A Second Class John Carpenter Flick

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2002)

John Carpenter must be smiling. "Resident Evil" is yet another example of a film inspired by this master horrormeister --- more exactly, by some of his weaker creations (like "Ghosts of Mars"). An unabashed knockoff of "Night of the Living Dead" plus "Alien" plus "The Thing" plus "The Poseidon Adventure", Evil gets off to a promising start with some great CAD-views of The Hive where The Red Queen is turning everyone into blood-sucking zombies. The best part of the movie: the trip down the slice-and-dice laser corridor just outside the Queen's chamber. This in itself is worth the price of admission. Other than that, the script is convoluted, the acting stiff and the finale a weak excuse for a sequel. So much of "Resident Evil" simply does not work, yet when it does hit the target it can make John Carpenter proud. I just hope the inevitable sequel comes with a better script.