Resident Evil: Degeneration

To follow up the first post about Resident Evil movies, I will now talk about Resident Evil: Degeneration. Degeneration was announced by Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2007, and released in North America and Japan in 2008 both as a DVD and Bluray.

Unlike the live action series, this Resident Evil movie actually follows game cannon, taking place in 2005. The story is centered around Leon S. Kennedy, and Claire Redfield. This CG movie is meant to flesh out events taking place between games, in an attempt to explain story that was not featured in the games. Since there are gaps between the cannon timeline for each game, this left Capcom with ample room to appease fans after the live action movie debacle.

This movie is hailed by hardcore fans as an amazing addition to the series, both in plot and entertainment value. Even those unfamiliar with the series can at the very least enjoy the movie, and its excellent soundtrack.

Degeneration takes place 7 years after the original game, placing itself after Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3, yet before Resident Evil 4, and 5. The main characters, Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield are voiced by their original voice actors allowing for hardcore fans to instantly connect to them again. Also, the characters in game use the same weapons they were known to use in the game. This is probably because CAPCOM, the creator of Resident Evil, actually produced this movie, unlike the live action movies.

For more about the film, and about how closely it relates to the Resident Evil Cannon, I suggest the Resident Evil: Degeneration Wikia Article, and the Wikipedia Article.

Resident Evil Movies

In recent times, Resident Evil finally hit the mainstream as a Hollywood movie series.

The first movie was released in 2002, and was not a true interpretation of the Resident Evil games. The movies in order are as follows: Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction, and Resident Evil: Afterlife. The last movie in the series is to be released September 2010 as a 3D movie. In theory, the movies follow the video game progression. The only real similarities between the two series are the fact that zombies created by the T-virus exist, and so do a few characteristic enemies and villains (mostly in namesake). Though the movie characters shared the names of the video game characters, their backgrounds and mannerisms differed enough to make them almost impossible to see as the same people.

Originally, the movies were scripted to be almost direct adaptations of the games into film media, but Capcom believed that the original script was simultaneously not close enough to the games to satisfy hard core fans, and not interesting enough to satisfy an audience just being introduced to the series. The final product, though successful enough to justify a full series of movies, was disappointing to the game's fans and generally received negative reviews by critics.


Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Resident Evil: Extinction
Resident Evil: Afterlife