Nerdly » ‘George A. Romero’s Resident Evil’ Review

09th Jan2025

‘George A. Romero’s Resident Evil’ Review

by Jim Morazzini

Written by Brandon Salisbury, Robbie McGregor | Directed by Brandon Salisbury

When you read about the films that could, and really should, have been made, you usually hear about Jodorowsky’s Dune, Richard Stanley’s The Island of Dr Moreau and Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon are among the most frequently mentioned. However, one that should get just as much mention is George A. Romero’s Resident Evil.

Four years before Paul Anderson kicked off his franchise, George Romero, who certainly knew a thing or two about zombie movies, was hired to shoot a commercial for Resident Evil 2. When it was well received, plans were made to have him adapt the property as a feature film. A year later, he was fired from the project by Constantine Films.

Director Brandon Salisbury and co-writer Robbie McGregor devote just under two hours to exploring what happened, starting with his groundbreaking film Night of the Living Dead. There’s a lot of time devoted to its impact, with the other two films in the trilogy getting a briefer examination. His zombie adjacent film, The Crazies, gets barely a mention, which is odd considering the similarities in its plot and that of Resident Evil, similarities that are mentioned later.

From there, the film shifts its focus to the development of the original Resident Evil, or as it’s known in Japan, Biohazard, game. From its origin in an earlier game based on the movie Sweet Home through its development, and the effect Romero’s films had on it. It’s at this point that the two threads come together, with the game’s unexpected, and overwhelming success and the decision to hire Romero to direct the commercial for the soon to be released Resident Evil 2.

Unfortunately, while all of this is interesting it’s just as George A. Romero’s Resident Evil reaches the topic we tuned in to see, it stumbles. The problem is there seems to be very little concrete information on what went on behind the scenes between Romero and the higher ups at Constantine Films. There are excerpts from interviews and lots of speculation, but nothing solid about why he was let go in favour of Anderson.

The film does somewhat make up for that with a deep analysis of Romero’s script for the unmade film. It helps connect the dots between the game, Romero’s previous films, and various themes that turn up in much of his work.

George A. Romero’s Resident Evil also raises the most likely theory as to why he was replaced, the film’s scope, budget and extreme levels of gore were incompatible with making a profit. That’s something that would have felt like déjà vu, having run into the same problem with Day of the Dead. But where he was willing to rewrite that film to reign in its budget, he may have been unwilling to do so here. As one observer noted, “He would not sell his soul just to get a film done.”

In another odd choice, while Salisbury and McGregor discuss the Anderson films, the reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and the live-action Netflix show, they completely ignore the four animated films and the miniseries Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness. These were all produced by Capcom and stayed much closer to the games than any of the live-action films. It seems a glaring omission that they weren’t covered, while tangential topics like Constantine’s involvement with Roger Corman’s unreleased Fantastic Four film, itself the subject of the documentary Doomed, is.

Much of what we are told comes from, not the usual celebrity talking heads, although the creator of the Resident Evil games Shinji Mikami and Kenichi Iwao who wrote the original game might qualify for that description. Instead, there are hosts of podcasts about the games, people from the George A. Romero Foundation and others who were picked for their knowledge rather than simply being a familiar name to attract viewers.

The result, while not being the deep look at what went on behind the scenes during the unmaking of the film, is frequently interesting. If you’re a fan of Romero or the Resident Evil franchise, you’ll probably want to see George A. Romero’s Resident Evil. More general genre fans, however, may find it a bit overlong at just under two hours.