Editorials
So What If George Romero Had Directed ‘Resident Evil’ As Planned?
Let’s explore an alternative reality, shall we?
Most horror fans are by now aware that George Romero *almost* directed the feature film adaptation of the Resident Evil video games in the late ’90s. Back in April of last year, our own Daniel Kurland wrote an in-depth piece exploring what almost was (Remember When George Romero Nearly Made a Resident Evil Movie?), so we encourage you to read that piece if you’re looking for more information about that. But to make a long story short, Romero’s script was more faithful to the games and would’ve resulted in more of a straight-up horror movie than the frenetic, action-heavy film Paul W.S Anderson ended up making; alas, Capcom didn’t dig the script and Romero lost the gig. A shame, considering the games likely wouldn’t exist without him.
Hell, zombies as know them today wouldn’t exist without Romero.
But what if Capcom *did* like the script? And what if George A. Romero’s Resident Evil was released into theaters back in the late ’90s? It’s interesting to ponder what this alternate reality would’ve been like, as both the film franchise and Romero’s career would surely be in far different places than they are right now. Change one thing, as they say, and you change everything.
For starters, let’s look at the franchise itself. Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil tripled its budget at the worldwide box office back in 2002, ensuring that it would soon spawn a handful of sequels. And there’s no doubt that Milla Jovovich’s Alice played a huge part in the film’s success; of course, Alice went on to become the main character of the entire series, and her story is (allegedly) being wrapped up in this year’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. As fans of the game know, Alice was a character created for the film, and it was Anderson who wrote her into existence. What am I getting at here? If Romero’s Resident Evil was made instead of Anderson’s, not only would Milla Jovovich likely not have been cast, but the character of Alice simply would not even exist.
Can you imagine that?! Would the film franchise even be as popular and successful if it weren’t for Alice? Romero’s script primarily centered on video game characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, and there’s no way of knowing who would’ve been cast in those roles or how well-received those characters would’ve been. Would the series have even made it to six films?
What’s even more interesting, at least to me, is what would’ve become of Romero’s career had he directed the first Resident Evil film. If his unmade iteration of the project was as successful as Anderson’s, it stands to reason that Romero would’ve become something of a hot commodity in Hollywood. He could’ve possibly directed subsequent installments and/or gone on to become a major player, directing bigger films and perhaps even abandoning his own zombie franchise. Keep in mind that Romero made Land of the Dead in the wake of his frustrations with Hollywood; his Resident Evil script being rejected, among several other failed projects at the time, no doubt played a huge role in Romero throwing in the towel and returning to his own independent world.
Would Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead even exist if Romero’s Resident Evil was made? I’m going to say probably not; and let’s be honest here, Romero’s career probably would’ve been better off if the latter two films never came into existence. If Romero had a hit on his hands with Resident Evil, he could’ve gotten bigger budgets and would’ve been given the freedom to make more of the projects that he wanted to make, and it’s entirely possible that in this alternate reality, we’d still be seeing Romero-directed films on the big screen today.
At one point, you may recall that Romero wrote a script for a film adaptation of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books; maybe if his Resident Evil was a hit, it would’ve been developed?
Of course, it’s impossible to know how anything would’ve turned out had this butterfly flapped its wings. But one thing is for certain: if Romero’s Resident Evil script was given the green light, we damn sure wouldn’t be sitting here right now looking forward to Milla Jovovich kicking ass up on the big screen as Alice once more. And that’s a pretty strange thing to ponder, don’t you think?
Change one thing. Change everything.
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
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