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Capcom Europe COO: Quality Games More Important Than Quantity Sold
Consider this an about-face in some ways for Capcom. The company spent quite a few years trying to attract more customers to its Resident Evil series by abandoning the hallmark survival horror aspects in favour of more action-oriented fare. Sure, Resident Evil 4 was a blast to play, but it sadly started that drift that carried through all the way to Resident Evil 6. With Resident Evil 7, Capcom reverted back to the horror aspects that made the series great.
Why am I saying all of this? In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Capcom Europe COO Stuart Turner talks about, amongst other things, how the company was worried over the potential negative reception to the Resident Evil 2 remake. “We were concerned internally about who RE2 would appeal to. With RE7 we had done this first-person thing, and with RE2 we’ve done this [over the shoulder view] that looks great, but it’s also back a step. So the response to that, the pre-orders we’ve seen already… we have been a little taken aback by how well it has gone down.”
More importantly, however, is the view that Capcom has now taken with regards to its games, where according to Turner, “we have shareholders to appease, it’s not just about commercial performance.” This is understandable, since apart from Resident Evil 7 and the success of Monster Hunter World (which has not only become the fastest-selling entry in the franchise, but the fastest-selling game in the company’s history), Capcom has struggled with its other flagship franchises, namely Street Fighter and Dead Rising.
However, this next statement by Turner will no doubt raise a few eyebrows:
“There is an artistic element that always comes in where we know this is the right way. And while if we compare RE7 to RE6 the absolute numbers are not the same, in terms of the profitability… it’s completely fine. It ticked all of our boxes internally. It was really well received. And in some respects, getting some very good review scores counts as much for Capcom as a game that sells millions and millions and millions. We’d prefer a game that got a 9 and sold less, than got a 6 but sold more.”
Putting quality ahead of profitability? Sounds pretty good. For old-school gamers, however, you’d wish that they had this attitude when it came to games like Okami or Viewtiful Joe. Nevertheless, as we all saw at E3, Capcom really had put the quality into the RE2 remake, which will more than likely be a surefire hit for the company.
Elsewhere in the interview, Turner talks about the risk Capcom took with regards to Monster Hunter World by going online, as well as talking about how Devil May Cry 5 returns the series to its roots after DmC: Devil May Cry. Definitely check it out for a fascinating read.
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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