Editorials
The ‘Resident Evil Village’ Maiden Demo Left Me Thirsty For More
As many others so clearly did, I eagerly jumped online to download the Resident Evil Village demo after its announcement at the Resident Evil Showcase. After finishing this 15-minute taster of things to come, I’m sold on this new destination more than I ever was.
First up, the Maiden demo, as it’s called, is not a demo of Resident Evil Village itself, but exists in its world. It does take place in the grand house featured in the trailers and gameplay shown for Village, however. A home owned by that now-infamously tall vampiric lady.
Capcom says this demo is meant to be a showcase of what the game looks and plays like on PS5, as well as setting the tone and atmosphere for the full Village experience. It’s fair to say Maiden does a splendid job on both counts.
The player character, who is seemingly the titular Maiden, awakens in the dungeon of the sprawling castle/mansion, and finds a note stuffed into the wall, offering semi-coded clues on how to escape. After leaving her cell, she has to explore the rest of the dungeon in search of the tools needed to ascend to the main house.
In these early areas, it’s a little harder to tell just how much of an improvement this is visually over Resident Evil VII. The darkness doesn’t reveal too much, but the audio work is impressive enough to unnerve, as footsteps echo, chains rattle lightly, and eventually, something thumps persistently against a makeshift barricade, daring me to creep past to the only viable exit.
Heading into a slightly more illuminated cellar, Maiden’s impressive lighting starts to show its chops. The dull glow and flicker of candlelight show just enough of the increasingly disturbing sights. A dinner table with questionable looking bowls of soup placed on it is one of the first real nods to Village’s vampire-inspired story. Then, a fun early trick the demo plays was making me think there’s a blood trail to something, but when I followed it, it’s just a leaking wine barrel. Later, it becomes clear that my first guess was all too correct. Someone’s got a very particular taste in claret.
I finally found a way into the main house and this is where the demo really looks stunning. There’s more than a little of the original Resident Evil’s Spencer Mansion to the areas you get to explore here. Gold-rimmed wall decals, regal-looking paintings, a twisting wooden staircase, a grand fireplace. There’s a sense of nobility and grandeur to this place, but the snickering laughter I hear echoing around me is a good reminder that this is also a very dangerous place to be wandering around.
Whilst rooting around for a way to escape the sinister laughter, I come across a room with an open, yet barred, window. It gives a small glimpse at the wintry outside world, and a better sense of how much more there is to this building. It’s a devilish tease because I really want to go out there and explore, but the door is locked, and requires a special key.
So in grand Resident Evil tradition, it’s off to search for some unrelated curios that will unlock another room, and eventually, give me the key I need to head out into the more welcoming embrace of the snow blown outdoors.
The demo provides no means of defending yourself, which makes the walk back down to the locked door unnerving because I know something is going to happen. Beyond the glimpse of a person’s shadow, door’s closing ahead of me, the aforementioned laughter, and an ominous clomping of feet in the hall above me, I’ve still yet to see anyone else here. So it’s ever-so-slightly dread-inducing when a woman says ‘I’m watching you’ in a singsong tone as I get halfway down the stairs.
Then things get bad. A swarm of flies moves in front of the doorway to the room I need to get into, and transforms into a young-looking vampiric woman. A not all that successful evasion later, I flee into the room, head for the locked door, unlock it and barely get sight of the outside before an impossibly large figure blocks my view and walks through the door, grabbing me. Needless to say, it doesn’t go well for me, and the demo reaches its end. I’m left wanting more.
The smart thing about this standalone teaser is that it will undoubtedly form a connection to Village, but it’s unlikely to spoil anything about the game. What it did do is sell me on this setup even more. It leaves just enough to the imagination, whilst happily confirming that Village will lean heavily into the vampire stuff with a twist of Resident Evil’s usual sinister experimentation gone wrong.
I think Resident Evil Village might turn out alright, you know.
The Maiden demo is out now on PS5.
Resident Evil Village is out May 7, 2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, and PC.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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