Looking back in hindsight, the first Resident Evil movie was actually not that bad. Released in 2002 and directed by Paul W S Anderson (Event Horizon, AVP), the movie told of a secret facility beneath Racoon City called the Hive, in which the Umbrella Corporation had developed the notorious T-Virus. While the movie is, in all honesty, a typical example of a low budget, PG-13 rated action movie, narratively it worked alongside the iconic video games upon which it was based.
Unfortunately the second movie, 2004's Resident Evil: Apocalypse used elements from the video games third installment Resident Evil: Nemesis, introducing movie audiences to the S.T.A.R.S. hunting bio-weapon of the same name, but in a twist too bizarre for fans Anderson, solely credited as the movie's writer, had Umbrella's most iconic villain become a good guy.
After that, each successive sequel deviated more and more from the source material while the video game series too lost its focus, becoming a generic shooting game rather than remaining within the survival horror genre it had birthed. Once highly popular the Resident Evil games have become a shadow of their former selves, with each new addition to the series moving further away from the nerve-shredding gameplay of the 1996 classic.
While it may be some time before Japanese developer Capcom finally put the franchise to eternal rest we can at least be thankful that next January will see the release of the sixth and last Resident Evil movie, subtitled unimaginatively "The Final Chapter". The trailer included below courtesy of IGN, showcases the forthcoming finale's "best bits" to the soundtrack of Guns 'N' Roses hit 1988 single Paradise City.
Horror fans will no doubt have felt an air of familiarity, with the trailer outright referencing the popular AMC TV series The Walking Dead with the shot seen at the 0:49 mark in the above trailer (also pictured top) mirroring the poster used to promote the first series of The Walking dead, pictured below.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter releases January 27th, 2017 and will see writer and director Paul W S Anderson's wife Milla Jovovich reprise the role of Alice one last time alongside Heroes star Ali Larter and opposite Game of Thrones star Iain Glen and series regular Shawn Roberts reprising his role as Albert Wesker.
