was completely in business for himself, that he had his own original story he desperately wanted to tell and reluctantly tacked the Resident Evil name onto it just to get it made. And I bring all this up because it seems to be a common thread running through these doomed Resident Evil projects. Paul Thomas Anderson wanted to make action horror movies with his wife, so he used the Resident Evil series as a launchpad before going completely off in his own direction. Andrew Dab wanted his teen drama with a pair of strong, empowered female leads, so he stuck some Resident Evil references in there to get all of that sweet, sweet Netflix money. And now here we are in the year of our lord 2026 staring down the barrel of a fourth attempt at Resident Evil. This time courtesy of Zack Kger. And the more I hear about this film, the less excited I feel for it. Not because I think Kger is a bad director. Far from it. I like the guy and I think he did a good job with weapons. And not even because I think he'll make a terrible film. In fact, I'm guessing it'll probably be a decent, competently made horror movie. The problem is I think it's going to be a Resident Evil film. Why? Because just like Paul Anderson and Andrew Dab before him, Zack Kger is entirely out to tell his own story with this one. And don't just take my word for it. Listen to what the man himself had to say. I'm not going to tell Leon's story because Leon's story is told by the games. Fans already have that. This is a story that I would have wanted to write whether I got the IP or not. Now, pay attention to that last point 007 because it's pretty important. This isn't an adaptation of the games, the characters, or the storylines of Resident Evil. It's entirely a story of its own that he would have written anyway. It just so happens to sit within the Resident Evil universe. And if the rumors I've heard are true, that connection amounts to nothing more than a brief reference to Raccoon City near the end of the film.

[00:05:51]In other words, a token gesture.

[00:05:54]And every time I see another project like this, I just have to ask myself, why? Why do filmmakers insist on putting their own stamp on existing IPs? I mean, is it an ego thing? Can they just not work unless they get to spread their own glorious creative wings? I don't know.

[00:06:11]But me. Is it frustrating to watch people exploit these games for name recognition just so they can tell their own completely unrelated story? That is not what the fans want. It would be like having a Tomb Raider movie about a delivery truck driver who's trying to reconcile with his aranged wife while battling alcohol addiction. And in the final scene, he happens to make a delivery to Croft Manor. It might be a great little story on its own merits, but it's not why I came to watch a movie with the Tomb Raider name on it.

[00:06:38]Like I say, this video isn't to hate on Zack Kger. I'm sure he'll make a good horror movie that stands on its own merits. I just wish we would have left the Resident Evil name out of it. And I wish that after almost 30 years of failed attempts, we'd get an actual faithful adaptation of the games for once. Oh well, a man can dream, I guess.

[00:06:57]Anyway, that's all I've got for today.

[00:07:00]Go away