u/HoneyRosa

I’ve seen this movie getting absolutely wild reviews and ratings and I was super curious about it - unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations and here is why.

I really loved the first 30-40 min of the movie bc they reminded me of good old “Scary Movie” franchise and honestly Bryan swearing all the time was natural and funny. I also loved a scene where he is in the house and sees the damn zombie lady running to him from the car. And in general, RE has really amazing scenes and visuals - most of them are a work of art.

What disappointed me was the lack of plot and any internal conflicts that would make me feel sorry for Bryan (or his girl). While I was watching, I kept thinking of Exit 8 which was simply brilliant - and a prime example of how to turn a simple game into a deep internal conflict. Resident Evil, compared to Exit 8, seemed more like a comedy to me and had this NPC vibe all over it - but not in a good way. I understand that it intentionally wanted to show the RE world through the lenses of an ordinary person but this person turned out as a flat character who just happened to be funny. So I wouldn’t say RE is a movie I’d put high on a list of horrors. Not even sure it’s better than the new Silent Hill movie (which was horrible btw).

Summing up, visuals and creativity behind the monsters - amazingly good. Plot, dialogues and the whole idea - amazingly bad. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

I’ve always kinda avoided horror movies because they used to scare the shit out of me (even the most “harmless” ones) and for a long time, I thought the Blair Witch Project would give me nightmares. But recently I started to feel curiosity towards horror classics so here we are.

Ugh. Where do I even start. So I’ve watched a few mocumentary movies before (the Troll Hunters, What We Do In The Shadows lol) and I know that TBWP is the OG. First, I loved the way it was filmed. I was watching it with my husband and at some point, he got annoyed that we couldn’t see anything (I think when they were filming during night) or that we could barely hear the sounds from the forest. To me, it was simply brilliant because this is the whole point of the mocumentary - to make us believe we are watching real footage.

Second, I love the interactions between characters and how natural they sound. I think I read somewhere there was no real script for actors (correct me if I’m wrong) - and it’s a big advantage for the movie. It didn’t feel like actors reading their lines in order - but it felt like we are watching real footage of kids lost in the forest. I loved how one of the guys was losing it and Heather just kept repeating “yeah we are going”, “yeah we are going” - and it was driving me nuts through the screen, which is really good because imo movies are supposed to make you feel all sorts of emotions.

Third, I loved the gradual tension built between all three of them. It actually surprised me how immersed I was in the movie even though it didn’t have any crazy dynamics or action compared to modern films. However, I just couldn’t look away and was spiralling down this rabbit hole till the very basement. And I loved how TBWP showed us very real and raw aspects of human nature and psychology. I honestly wanted to strangle Heather at some point but then closer to the end, I felt sorry for her - and this emotional rollercoaster was keeping me on my toes the whole time.

The ending was great imo. Though it’s easy to miss the whole point of putting people in the corner (if you didn’t watch the beginning carefully enough), the scene is creepy on its own. I would say the main focus of the movie is not even the mystery but people slowly losing their sanity. Classics for a reason and a perfect opener for a spooky season