Warning: Spoilers for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City has arrived in theaters, but how gory and scary is the reboot of the zombie-slaying video game movie franchise? 2002’s Resident Evil, starring Milla Jovovich as original character Alice and directed by Paul W.S Anderson, first brought the highly popular zombie-filled video game franchise to the big screen. The film’s success spawned a long-running series that concluded with 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Set in 1998, Welcome to Raccoon City starts the franchise anew, with the Umbrella Corporation’s experiments with the T-virus unleashing zombies on the titular city. With its R-rating and source material, the question on the minds of many audience members, particularly those with children, is how much blood the new Resident Evil brings with it. The answer, and no doubt a hardly surprising one, is “a lot,” which begs the question of whether or not it’s appropriate for kids under 17 to see it.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Being set in a zombie apocalypse like The Walking Dead, and an adaptation of the Resident Evil video games specifically, Welcome to Raccoon City is exactly as gore-filled as one would expect. As soon as the zombies show up, anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in the clutches of the undead meet bloody and gruesome fates. The sci-fi elements of Resident Evil also lead into the movie dabbling in some body horror, which may unsettle younger viewers who are otherwise fine with other kinds of gore.

One scene in an underground laboratory shows a human experimentation subject that’s been vivisected but still animated and moving from the neck up. Additionally, the Resident Evil character Birkin (Neal McDonough) spends the third act showing his early transformation into the monstrous creature G from the games, and undergoes a fairly violent encounter at one point in the climax. Clearly, Welcome to Raccoon City is no less intensely violent than the original Resident Evil movies, and arguably is quite a bit more so.

As for how scary Welcome to Raccoon City is, it takes on a much darker tone than Milla Jovovich’s Resident Evil predecessor movies. Nearly the entire movie takes place at night, and much of it occurs in dark, underground settings. The movie has the perfect environment for jump scares built right in, and Welcome to Raccoon City exploits that opportunity every chance it gets. Jumps scares are a traditional sore point for those who shy away from horror movies, and if that’s the case, Welcome to Raccoon City may be one to steer clear of.

See also  How Pokémon Bank Transfers To Home Work After The 3DS Store Closes

Many characters from the games also appear in the film, including the two leads Claire and Chris Redfield, played by Kaya Scodelario and Robbie Amell, along with Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), and numerous others. However, Welcome to Raccoon City drops them right into a terrifying scenario with no preparation, unlike the seasoned zombie killers gamers know them as, so it’s easy to feel right in their shoes in the movie’s story of the chaos of a sudden zombie outbreak. Overall, Welcome to Raccoon City isn’t necessarily nightmare fodder, but it’s a fittingly atmospheric zombie movie, and a very violent one, albeit with some potentially onerous restrictions from Resident Evil publisher Capcom. Fans of the Resident Evil games will likely enjoy what Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City brings as a reboot of the franchise, while those creeped out by moody atmosphere or averse to typical zombie violence should definitely buckle up if they decide to give the reboot a watch.

Doctor Strange 2 Trailer Shows Scarlet Witch Attacking Illuminati Base

About The Author


Brad Curran
(716 Articles Published)

Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

See also  10 Most Hilarious Sitcom "Boomer" Characters, Ranked

More From Brad Curran