Editorials
‘Resident Evil 2’ Turns 19 Today!
Video games have evolved so much ever since Capcom’s original Resident Evil was released on PlayStation nearly 21 years ago. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, but it has. The game was such a success that Capcom rushed a sequel into production almost immediately. Resident Evil 2 was released less than two years later on January 21, 1998 which means it turns 19 today! Help us celebrate one of the best video games ever made on this very special day.
The reason that most sequels fail to surpass the quality of the original is because they take things that made the original so special and try to replicate them. “More of the same” is not always a good thing. The best sequels expand upon the mythology of the original and try to improve upon it while still maintaining a certain amount of reverence for the source material. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk but it has been done before (Aliens, The Godfather Part 2, and Scream 2, just to name a few). Resident Evil 2 may be “just” a video game, but with it Capcom managed to craft one of the best sequels ever made.
Picking up just two months after the events of Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 introduces players to two new protagonists in rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, sister of the first game’s Chris Redfield. In the game’s opening moments it becomes readily apparent that the T-virus has escaped the confines of the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon Forest. The game brings players to Raccoon City itself and hits the ground running. The slow-mounting dread of the first game is replaced with a visceral assault on the senses, dropping players into the zombie-infested streets of Raccoon City. Rather than replicate the feel of the original, Capcom opted to shift the style of its franchise into a new direction, something that it would repeatedly try with subsequent sequels to varying degrees of success (Resident Evil 2 falls in third in aggregate critic scores, just behind Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica). The player eventually makes it to the Raccoon City Police Station, but quickly learns that the street may have been even safer. One of the most notorious moments in the game is the initial confrontation with the Licker.
Resident Evil 2 kept the basic gameplay the same, but introduced the “Zapping System” that allowed players actions to affect future playthroughs. For example, unlocking a door while you were playing as Leon would enable you to get into the room that the door leads to when you play as Claire. It was a novel approach to gaming that helped Resident Evil 2 stand apart from its predecessor.
The game took 21 months to produce, but the initial concept of the game was actually much different than the version that was released (example: the female protagonist was a college student named Elza Walker, rather than the now iconic Claire Redfield). The production team, which comprised of almost 50 people, completed nearly 80% of the game before the producer declared the game to be too monotonous. The concept was scrapped and a near-complete overhaul was made.
Thank [insert name of a higher power here] for that! The game that was eventually released is, as previously mentioned, spectacular. It earned critical acclaim upon its release and to this day remains the highest selling game in the franchise for a single game console. It was also the fastest-selling game in North America at the time. In an interesting bit of trivia: it sold 380,000 copies, earning $19 million in revenue. That is more money than every single Hollywood movie the weekend before earned except for one (that exception was Titanic, which earned $25.2 million the weekend after Resident Evil 2 was released).
I was unfortunate in that I was not able to play Resident Evil 2 when it was released. You see, I was a mere eight-year-old when the game was released. I wasn’t able to play Resident Evil 2 until it was ported over to the GameCube (What? I was a Nintendo kid.) in 2003, almost exactly 5 years after its initial release. While I still maintain that the 2002 GameCube REmake is the definitive Resident Evil game, I still enjoy Resident Evil 2 immensely.
When did you first play Resident Evil 2? Where does it sit in your ranking of the video game franchise? Share your thoughts and memories of this quintessential game with us in the comments below!
Editorials
‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel
The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.
The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.
Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.
With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).
It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.
The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.
The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.
Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.
Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
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