''Resident Evil'' is a 2002
action horror film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...
written and directed by
Paul W. S. Anderson
Paul William Scott Anderson (born 4 March 1965) is an English filmmaker who regularly works in science fiction films and video game adaptations.
Anderson made his feature film debut with the British independent film '' Shopping'' (1994), a ...
. The film stars
Milla Jovovich
Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich; sr-Latn, Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; russian: Милица Богдановна Йовович; uk, Милиця Богданoвна Йовович ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovo ...
,
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodriguez (born July 12, 1978) is an American actress.
Rodriguez began her career in 2000, playing a troubled boxer in the independent sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), where she won the Independent Spirit Award and Gotha ...
,
Eric Mabius
Eric Harry Timothy Mabius (born April 22, 1971) is an American actor. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, with a degree in cinema studies. After working in theater productions, Ma ...
,
James Purefoy
James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor. He played Mark Antony in the HBO series ''Rome'', Nick Jenkins in ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', college professor turned serial killer Joe Carroll in the series ''The Following ...
,
Martin Crewes
Martin Crewes is an Australian stage, television and movie actor.
Early life
Crewes was born in London. He moved to Australia when he was 10 years of age, and attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, in Perth, Western Austra ...
, and
Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon (born ) is a British actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''Doctor Who'', ''Merli ...
. It is the first installment in the
''Resident Evil'' film series, which is loosely based on the
video game series of the same name. Borrowing elements from the video games ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'' and ''
Resident Evil 2
''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zom ...
'', the film follows
amnesia
Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
c heroine
Alice and a band of
Umbrella Corporation
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
commandos as they attempt to contain the outbreak of the T-virus at a secret underground facility.
German studio
Constantin Film
The Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of pr ...
bought the rights to adapt the series in January 1997. Several writers and filmmakers, such as
Alan B. McElroy
Alan B. McElroy is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film, television, comic books, and video games. He is best known for his collaborations with Todd McFarlane on the ''Spawn'' franchise, and for penning horror films such as ...
,
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...
and
Jamie Blanks
Jamie Blanks (born 29 November 1971) is an Australian film director and composer. He directed the cult slasher films ''Urban Legend'' (1998) and '' Valentine'' (2001). He later directed the horror films ''Storm Warning'' (2007) and ''Long Weeke ...
, were initially hired to direct and write the film, but their scripts were rejected. In 2000,
Paul W. S. Anderson
Paul William Scott Anderson (born 4 March 1965) is an English filmmaker who regularly works in science fiction films and video game adaptations.
Anderson made his feature film debut with the British independent film '' Shopping'' (1994), a ...
was announced as writer and director. Developed as a
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
set in the same
continuity as the video game series, the film was initially titled ''Resident Evil: Ground Zero'', but was retitled after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. Cast was announced in early 2001 and
principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
commenced in March 2001 in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
''Resident Evil'' was theatrically released in Germany on March 12, 2002, by Constantin Film Verleih, and in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2002, by
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
and
Pathé Distribution
Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipmen ...
. The film received generally unfavorable reviews from critics and grossed $103 million worldwide against a production budget of $33 million. It was followed by five sequels establishing their own
alternate continuity: ''
Apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
'' (2004), ''
Extinction
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
'' (2007), ''
Afterlife
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...
'' (2010), ''
Retribution'' (2012), and ''
The Final Chapter'' (2016).
Plot
Underneath
Raccoon City
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
exists a
genetic research
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wo ...
facility called the Hive, owned by the
Umbrella Corporation
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
. A thief steals the genetically engineered T-virus and contaminates the Hive with it. In response, the facility's
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
, the
Red Queen, seals the Hive and kills everyone inside.
Alice awakens in the bathroom of a deserted mansion with amnesia. She dresses, checks the mansion, and is tackled by an unknown person as a group of commandos led by
James Shade breaks in. Alice's attacker is cuffed and then released when he claims to be Matt Addison, who just transferred as a cop in Raccoon P.D. Alice and Matt are ordered to go down to the Hive with the group, where they find another amnesiac, Spence, hidden in their train. The commandos explain that everyone in the group except Matt is an employee of the Umbrella Corporation, and Alice and her partner Spence were assigned to guard the Hive's secret entrance under the mansion under the pretense of being married.
At the Red Queen's chamber, a laser defense system kills Shade and three more commandos. Despite the Red Queen's urgent pleas for the group to leave, Kaplan disables it, causing the power to fail and all of the doors in the Hive to open. This releases the zombified staff and containment units containing
Lickers, creatures created through experimentation with the T-virus. The humans are attacked by the horde, and J.D. dies.
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
retreats with Kaplan and Spence, and Matt becomes separated from Alice, who starts regaining her memories. Matt looks for information about his sister, Lisa, and finds her zombified. Alice saves him, and Matt explains he and Lisa were environmental activists, and Lisa infiltrated Umbrella to smuggle out the evidence of illegal experiments. Alice remembers she was Lisa's contact in the Hive but does not tell Matt. The survivors reunite at the Red Queen's chamber, where the commandos explain they have one hour before the Hive traps them inside automatically. Alice and Kaplan activate the Red Queen to find an exit; to force her cooperation, they rig a remote shutdown.
As they escape through maintenance tunnels, zombies ambush them, and a reanimated J.D. bites Rain before she shoots him dead. They reach safety except Kaplan, who is bitten and separated from the group. Alice remembers that an anti-virus is in the lab, but they find it missing. Spence and Alice remember that Spence was the thief who stole and purposefully released the T-virus, and hid the T-virus and anti-virus on the train. Spence turns against the others but is bitten by a zombie, which he kills before trapping the survivors in the lab. Spence retrieves the anti-virus but is killed by a Licker set upon him by the Red Queen. The Red Queen offers to spare Alice and Matt if they kill Rain, who has been infected too long for the anti-virus to work reliably. As the Licker attempts to reach them, a power outage occurs. The lab door opens to reveal that Kaplan shut down the Red Queen to open the door. The group heads to the train, where Alice retrieves the anti-virus and kills a reanimated Spence before escaping with the others.
On the train, they inject Rain and Kaplan with the anti-virus. The Licker, having hidden on the train, attacks them, clawing Matt and killing Kaplan. Alice subdues the Licker before Matt is attacked by a zombified Rain, the anti-virus having failed to cure her. He shoots Rain dead, and her head hits a button, opening a door and dropping the Licker under the train, killing it. At the mansion, Matt's wound begins mutating. Before Alice can give him the anti-virus, the mansion doors burst open, and a group of Umbrella scientists seizes them. They subdue Alice and take Matt away, revealing he is to be put into the
Nemesis Program, and that the Hive is to be re-opened for an investigation into the incident. Later, Alice awakens at the Raccoon City Hospital strapped to an examination table, and escapes outside to find Raccoon City
deserted and in ruins. She retrieves a shotgun from an abandoned police car and continues through the streets.
Cast
Production
Writing
Alan B. McElroy's script
German production company
Constantin Film
The Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of pr ...
bought the film rights for ''Resident Evil'' in January 1997, and hired screenwriter
Alan B. McElroy
Alan B. McElroy is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film, television, comic books, and video games. He is best known for his collaborations with Todd McFarlane on the ''Spawn'' franchise, and for penning horror films such as ...
to write the script. Several magazines from 1997 published early reports about McElroy's storyline: a U.S. covert
paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
rescue squad is put together with members from all over the country, and is sent to a medical research facility inside a remote mountain community, where there has been a string of bizarre murder cases. Another team sent in earlier was killed; the new team members encounter genetically mutated creatures, and realize they are being used as specimens in a medical experiment. While he was writing his ''Resident Evil'' script, McElroy was also writing the film adaptation for another survival horror video game, ''
Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* ...
'', which ultimately wasn't used.
By mid December 1997, it was reported McElroy was putting the final touches on his ''Resident Evil'' script.
The June 1998 issue of ''
PlayStation Magazine'' published an article about the script, after they got a leaked copy of one of McElroy's revised drafts from early 1998. Described as action and horror packed and very violent, it was similar to the original game. Some changes were made; for example, there was no mention of the
Umbrella Corporation
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
or
STARS
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
, but the script did include all major characters and monsters from the game. It also included scenes based on the game's more famous moments, like a zombie eating someone and then turning its head around, and a zombie dog crashing through a window. The plot followed a rescue team with members from different military and special forces (including Chris, Jill, Barry, Brad, Rebecca and others from the game). The team is put together by Albert Wesker, who was in an asylum (no explanation for why was given in the script) until he got recruited by the government to rescue scientists from the mansion laboratory located in Raccoon forest. A
SWAT team
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
was sent in earlier to investigate disappearances and murders of campers and park rangers, but they were destroyed by mysterious creatures. Soon after, Wesker's team lands in the forest and is attacked by mutated dogs, but manages to get into the mansion. After battling monsters, including zombies, giant tarantulas and giant hornets, and losing team members and eventually running out of ammo, the team would find the scientist they were sent to rescue and discover that the mission was a trap for them to get infected and spread the virus to the rest of the world. The script's ending had Chris and Jill as last survivors who find the antidote and escape the mansion as it explodes while they are pursued by Wesker who has mutated into Tyrant, the final monster from the game. They defeat the Wesker-Tyrant, take the antidote and walk off into the sunset. Although producers at Constantin Film felt he did a good job with it, McElroy's script was rejected because, by the time it was finished, ''
Resident Evil 2
''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zom ...
'' would have been out, and some at Constantin felt that a movie based on the first game would have been "dated and boring". McElroy has a story credit in the released film, which does still have some similarities to his script.
George A. Romero's script
In 1998,
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...
directed a television commercial for the video game ''
Resident Evil 2
''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zom ...
''. The original game's director,
Shinji Mikami
is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. Starting his career at Capcom in 1990, he has worked on many of the company's most successful games. He directed the first installment of the ''Resident Evil'' series in 1996 and the f ...
, was a fan of Romero and had been influenced by
his films. The commercial was only shown in Japan, but impressed Sony enough for them to ask him to write and direct ''Resident Evil''. Romero stated that he had his secretary play the entire game through and record the gameplay so he could study it as a resource. Romero's screenplay was based on the first ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'' game and included characters from the video games.
Chris Redfield
is a character (arts), character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. Chris debuted as one of the two player character, playable characters of the original Resid ...
and
Jill Valentine
Jill Valentine is a character (arts), character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. She was introduced as one of two player characters in the original ''Residen ...
were the lead characters, involved in a romantic relationship, and
Barry Burton
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
,
Rebecca Chambers
is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. She was first introduced as a supporting character in the original ''Resident Evil'' (1996) and became pla ...
,
Ada Wong
is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. She was first introduced as a supporting character in ''Resident Evil 2'' (1998), and became a playable charact ...
, and
Albert Wesker
is a fictional character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. He is first introduced in the original ''Resident Evil'' (1996), in which he is the captain of the R ...
were to also appear. The ending to the film would have been similar to the ''best'' ending to the first ''Resident Evil'' game. Like McElroy, Romero made some changes in his script, like writing Barry, who is white in the game, as African American, and added some history between him and Wesker, now best friends since childhood that have been working together for years on military missions. Chris was changed into a
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
*Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
*Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...
man who is not a STARS member but has been living in Raccoon City all his life. Romero also hired artist
Bernie Wrightson
Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...
to design some concept artwork of creatures for the film, and Wrightson did several designs of Tyrant, based on its look in the original game and its description in Romero's script.
In a 2002 interview in ''
Fangoria
''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
The magazine was originally released i ...
'', Romero said that he wrote a total of five or six different drafts, but that they were rejected.
Robert Kulzer, head of the production, said that, although he felt Romero's script was good, the film would have received an
NC-17 rating
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
if it had been approved.
Romero said a number of people from Capcom and Constantin supported his script, but Constantin head
Bernd Eichinger
Bernd Eichinger (; 11 April 194924 January 2011) was a German film producer, director, and screenwriter.
Life and career
Eichinger was born in Neuburg an der Donau. He attended the University of Television and Film Munich in the 1970s and bou ...
ultimately rejected it. In 2019, the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
's Library System acquired the "George A. Romero Archival Collection", which included material from his work on ''Resident Evil''. These include several copies of Romero's ''Resident Evil'' script, and a first draft of McElroy's script, dated May 29, 1997, all of which are available to read at the University. Romero's first draft dated October 7, 1998 leaked out and has been available to read online, but none of his later drafts nor any of McElroy's have leaked out to the wider public.
Jamie Blanks's pitch
After Romero left the project, other writers and directors were involved for the next few years before the film went into production. In early 2000, director
Jamie Blanks
Jamie Blanks (born 29 November 1971) is an Australian film director and composer. He directed the cult slasher films ''Urban Legend'' (1998) and '' Valentine'' (2001). He later directed the horror films ''Storm Warning'' (2007) and ''Long Weeke ...
, who two years earlier directed the psychological slasher film ''
Urban Legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
'', was attached to direct ''Resident Evil'' based on a new script from another writer, which was about the STARS team fighting against monsters created by a virus outbreak inside Raccoon City. This version was cancelled as well.
Paul W. S. Anderson's script
In 1995,
Paul W. S. Anderson
Paul William Scott Anderson (born 4 March 1965) is an English filmmaker who regularly works in science fiction films and video game adaptations.
Anderson made his feature film debut with the British independent film '' Shopping'' (1994), a ...
's low budget film ''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'' became one of the first commercially successful video game adaptations. After playing ''Resident Evil'', Anderson saw its cinematic potential and wrote a script titled ''Undead'', which he described as "a ripoff" of the game. Bernd Eichinger, head of Constantin Film, was enthusiastic, so Anderson developed it into the script for ''Resident Evil''.
In late 2000, Anderson was announced as director and writer, and ''Resident Evil'' re-entered pre-production stages. Anderson stated the film would not include any tie-ins with the video game series as "under-performing movie tie-ins are too common and ''Resident Evil'', of all games, deserved a good celluloid representation".
Casting
In early 2001,
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodriguez (born July 12, 1978) is an American actress.
Rodriguez began her career in 2000, playing a troubled boxer in the independent sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), where she won the Independent Spirit Award and Gotha ...
,
James Purefoy
James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor. He played Mark Antony in the HBO series ''Rome'', Nick Jenkins in ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', college professor turned serial killer Joe Carroll in the series ''The Following ...
and
Milla Jovovich
Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich; sr-Latn, Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; russian: Милица Богдановна Йовович; uk, Милиця Богданoвна Йовович ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovo ...
were the first of the cast to be signed on the project.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...
was also originally set to star as Alice, and at one point during development
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series ''Kids I ...
,
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film ''New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her rol ...
, and
Natasha Henstridge
Natasha Tonya Henstridge (born August 15, 1974) is a Canadian actress and model. In 1995, she came to prominence with her debut role in the science-fiction thriller ''Species'', followed by performances in ''Species II'' and ''Species III''. She ...
were all in the running to play Jill Valentine, but due to the amount of nudity in the role they all turned it down, and the character was written out in later versions of the script.
David Boreanaz
David Paul Boreanaz ( born May 16, 1969) is an American actor, television producer, and director known for playing the roles of vampire-turned-private investigator Angel on The WB/UPN ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' supernatural drama (1997–2003 ...
was intended to portray male cop lead Matt Addison, but he turned down the role to continue work on the
WB series ''
Angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
''.
Boreanaz suggested that he was in negotiations to have a smaller role in the film, but later declined. The role of Matt Addison then went to
Eric Mabius
Eric Harry Timothy Mabius (born April 22, 1971) is an American actor. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, with a degree in cinema studies. After working in theater productions, Ma ...
who was cast in March 2001,
along with
Heike Makatsch
Heike Makatsch (; born 13 August 1971) is a German actress. She is known for her roles as Lisa Addison in ''Resident Evil'' (2002), Mia in ''Love Actually'' (2003), and as Liesel's mother in ''The Book Thief'' (2013).
Early life
Makatsch was bo ...
, who was cast as Matt Addison's sister Lisa Addison, an employee working for
Umbrella's Hive facility.
Filming and story development
In early March 2001, half of the film was to be shot in Adlershof Studios in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and its surroundings.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began on March 5, 2001 at numerous locations including the then unfinished station
U-Bahnhof Bundestag of the
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train li ...
, Landsberger Allee, Kaserne Krampnitz and the Schloss Lindstedt.
The
film's score and
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
were composed by
Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami (born October 7, 1966) is an American composer and conductor of film and television scores. He has worked in a number of genres, including horror (''Scream'', ''Mimic, The Faculty, Resident Evil, The Woman in Black, A Quiet Place' ...
and
Marilyn Manson
Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...
during mid-2001. Manson described the score and soundtrack as being more "
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
" than his previous work.
The film was originally subtitled as ''Resident Evil: Ground Zero''
when the movie was considered a
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
to the games, but the subtitle was removed due to
9-11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
.
The film's first plot as of March 16, 2001 revealed that Jovovich's
Alice and Rodriguez's Rain were the leaders of a
commando team sent in to prevent a viral outbreak from spreading to the rest of the world.
The character of the Red Queen was added into the film's story as an
homage
Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to:
History
*Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance
*Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts
*Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
to
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
's ''
Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...
''.
During production, professional dancers were hired to star as zombies as they had better control of their body movements. While computer effects were used on some zombies, much of the undead appearances were accomplished through make-up while their movements were a more
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
approach, as Anderson told the actors to move however they thought a zombie would, given their conditions.
Whilst filming, there was a shortage of manpower where the available dancers were not enough to represent the required numbers of undead, but some of
Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
's executives and several of the film producers including
Jeremy Bolt
Jeremy Bolt (born 1965) is a British film producer. After co-founding Impact Pictures with Paul W. S. Anderson in 1992, Bolt has produced the majority of Anderson's films. He is most well-known for producing the ''Resident Evil'' series and '' D ...
agreed to make appearances. The film's
stunt coordinator
A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company for stunt casting. Their job is to arrange the casting (stunt players and stunt doubles) and performance of stunts for ...
also made an appearance as the dog trainer while Bolt's girlfriend and sister both appeared as zombies.
Relationship to the games
Elements are borrowed from ''
Resident Evil 2
''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zom ...
'' and ''
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis'', including Alice's character awakening in
Raccoon City
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
Hospital with a viral outbreak occurring in the city. There are several references to characters and organizations such as the
Umbrella Corporation
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
, the
Nemesis
In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view.
Etymology
The n ...
program, the underground train bearing the moniker "Alexi-5000" (a double callback to a similar train in ''Resident Evil 2'' and ''
Code: Veronica''s villain
Alexia Ashford
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
), and a police cruiser, from which Alice takes out a
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
, with a "
STARS
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
" logo on the hood.
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor.
Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...
appears uncredited in the film as a masked unnamed doctor, a reference to
William Birkin
This is a list of ''Resident Evil'' characters, which includes playable and recurring characters that were introduced in ''Resident Evil'', a series of survival horror video games.
Appearances
P - Playable character (campaign/unlockab ...
. The character of
Dr. Isaacs (played by
Iain Glen
Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. Glen is best known for his roles as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO fantasy te ...
) in the film's sequels is named after him.
Other references include Alice examining the mansion outside, where crows are visible; crows are minor enemies throughout the games.
Alice finds a picture of her wedding day with Spence, which is in the same style as the photos in the first version of the ''Resident Evil'' game: black-and-white with the foreground image noticeably
spliced
Spliced may refer to:
*Spliced, the result of rope splicing
Rope splicing in ropework is the forming of a semi-permanent joint between two ropes or two parts of the same rope by partly untwisting and then interweaving their strands. Splices ca ...
into the background. In the newspaper at the end of the film, the words ''"Horror in Raccoon City! More Victims Dead!"'' are shown in the upper right corner. This is a reference to the same newspaper in the censored opening of the first ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'' game and the prologue chapter for the ''
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy'' novel. Near the beginning of the film, Alice examines a statue after the wind blows its cover off. This statue is similar in design to one in the mansion of the first game.
While returning to the Red Queen's chamber, Kaplan points out that the four bodies of the group's dead crew from the Glass Hallway Trap sequence are gone. This is a reference to the games, where the bodies of enemies disappear.
When the survivors make their escape from the Hive with a countdown as they fight the Licker, this is a reference to the ''Resident Evil'' game which ends with a five-minute countdown, during which the boss must be defeated.
Anderson has stated that the film's
camera angle
The camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The diffe ...
s and several shots allude to the video game's camera angles, such as the fight between Alice and the security guard. These include a scene near the beginning where there is a close up of Alice's eye, a direct reference to the title screen of the first game. In another scene, Alice awakes and hears a creepy sound, which is a reference to the plot of the first game.
Release
Marketing
In March 2001, the official website was set up, which revealed the film's original October 26, 2001 release and a redirect to the film's production company Constantin Film. The website was fully opened in July 2001, and composed of images, plot info, character biographies and downloads. In January 2002, the film was officially announced to have an
R rating, although Anderson decided not to make it as gory as the games.
Originally it received an NC-17 rating and Anderson had to make cuts; the uncut version was teased but never released.
In December 2001, Sony gave fans a chance to design the film's poster with a prize of an undisclosed amount of cash and free screening of the film, with the final design being the film's poster. On February 16, 2002, Nick Des Barres, a 23-year-old aspiring actor and ex-video game magazine designer, was announced as the winner of the competition. The film's
trailer and clips were released in late January and early February 2002. ‘’Resident Evil’’ was released on March 15, 2002 in the US.
On June 29, 2004, over two years after the film's release, a novelization by
Keith R. A. DeCandido was published.
Distribution
In May 2001, it was announced that
Sony Pictures Releasing
Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainme ...
would distribute the film in North America through their
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
label. It was suggested by Capcom executives that the film would not be released in 2001, but rather in 2002, which was later confirmed by Sony in August 2001. The film was set for release on April 5, 2002 before being pushed forward to a March 15 release.
In December 2001, it was announced that
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...
and
FilmFour
Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, it ...
had acquired the British theatrical distribution rights to the movie as part of a partnership between the two companies. They would both share acquisition and distribution costs and divide profits equally, while Pathé's UK distribution arm would handle distribution.
Home media
''Resident Evil'' was released on
VHS and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
by
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment on July 30, 2002 in the United States, April 14, 2003 by
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...
in the United Kingdom and October 2002 by
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,[music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...]
for a remixed version of "
My Plague
"My Plague" is a song by American heavy metal band Slipknot. Produced by Ross Robinson and the band, it was featured on the band's second studio album ''Iowa'' (2001) and released as the second single from the album on July 8, 2002. The single v ...
" by
Slipknot.
A Deluxe Edition was released on September 7, 2004, which included new special features such as an alternate ending with director Anderson's video introduction, a clip compilation for ''
Apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
'', From Game to Screen featurette, a storyboarding ''Resident Evil'' featurette, and 6 other exclusive featurettes: The Creature, The Elevator, The Train, The Laser, Zombie Dogs and Zombies.
Screen Gems released ''Resident Evil: Resurrected Edition'', a 2-disc package containing ''Resident Evil'' and ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'', on September 4, 2007.
On January 1, 2008, a
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
of the ''Resident Evil'' trilogy was released. The film was also released on
Ultra HD Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Bl ...
along with the five sequels on November 17, 2020.
Television
In the United Kingdom, it was watched by viewers on television during the first half of 2005, making it the eighth most-watched UK film on television during that period.
Reception
Box office
The film opened in 2,528 theaters and grossed $17,707,106 on its opening weekend (March 15–17, 2002), ranking in second place behind ''
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
''.
The film grossed $40,119,709 domestically and $103,787,401 worldwide.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has a score of 35% based on reviews from 131 critics and an average rating of 4.60/10. The consensus reads, "Like other video game adaptations, ''Resident Evil'' is loud, violent, formulaic, and cheesy."
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has an average score of 33 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Robert K. Elder
Robert K. Elder (born January 20, 1976) is an American journalist, author, and film columnist. He is currently the President and CEO othe Outrider Foundation He has written more than a dozen books on topics ranging from the death penalty and m ...
from the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' thought the film "updates the zombie genre with an anti-corporate message while still scaring its audience and providing heart-pounding action".
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
from ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' noted: the film is as "impersonal in its relentlessness as the video-game series that inspired it".
''Resident Evil'' and its sequel appeared on
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
's most hated films list, published in 2005.
In his review, Ebert described it as a zombie movie set in the 21st century, where "large metallic objects make crashing noises just by being looked at", and criticized the dialogue for being a series of commands and explanations with no "small talk".
In 2014, filmmaker
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...
named ''Resident Evil'' his biggest guilty pleasure.
Accolades
Sequels
After commercial success at the box office, a sequel, ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' (2004) was released. It was followed by ''Resident Evil: Extinction'' (2007), ''Resident Evil: Afterlife'' (2010), ''Resident Evil: Retribution'' (2012) and ''Resident Evil: The Final Chapter'' (2016). Anderson did not direct the second or third films due to filming commitments with ''Alien vs. Predator (film), Alien vs. Predator'' (2004) and ''Death Race (2008 film), Death Race'' (2008).
See also
* List of films based on video games
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Resident Evil (Film)
Resident Evil (film series)
2002 films
2002 horror films
2000s action horror films
2002 science fiction action films
German action horror films
German science fiction action films
German science fiction horror films
British zombie films
2000s English-language films
English-language German films
Films directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
Apocalyptic films
Films produced by Paul W. S. Anderson
Films set in country houses
Films set in the United States
Films shot in Berlin
Films shot in Brandenburg
Films shot in Toronto
Girls with guns films
Films about viral outbreaks
Films about rebellions
Films scored by Marco Beltrami
Films produced by Bernd Eichinger
Screen Gems films
Film4 Productions films
Constantin Film films
Films with screenplays by Paul W. S. Anderson
British action horror films
British science fiction horror films
British science fiction action films
2000s science fiction horror films
2000s British films
2000s German films