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‘Resident Evil’ Film Reboot Officially Titled ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’; Draws Inspiration From John Carpenter
It would seem that we’ve been going about the Resident Evil film reboot all wrong. At least, in terms of the film’s title. According to director Johannes Roberts, and reported on by IGN during an interview at SXSW’s online event, the official title for the upcoming Resident Evil movie is Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
Roberts also shared a few new tidbits for the film, which is scheduled to be in theatres this September. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will adapt the first two Resident Evil games, and as we’ve known for a while now, will include main characters from both titles.
As with the original game, Welcome to Raccoon City will take place in the year 1998, and will tell the events of Raccoon City being under siege from zombies. Also as we’ve known for a while now, both the Spencer Mansion and the Raccoon City Police Department will feature in the film.
In addition, IGN also snagged a brief interview with Roberts, who says that he wanted to focus on the tone of the film. “The thing I loved about the games is they were just scary as hell and that is very much what I wanted. That atmosphere — it’s rain, it’s constantly dark, it’s creepy. Raccoon City is kind of this rotten character in the movie and that sort of atmosphere in the games I wanted to put in [the film].”
Not only that, but Roberts says that he drew inspiration from John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog in terms of getting the feel for Welcome to Raccoon City. “I’m a huge John Carpenter fan and I really took to that. The way he tells these claustrophobic siege movies and I took movies like Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog and these disparate group of characters coming together under siege, and I took that as my filmic inspiration.”
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City arrives in theatres on September 3, 2021. The cast includes Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, and Neal McDonough.
The best part about engaging with collaborative genre fiction on the internet is that anyone can get in on the action, with worldwide accessibility often resulting in absurd story beats that wouldn’t be possible if any single person was responsible for the entire narrative. And while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms film is definitely the young filmmaker’s own unique take on the infamous creepypasta, it’s fun to see other creators join the Backrooms sandbox now that the big screen adaptation is getting ready for a record-shattering opening weekend.
As if cleverly timed releases like Puppet Combo’s The Backrooms game weren’t enough (not to mention that Scary Movie poster poking fun at Parsons’ flick), McDonald’s official social media accounts have now released an analog horror video of their own celebrating the liminal terrors of the McRooms – complete with a familiar purple surprise at the end of the footage.
While it’s funny enough to see the world’s most recognizable Fast Food giant engage with internet-borne Found Footage thrills seemingly out of the blue, the video is actually referencing a long-running gag among the Backrooms fandom where creators jokingly talk about there being a fully functional McDonald’s restaurant hidden somewhere in level 0 of the infamous liminal labyrinth.
Now, would it be too much to hope for a moist-carpet-flavored McShake to tie in with the film?
Backrooms is now playing only in theaters from A24.
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