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Capcom’s Almost Ready to Talk About ‘Resident Evil 7’
Capcom has become exceedingly good at defying my expectations. For better or worse, they’ve turned being a fan of a series, like Resident Evil, into and exciting and often unpredictable thing. Umbrella Corps is a fantastic example of this, because it’s absolutely the last thing I would’ve expected to see after the steps they’ve made to bring the franchise back to its roots in horror.
I don’t even mean that in a bad way. It’s just unusual.
In celebration of its 600th issue, the fine folks at Dengeki PlayStation sat down with a handful of Japanese game developers to chat about all things video games. I don’t know what they asked the other devs, but when it was Capcom’s turn, the questions they had queued up for Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata could not have been more perfect.
The gradual shift away from horror has been a point of contention for some time now, and Capcom is, for the most part, aware of it. More than that, Kawata’s response gives the impression that they’re working on remedying it.
“Since there’s been more spinoff titles, I can see how it can be perceived in such a way,” explains Kawata. “And of course I believe that we should produce titles that bring out the horror. I’m thinking about it and also preparing for it.” It’s clearly more than a “perceived” change, as anyone who’s played the last three games in the main series can attest, and it’s not at all exclusive to the mixed bag of spin-offs we’ve seen over the years.
If Kawata says he’s bringing out the horror, I’m going to choose to believe him.
My favorite thing about Dengeki’s Q&A session with Capcom doesn’t have anything to do with the long-awaited reveal of Resident Evil 7 — Kawata wants us to “stay tuned”, as they’re not quite ready to talk about it — but whether or not there are currently any plans to remaster the short-lived Outbreak spin-off series.
“The hurdle is high, but we’d like to respond to as much demand as possible,” says Kawata. A few months ago I would’ve seen that as a non-answer, but they’re obviously listening to the community now. If they weren’t, we would not be getting a Resident Evil 2 remake. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Outbreak games return, even if it’s not in the form of a full-fledged sequel. What about you?
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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