Resident Evil: Degeneration, the first canonical film in Capcom’s legacy horror series; Resident Evil (Biohazard). All though three movies have released under the series name they have come from sci-fi director Paul W.S. Anderson. The reviews may be mixed, though one thing is for sure; the current line of releases do very little to resemble the Biohazard games. This time however, Capcom of Japan mixes up the formula and brings us something fresh. The result is a full-cg ninety minute film that focuses on continuing the story and capturing fans of the series.

At the start of the film we are placed in an airport and introduced to long time series veteran Claire Redfield, voiced by Alyson Court (Biohazard 2, Biohazard CODE: Veronica). After the introduction of a few new characters and seemingly the entire cast, the nightmarish events of Biohazard 2 start to repeat themselves in front of a shocked and disheartened Claire Redfield. Retaining full character, Claire tends to the survivors until long time partner and now special government agent Leon S. Kennedy is dispatched to the scene. Voiced by Paul Mercier (Biohazard 4), Leon and Claire find themselves in a very similar predicament to the Raccoon City catastrophe, only this time they come with experience.

Resident Evil: Degeneration may have Leon and Claire facing a familiar viral outbreak, but it remains a mystery as to how it resurfaced. Much of the ninety seven minutes is spent uncovering these events and delving deeper into a newly introduced family tree. Like all Biohazard titles, Degeneration has it’s fair share of twists and turns; the story is not a complete placeholder for action, in fact there is an acceptable balance between the two. The scenes of action are well written and keep an intense yet eerie feel through out, directly reminiscent of the games. The script also stays true to the series: boasting one liners, humorous B-grade writing and even paying homage on more than one occasion. What one has come to expect of the games could be safe to expect something similar here.

Visually Resident Evil: Degeneration is a double-edged sword. The introduction scene is detailed, as are various assets - most notably Leon‘s jacket. However, most of the movie could be compared to the FMV’s found in Biohazard (GCN), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Through out the film it is blatantly obvious that much of the darkness was used to patch up a lack of detail in specific areas. A dark and grim film is to be expected, though some of it felt as if the gamma was simply too low. This aside, great lighting helped make it less notable and draw attention to the finer parts of the film. Seemingly the beginning and end were meant to make a lasting impression as they were the most impressive scenes visually. Without hesitation I’d call the ending scene some of the most beautiful CG to date, thus supporting the notion of this film being a visual double-edged sword.

(A noteworthy moment for fans is the excellently done Biohazard 2 flashback, both in part of the visuals and content. This scene certainly renders the idea of a Biohazard 2 remake to be tantalizing.)

In the end, Resident Evil: Degeneration is all I could ask for as a fan of the series; returning characters (one unnoted guest), references, an interesting locale, visually impressive action for the most part and a story that directly ties into Biohazard 5. While it may not appeal to the masses, fans of the series and those interested in Biohazard 5 are sure to find the same joy with this movie that I did.

Note: The NYC Horror Film Festival was welcoming and made for a nice showing. It was a joy to watch the movie with fellow Biohazard fans and I thank them for making this possible.