I saw Cregger's Resident Evil
I have enjoyed most of Zach Cregger's previous few films, so I was absolutely locked in to see Resident Evil... even though I've never played a single one of the games, or even watched a single one of the other movies all the way through.
I really enjoyed it, though!! And I have absorbed enough Resident Evil knowledge through industry osmosis that I could recognize what it was doing with respect to the games. What "it's doing" is obvious enough, actually, that I think anyone could enjoy this without caring about Resident Evil. This is a movie about what it feels like to play horror games.
I won't go into the plot, but the movie is full of little moments where you know exactly what's going to happen, the character knows exactly what's going to happen, and he has to keep walking forward... because there's only one way forward... just one hallway lined with evil monster closets on either side, or whatever. He talks about and reacts to these obvious white-knuckle moments in exactly the way people do when they're playing any survival horror game for the first time.
I don't even play horror games that often, but the movie is so clearly about what it feels like to play through, say, Ravenholm, that I immediately felt: oh, I know what's going on here.
It's great. And even though so many of these moments feel so obvious, you really can't hate them, because the execution is really very good. This movie looks fantastic, which helps a lot - it does not look "videogamey." And it has great pacing, and is very, very funny. This sad wet white boy is onscreen 100% of the time, is dumber than rocks, and is delivering immensely corny dialogue, and you never get sick of it or sick of him. It's really, really impressive!
Part of what's going on here is, I think, that survival horror videogames are about walking face-first into obviously bad situations. In horror movies which are not about videogames, this kind of behavior can get annoying. In a horror movie about videogames, you see the protagonist walking into an obviously bad situation, and you think: That's me! I've done that, too!
The most important thing about this, though, is that the movie looks like a movie. It captures the emotional sense of playing a horror game, but isn't interested in looking like games or playing tricks with game-type visuals. I think that's part of why it's so successful! I think it was a very wise choice to avoid Resident Evil-style visuals entirely, and instead to lean on tried-and-true visual storytelling tricks from horror films.
Austin Abrams is going to get a lot of roles from this, I think. The script for this movie is largely very corny, and I think it would have been insufferable in the mouth of most 30-something male actors. But he sells it completely. If there is any role available for a sad wet white boy/tumblr sexyman type character in the future, he'll be in the running for it, I think. There is a scene near the end of the movie where they get him shirtless, and also film him so that you can see he has a bit of a belly, and make him look all of eight inches high. They knew what they were doing here!!
I recommend seeing this! If you've ever thought about what it would take to make a movie express the same emotional dynamics as a game, this is an interesting case study. And it's just a great horror film, too. Unlike Cregger's previous work, it has no twist - it's just straight-ahead horror storytelling craft, and he absolutely delivers.