Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – Gory, scary fun!

Fans of the Resident Evil franchise (either video games or movies) know that it’s a whole lot of fun. It’s a good way to indulge in that fear factor, and see people fight zombies and some truly horrifying monsters. Now fans of this franchise have a new movie they can sink their teeth into, and enjoy some good old zombie killing!

The S.T.A.R.S. team getting ready to take on some zombies in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a reboot of the six film Resident Evil film franchise. This newest film is largely unconnected with the six Milla Jovovich-starring films that came before. It stars Kaya Scodelario (from Skins and Crawl) and Robbie Amell (from the Babysitter and the DUFF) as siblings Claire and Chris Redfield respectively. The two are orphans who grew up in an orphanage operated by the Umbrella Corporation. Claire ran away from their hometown, Raccoon City, years ago. Left on his own, Chris became a police officer working with the S.T.A.R.S. team (that’s Special Tactics And Rescue Service).

Claire returns one night, and she tells Chris she’s uncovered something very strange about their hometown. It’s since become a ghost town and the only people left work for the Umbrella Corporation, or those too poor to leave. Chris and the S.T.A.R.S. team are sent to a mansion to find some of their missing members, just as the town is placed under lockdown. While Chris searches for his missing teammates, Claire tries to find him. And despite the growing amount of zombies in the town, as well as other suspicious tyrants, she won’t let anything stop her.

A creature experimented on by the Umbrella Corporation in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Welcome to Raccoon City is an adaptation of the first two games in the franchise, and features many of the popular characters of those games including Leon Kennedy (played by Avan Jogia from I Am Michael and Zombieland: Double Tap), Jill Valentine (played by Hannah John-Kamen from Ant-Man and the Wasp and the Stranger), and Albert Wesker (played by Tom Hopper from the Umbrella Academy and Game of Thrones). The addition of these characters creates a fun experience for all of the fans of the game franchise.

If you’re more a fan of the films though, this is a rather different experience. The Milla Jovovich films are more actions films with a horror influence. They carved a specific spot for themselves in film history, taking lots of pieces from the franchise to create their own story. Welcome to Raccoon City is more straight horror, although it does contain the action often seen in zombie films. But this is a horror film through and thorugh. There is an eerie atmosphere in Raccoon City, good for spooky moments and scares galore.

The youngest star of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Holly de Barros.

A large part of the atmosphere comes from the film’s shooting location. 11 year old Markham native Holly de Barros, who stars in this film as Sherry Birkin, tells me that the city reminded her of Raccoon City. She says “the resemblance is kind of uncanny.” This was also her first feature film, and she says she was incredibly excited to appear in this. She tells me she “always wanted to be in a horror movie.” Despite the numerous monsters on set, she enjoyed her time and learned a lot from her fellow actors.

If you’re a fan of the movies, this is a different, but very tasty flavour. And if you’re a fan of the games, this is the film you’ve been waiting almost 20 years for! It comes out in cinemas Wednesday, November 24th!