Resident Evil began as a video game which eventually expanded into a thriving horror film franchise of the same name. The first “Romero-esque” Resident Evil movie was released in 2002. It became the highest grossing franchise based on a video game spawning seven movies.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was released in 2016 to ostensibly end the current franchise. Despite its finality, the creators of the franchise went back in time to 1998 to explore the chilling origin story of the Spencer mansion, the Umbrella Corporation and the Hive. It captured the aesthetic and technology of the era such as dial-up internet and Palm Pilots. Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down) who wrote and directed Welcome To Raccoon City spoke to Creative Screenwriting Magazine about building and sustaining the successful film franchise.
“The previous Resident Evil franchise was its own thing. It wasn’t specifically tied to the games,” he explained. Milla Jovovich who played Alice Marcus, the security specialist, battles the Umbrella Corporation in the films, wasn’t tied to a character in the game. Paradoxically, when the creators sought to reboot the Resident Evil franchise, they turned to the games for inspiration. “We wanted to look at where it all came from because it had never been done.” They explored why the Umbrella Corporation chose Raccoon City to conduct their genetic experiments.
Johannes Roberts
Johannes Roberts wasn’t simply brought to the project as a hired hand. He’s been a fan of both the films and the games for years. He innovated the zombie/ monster horror tropes through Alice’s character. “The first Resident Evil film came out when horror was in a bad place. Veteran horror filmmakers Wes Craven and John Carpenter were no longer finding their audiences. Stephen King was doing endless TV adaptations. I felt very uncatered to and lost in the horror world.” After the first Resident Evil game was released, Roberts’ passion for horror was re-ignited.
“My nerdy love of the horror of the 70s and 80s is in Raccoon City,” he proclaimed.
Raccoon City – Not A Reboot
“We wanted to explore the horror aspect and the characters from the original games,” he continued. Roberts amended his previous statement because he didn’t completely consider Raccoon to be a reboot. He felt it was more an alternative beginning. “It was the first time anybody really adapted the games into a film.”
Building out his new creative venture while paying homage to its producing material was a tricky path to navigate. Johannes studied his horror hero John Carpenter and his film Assault on Precinct 13 to begin the process of what Raccoon might be. “He’s the master of siege movies. I knew Raccoon City was going to be all about the police station.” Roberts wanted to recreate the element of the siege by bringing a group of disparate characters into a confined space and introducing them to the audience, before heading off to battle the Umbrella Corporation.
“Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) is the drifter from out of town and rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia) wakes up hungover and doesn’t know where he is,” are examples. Roberts used Kennedy’s perspective to tell the story and capture the humorous tone of the film.
Roberts’ following task was to recreate the tone and atmosphere of the games. “The second game had just come out. It was so cinematic and so terrifying. Raccoon was very much about creating that scary world. ”
Leon Kennedy (Avan Jogia) and Claire (Kaya Scodelario) Photo courtesy of Sony Screen Gems
Then there were the locations to consider. There had to be the Spencer mansion, the Hive laboratory and the police station. He also visited numerous websites from fans of the games which explored many aspects of the world that Johannes didn’t previously consider. They asked questions and proposed storylines Roberts never thought about.
The writer/ director brought the Lisa Trevor (Marina Mazepa) from the first Resident Evil game into his film. “When I used to play the game, I found her very disturbing and haunting,” he stated. He wanted to explore the tragic and tortured nature of her life in Raccoon City. “She’s a key character that helps us reposition the Resident Evil franchise into something much darker and human-based rather than comic book based action hero movie.” Roberts similarly ensured that all the iconic characters from the game were faithfully and respectfully portrayed in Raccoon City.
Siblings Chris (Robbie Amell) and Claire Redfield are now adults, but a rift has developed between them. Chris still believes in the work of the Umbrella Corporation while Claire sees right through them.
Despite being part of the same Resident Evil universe, the games and film are independent entities which significantly influence each other. “The previous film franchise was its own thing. Oddly, it influenced the games. Later, toward Resident Evil: Retribution and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, the games started looking at the films for creative inspiration.”
After careful deliberation, Johannes Roberts decided that Raccoon City was ultimately an adaptation of the novelizations by S.D. Perry which were, in turn, adaptations of the video games. Although the films and novels were standalone platforms, they were faithful adaptations of the intention of the source material.
In order to transition from The Final Chapter into Welcome To Raccoon City, Roberts used a crawling graphic to introduce the faceless Umbrella Corporation and the decimated mining town Raccoon City to the audiences who weren’t familiar with the backstory. “I want to set people up quickly. After that, the story is self-contained so audiences don’t need to have watched the previous movies or played the games to follow the story.” However, participating in other aspects of the Resident Evil universe will heighten your appreciation of it. There are Easter Eggs in most scenes for the Resident Evil aficionados.
“If you played the games, you’ll enjoy it more because you’ll understand the subtle references and see the characters you know come to life.” Roberts’ main goal was to unite the audiences with the horror and mystery of the story rather than connecting the older fans of the franchise with the new.
Resident Evil has aged well thematically. Its themes of unchecked corporate malfeasance are still relevant today. Roberts cited Chernobyl (Craig Mazin) and Dark Waters (Todd Haynes) as covering similar themes of the death and destruction faceless corporations may cause in the relentless pursuit of profits. “Both were drama versions of the story we were telling in Raccoon City,” he concluded.
