George A. Romero's Resident Evil (2025)

[BluBonnet]

Releasing digitally Jan 7th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5_pB2Z0y6g

[BluBonnet]

More info:

George A. Romero's Resident Evil is an upcoming American documentary film directed and co-written by Brandon Salisbury. The documentary is about the unrealized film adaptation of the horror video game series Resident Evil, for which filmmaker George A. Romero was considered as a director; in 1998, Romero completed a draft of a screenplay for a Resident Evil film for Constantin Film, but the game series' publisher, Capcom, rejected the script.[2] A film adaptation written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and produced by Constantin Film was eventually released in 2002.

George A. Romero's Resident Evil features interviews with figures associated with the unrealized Resident Evil adaptation, as well as archival footage and "unearthed documents" that pertain to the project. The documentary is filmed in a mansion, intended to be reminiscent of the fictional Spencer Mansion that served as the setting for the first Resident Evil game. Pablo Kuntz, the original voice of Albert Wesker in the original game, narrates the documentary.

The documentary will release on digital on January 7, 2025.

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[Telemachus]

Someone made an entire documentary about a rejected rough draft script? We are circling the drain of entertainment

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Someone made an entire documentary about a rejected rough draft script? We are circling the drain of entertainment

The 2-hour YouTube review of the documentary, now that's entertainment

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Releasing digitally Jan 7th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5_pB2Z0y6g

I remember when this announced. Interested to hear the story of why it did not happen.

[Mr. Chaverria]

I feel like Resident Evil by Romero was still going to suck. I mean, look at how his stuff had been doing up to that point. Getting him to hit the mainstream and work? Ehhhhh.

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Someone made an entire documentary about a rejected rough draft script? We are circling the drain of entertainment

There's been plenty of documentaries about films there weren't made. Jodorowsky's Dune is a popular one.

It's actually really interesting that people are so interested in "what could have been" films and how they crumbled.

As a Romero fan, I'm so jazzed for this.

Originally Posted by Mr. Chaverria

I feel like Resident Evil by Romero was still going to suck. I mean, look at how his stuff had been doing up to that point. Getting him to hit the mainstream and work? Ehhhhh.

I read his script. It's easy to find.

He def didn't follow the game closely but I dug some of the deviation he did. I feel like this could have been a really compelling film had we got it.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

There's been plenty of documentaries about films there weren't made. Jodorowsky's Dune is a popular one.

Don't forget The Death of Superman Lives.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Agreed. It's about 20 mins too long.

Something like Jodorowsky's Dune made me want to see that movie made (and it's an awful Dune adaptation) but this did the opposite for me. I read Romero's Resident Evil script and I liked it. But this film didn't make me want to see this get made.

Originally Posted by Poya

Don't forget The Death of Superman Lives.

What other documentaries do we have on films that didn't get made?

The Jodorowsky Dune one is amazing to me. Wrong or right, the dude is very engaging for conversation. Not that it would ever happen but I'd love to get a peak at that Dune book he has.

[Resident Evil Labs]

Im actually super excited for this release. I already bought it since it's most likely not getting a Blu ray I assume. Ever since I played Resident Evil in 96 I've been a lifelong fan. Played every game, love some of the films even, specifically Resident Evil 02, Extinction, and Welcome To Racoon City. Also love some of the CG films, so I'm very excited to see what Romero would have brought to the table. Would it have been good? Maybe or it could have been really bad like Survival. I've been intrigued since Romero announced he was directing Resident Evil in Fangoria. Love stuff like this and the Fantastic Four movie doc.

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by Resident Evil Labs

Im actually super excited for this release. I already bought it since it's most likely not getting a Blu ray I assume.

Dark Star Pictures have NA rights on this. The director is working on the special features for a blu ray release later this year.

[Resident Evil Labs]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Dark Star Pictures have NA rights on this. The director is working on the special features for a blu ray release later this year.

Ok then I'll get that eventually too

[Brutalizer79]

The commercial Romero did for RE2 in Japan is better than any of the Live-action RE stuff we've gotten since.

[mwynn]

RESIDENT EVIL 2 : Live Action Trailer 1998 REMASTERED | George A. Romero | BServ Restoration - YouTube

[Resident Evil Labs]

Originally Posted by Brutalizer79

The commercial Romero did for RE2 in Japan is better than any of the Live-action RE stuff we've gotten since.

I love that commercial and it does capture the feel of the games. But I have to challenge that, there are scenes in the live action films that 100 feel this authentic as well. Here's my examples, let me know your thoughts as well...

Resident Evil 02:

the scene were Alice wakes up in the shower and proceeds to explore the mansion, very RE imo. The scene with Alice in the lab with the dogs, felt classic RE as well.

Apocalypse:

The scenes with Jill exploring the church and walking past the woman statue, the scenes with Jill in the school and the dogs. Those are almost pure RE to a T imo.

Extinction:

The end were Alice goes to the underground lab and is walking around with her flashlight and exploring different rooms where bodies are impaled on poles, and other mutilated bides etc. I remember going, wow this really feels like RE

Welcome To Racoon City:

The whole Spencer Mansion approach in the helicopter, looking down at the Arklay mountains was fantastic imo. The whole outer mansion reveal, and the whole scene of Chris and the other team exploring the mansion. That scene alone was probably even closer than what the commercial did ,if not as close imo.

So there's some of my favorite scenes that I think fully capture what RE is. And I don't think they get enough credit honestly.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by Resident Evil Labs

I love that commercial and it does capture the feel of the games. But I have to challenge that, there are scenes in the live action films that 100 feel this authentic as well. Here's my examples, let me know your thoughts as well...

Resident Evil 02:

the scene were Alice wakes up in the shower and proceeds to explore the mansion, very RE imo. The scene with Alice in the lab with the dogs, felt classic RE as well.

Apocalypse:

The scenes with Jill exploring the church and walking past the woman statue, the scenes with Jill in the school and the dogs. Those are almost pure RE to a T imo.

Extinction:

The end were Alice goes to the underground lab and is walking around with her flashlight and exploring different rooms where bodies are impaled on poles, and other mutilated bides etc. I remember going, wow this really feels like RE

Welcome To Racoon City:

The whole Spencer Mansion approach in the helicopter, looking down at the Arklay mountains was fantastic imo. The whole outer mansion reveal, and the whole scene of Chris and the other team exploring the mansion. That scene alone was probably even closer than what the commercial did ,if not as close imo.

So there's some of my favorite scenes that I think fully capture what RE is. And I don't think they get enough credit honestly.

Yeah. But those movies mostly are crap.

The first one is decent w/ pretty good action of that time for that budget. It screams a movie of that time too w/ what Sony was buying up and pushing out to theaters.

But Apocalypse is shitty. RE3 (the movie) is mediocre. And I can't remember the rest but I saw them cuz I got the set as a gift. The action just kept getting weirder and somehow worse at times too. It's a very odd franchise that people supported for some reason. All the same... I never hated Jovovich in it. She's decent. But the characters are not great either. They're really stupid. Those films are something that fuels the fire of action movies needing to be dumb w/ who cares plots. Action movies or whatever genre... don't need to just be whatever that genre can add in to get your kicks. A good story would be nice. We don't get enough of those in genres like action or horror.

[Jay Mammoth]

Wish we would have got this movie instead of what we ended up with. They were terrible.

[stvn1974]

Originally Posted by Jay Mammoth

Wish we would have got this movie instead of what we ended up with. They were terrible.

I like the Resident Evil movies, what the hell did George A. Romero know about making zombie movies anyway?

[Resident Evil Labs]

Originally Posted by Jay Mammoth

Wish we would have got this movie instead of what we ended up with. They were terrible.

Unfortunately the fan base would have hated his version too most likely. He changed certain characters races, people would have been pissed. He changed a bunch of the lore too. But it was a first draft so it could have changed even more. Idk I hope it would have been good like Land, and not awful like Survival. But we will never know

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Resident Evil Labs

Unfortunately the fan base would have hated his version too most likely. He changed certain characters races, people would have been pissed. He changed a bunch of the lore too. But it was a first draft so it could have changed even more. Idk I hope it would have been good like Land, and not awful like Survival. But we will never know

Not a surprise. Romero tends to have PoC as the primary leads, at least the more heroic ones, since his whole theme surrounding his work is how being a PoC in America, particularly if you're black, is just as horrifying as any scary movie.