Capcom’s Resident Evil game franchise has dozens of different installments already. Some games are more dedicated to horror, as vulnerable players try to survive grotesque bioweapons that chase them through narrow corridors. Others are full-blown action games where the goal is to shoot down hordes of flesh-hungry zombies. Now that Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is finally available in theaters, fans of the franchise might be wondering how scary the film really is. Well, lucky for you, we already saw the movie, and we have a clear answer.
Is ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’ Scary?
Welcome to Raccoon City follows a biological accident that leads to a zombie outbreak in the titular town. There, a group of survivors needs to fight the cannibal creatures and escape before the whole city is destroyed. There’s no way to deny it: Welcome to Raccoon City has a straightforward horror premise, and if you wanted to catch a pure action flick, maybe you should stay away from this one. However, Welcome to Raccoon City honors the uneven tone of the game franchise, making the final result not as scary as pure horror movies.
Even the best Resident Evil games shift their tone from level to level. Each main title has sections dedicated to survival horror, with anxiety-inducing challenges that make the skin crawl out of your body — Resident Evil Village’s dollhouse, we are looking at you. However, since the franchise’s first game, gunfighting has also been present, with entire sections dedicated to shooting down monsters and feeling a powerful action hero. Lastly, the Resident Evil franchise is never afraid of being campy, incorporating horror elements that turn out to be a lot more funny than scary. That includes over-the-top villains, unbelievable plot twists, and hilarious deaths.
The entire marketing campaign of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City underlines how the movie was made for fans and tries to stick as close as it can to the games. Regarding the tone, we can say Welcome to Raccoon City is an absolute success. Writer and director Johannes Roberts creates some spooky sequences where creatures lurk in the shadows waiting for their prey to come by. At the same time, some of Welcome to Raccoon City’s events are so exaggerated they will make you laugh. Finally, there are also some action-focused set-pieces bringing back the thrill of gunning down giant creatures while fighting for your life.
Like every Resident Evil game, Welcome to Raccoon City transits between the horror and the action, with a final result that can be exciting, scary, and even a little bit cringy. Well, that’s precisely how the Resident Evil games make us feel, and we all still love them. So, if you are going to the theaters, don’t expect Welcome to Raccoon City to scare you all the time, as the movie has its fair share of funny moments and references made especially for fans. Nevertheless, the film will do its best to scare you sometimes, and if horror is a sensitive subject for you, be warned that Welcome to Raccoon City has its fair share of spine-chilling scenes and creepy creatures.