George A. Romero's Resident Evil

As a fan of Resident Evil, zombies and Romero, this documentary took me by surprise. I didn't know of its making, so faced with the news it had just been released piqued my curiosity. It proves to be moderately interesting, but diluted by uninspired structure and is ultimately unsure as to what it really is about.

Just to prove my Resident Evil chops, I was well aware of the near mythological tales of what-could-have-been Romero's Resident Evil and even read his script for it back in the day. I'm also in the camp of those who think Paul W. S. Anderson's take on the franchise is an abomination that should never have had any tangent to the Resident Evil universe. This means that I've often ruefully wondered about why Romero wasn't allowed to bring his considerably more faithful version to life.

Brandon Salisbury's take on the matter is a scattered one, diluted with narration and script read outs, but not without moments of charm and intrigue. It definitely tells a story, covering a lot of ground on both the RE franchise and Romero's legacy. After briefly introducing Romero as a creator, it goes on to the origin of the Resident Evil series. For about twenty minutes it then delves into what I thought the main topic would be about, how Romero's Resident Evil came to (not) be, before becoming a full-on ode to Romero himself.

The homage to Romero is the best part of the film and, to its merit, it does also answer the question of why his version of Resident Evil didn't come about.

Part of the reason why the tribute works best, is because of the colour brought by many of the people who were interviewed, obviously touched by Romero not only as an artist, but also as a person. This works well, even if there's very little from Romero himself in this film. It also delves into some interesting curiosities about the latter part of his career and his legacy, which leaves the distinct feeling that a movie focused on Romero would have had more to say.

Like the Resident Evil franchise, this documentary is torn between finding a commercial niche and telling something worth watching and listening to. It's going to be kind of interesting for fans of Resident Evil, but anyone who cares about this particular intersection of history, will probably know most of the things GA Romero's Resident Evil has to say.

Missed opportunity from an inexperienced director. Narration seems AI created, talking head interviews have no name Kyron's to identify. Long meandering voiceover scenes, explaining story ideas with game footage, make for an uninteresting experience. Disappointing.

Missed opportunity from an inexperienced director. Narration seems AI created, talking head interviews have no name Kyron's to identify. Long meandering voiceover scenes, explaining story ideas with game footage, make for an uninteresting experience. Disappointing.

Missed opportunity from an inexperienced director. Narration seems AI created, talking head interviews have no name Kyron's to identify. Long meandering voiceover scenes, explaining story ideas with game footage, make for an uninteresting experience. Disappointing.

No pun intended - anyone who was lucky enough to have met the man, can and will tell you (like me), that he was the sweetest human being out there. And so humble - I don't think he ever really was able to grasp how many lives he changed! Directly or through his movies - which I reckon is also kind of directly.

So I knew most of the stuff already that is being rolled up and off at the beginning, but you have to get to a point where everyone is on the same level of information. And that starts with background on the game Resident Evil - with enough players (actually producers) to give us insights.

Yes Romero was a major influence ... if there is a disc version of this documentary, I do hope they include the ads (trailers) he did for Biohazard 2 (the Japanese name of the Resident Evil games) ... generally speaking I hope there is more on an disc version.

A lot of players are missing (Tom Savini to name just one of his greatest collaborators). So while this is mainly focused (or supposed to) on Resident Evil ... there are personal touches on his life too. And the foundation his wife brought to ... well life after his death.

One documentary is not enough to do the man justice of course - and the reading of the script (or the scenes within) that never was made ... but probably would have been at least as good as the one they eventually did ... well it is heartbreaking ... but it is what it is ... the German production company decided to go the commercial route ... I reckon you can't blame them - but you can still hate them ... a nice little documentary with some insights and new information I reckon for those interested.

It was a beautiful humane story of George Romero's stance; his core values outweighs what could've been. A fun directorate role from Brandon Salisbury, takes a re-watchable trip through not only memory lanes but unexplored areas. This is absolutely a much watch. As a fan of the original Biohazard/Resident Evil, it's insanely nice to see something relevant about the movie ideas from that 1996 masterpiece.

For those who don't know, this movie stars Norman England (author of Behind the Kaiju Curtain) and James Rolfe makes a cameo as well. I appreciate the modern day influences taking place on this movie.

Truth be told I have never played a Resident Evil game, but have seen bits and pieces along with watching others play. However, I feel like this documentary isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. In my personal opinion the title should of at least been a bit closer to tell people that this film is about George A. Romero's legacy and not only about Capcom and their videogames. A lot of care was put into the documentary with references to the Resident Evil franchise. I felt like it was very informative and well structured. Again I have not known the Resident Evil franchise long enough as most die-hard fans so possibly if you are already well informed on the information regarding the Resident Evil films then possibly you might not enjoy it as much because it would be a rehash of the same information. Again I enjoyed it because I didn't know much about the Resident Evil films that were in production.

Also I do not understand where people are getting the idea that this film was made for profit when it is obviously stated the film is clearly for George A. Romero's legacy and his foundation to promote new filmmakers.