After the dust settled on six movies of zombie action mayhem in 2016, the time arrived for a fresh cinematic approach to begin. Honouring the legacy of the games with iconic throwback scenes, detailed costume design and sets, this new era comes under the title of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City! STARBURST talks with director and writer Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) to uncover how he approached merging the first two instalments into one story, his lifelong love for the games, and just what it was like to create within those legendary Resident Evil locations!
STARBURST: How did the initial idea come together for this movie, and how did you also want to make it different to anything Resident Evil fans have witnessed before?
Johannes Roberts: The real key for this was just to go back to the games. I’m a huge gamer. We wanted to go back to the first and second games and do a horror movie. It was a completely different thing, it was just starting over again, and telling a scary story. Just falling in love with the games once more.
We must ask, were you a fan of the Resident Evil games before you got involved with this movie, and if so, what memories do you have from playing the games?
Yeah, I started playing the games as a student. I really got in to them, in terms of they were really in love with the same kind of horror movies that I was in love with. I really responded, and connected with them. I just had a lifelong affiliation and attachment to the games, and then when the reboot of the second game came out, it just kind of blew my mind. That game was so important to me.
When you first started working on the screenplay, was there a particular moment where you realised that what you were working on was going to look really awesome on the big screen?
There were certain things that were hugely exciting, like writing the police station and the mansion. Knowing that we were going to build those, was very exciting. Then there were scenes like the gun flash fire sequence in the movie where it was like “That’s going to be awesome!” There was quite a lot of fun zombie action moments. I was like “This is going to be great!”
What were the challenges behind merging the first two games into one film, and what were your influences for achieving this approach?
It was pretty tricky, because there are so many characters, and it’s quite a big ensemble piece. Obviously, they are all canon characters. So it was a little tricky to give everybody their own space, airtime, and individuality. But I sort of really used Assault on Precinct 13 as a benchmark, and approached it almost like a Western, with all of the characters coming together. It just felt right.
You see a lot of classic Resident Evil shots in the trailer alone, the biggest one maybe being the zombie turning its head right from the start of Resident Evil 1! Was that one of the main goals for the movie, to have a more fan-service approach, especially for the fans of the Resident Evil games?
It was! I’m a big fan, so I very much wanted these moments in there, and I was having a huge amount of fun putting them in there. So I really hoped people would dig it.
The Resident Evil games are known for its scary as hell gameplay. When you open a door to a room, you can just hear a zombie in the distance, out of sight. It’s disturbing. As a director who has worked in horror before, how did you go about capturing some of that feeling from the games within the movie?
I really tried to lean into that open the door, who knows what’s in there feeling. We went quite retro with the sound design as well. So you would just hear zombies in the distance. We really tried to play with what’s off screen.
You’ve created amazing versions of the police station and the mansion! How did you go about bringing those detailed sets to life, and for you as a director what was it like to just be really submerged in those classic Resident Evil locations?
It was a lot of fun as a geek, to walk onto the sets of the game. We built them from the blueprints that we got from Capcom, and we worked hand in hand with them to make this as faithful as possible. We really tried to match the games perfectly at times. It’s a proper nerd’s delight.
Capcom is obviously top secret, can you elaborate on what were they like to collaborate with?
They were really fun. It’s so weird, I guess I just assumed that they’d be like Umbrella – this faceless corporation. In fact, they’re nerds, geeks, and they just got super excited. It was really fun.
Each character within the Resident Evil realm is legendary, and each one could probably have their own movie. How did you go about displaying the legacy of so many classic characters within the movie?
It’s tricky, I tried to tell a small-town story of this dying American town. Setting the iconic characters within that, in an almost Deer Hunter way. You had Jill [Hannah John-Kamen], Wesker [Tom Hopper], and Chris [Robbie Amell] as these small-town people, who’d never left home. Then you’ve got Claire [Kaya Scodelario] coming into town, a drifter. It was fun, and like I said it was tricky to give them their own airspace. However, it was a lot of fun to try to bring them to life.
As well as the sets, the actual costume design overall has a video game style to it! Can you tell us about how you personally wanted the characters to look and come across on-screen?
I tried to keep it faithful to the games, but I tried not to make it too cartoony. It was a difficult balance to achieve. I wanted to make them feel real, but also it’s a hyper real story.
Also, leading on from that, were there any other elements from the games that you were really excited to bring to the big-screen, which we maybe haven’t discussed just yet?
I really enjoyed bringing the monsters to the screen. Having Lisa Trevor [Marina Mazepa] for the first time in one of the movies. Having the Licker, and all of the other creatures. It was fun to have some of the side characters like Chief Irons [Donal Logue] and William Birkin [Neal McDonough], and to really go and have fun with them. To let them chew the scenery a bit.
You’ve worked on some really cool horrors in the past. From The Strangers: Prey at Night to 47 Meters Down. Was there anything you learnt from putting those movies together that you applied to Resident Evil?
Just building atmosphere. Keeping it dark and scary. I really wanted to embrace the communal horror experience of sitting in a dark room with a group of people, who are jumping and screaming. It was all about having a fun roller coaster ride.
Tough question time. As you yourself are a fan of the games, and as we’ve said, some of the shots are clearly pulled right out of the games, what was your favourite moment that you got to put into this movie, and why?
I loved doing the turnaround zombie, because it was just so iconic. Oddly the most awe-struck I was when making this was just standing on the police station set, just being there. I was like “Wow, this is the game!” It was really fun. So yeah, some of those moments were just really cool. I felt like this was exactly what I wanted to achieve.
Finally, why should STARBURST readers check out Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City?
It’s just a great fun ride, a scary ride that’s just so totally in love with the games and John Carpenter movies. It’s a proper old school ‘70s horror.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is in cinemas from December 3rd.
