Editorials
A Classic Reborn: How the ‘Resident Evil’ Remake Improves on a Horror Game Icon
Unlike movies, it can sometimes be hard for newcomers to enjoy classic games. Sure, movies can look dated, but older video games can be plagued by issues that make the play side of it unpalatable to modern audiences. Not only can old graphics offer less clarity, but archaic control styles or design philosophies can challenge players used to modern conveniences. This makes the video game remake an interesting proposition. How do you update a game without sacrificing what made the original so unique and beloved? What ways can you add to the core concept without making it a completely new experience? It’s a tough line to walk, and even 20 years later, few games have done it with the skill of the 2002 remake of the first Resident Evil.
The GameCube remake started production in 2001, just five years after the original game was released on the PlayStation. While the technology leap between those generations was one of the most pronounced in gaming history, design philosophies had not evolved as much. At that point, the mainline Resident Evil games were still using tank controls and fixed cameras, having not yet reached the game-changing fourth entry. In RE Remake, fixed camera angles are still present, but a different control option was added to the mix that does away with the tank controls many found fairly clunky. This meant that the remake was more of a refinement than a reinvention, retaining a lot of the charm and tension of the original while creating a smoother experience with its own identity.
The atmosphere is one of the strong suits of the remake, taking the iconic locations of the original and recreating them with higher fidelity pre-rendered backgrounds and 3D models. The developers made smart use of full-motion video layers and particle effects in order to keep the backgrounds from looking too static, bringing the Spencer Mansion to life with unprecedented clarity. The new console generation also meant they could do a lot more with lighting, creating the perfect rendition of the creepy old mansion. The extra horsepower and space allowed them to add in areas and subplots that were cut from the original, creating surprises for long-time fans who believed they knew exactly what to expect without straying too far from the experience they were used to.
Along with the enhanced visuals, there were many quality-of-life improvements made to the gameplay. Aside from the aforementioned non-tank control options, players were also given a free slot in their inventory to carry a default item for their character, like a lockpick for Jill. Even though inventory management was part of the fun and challenge of the original, this helped the player by not forcing them to decide if they wanted to lug around a starter item they don’t use often in one of their precious inventory slots that could be used by an important key or ammunition. Another inventory adjustment was the inclusion of a defensive item, which could be used to fend off a zombie as it grabbed you. It’s a welcome change that gives you a great in-the-moment choice to make: is this encounter desperate enough that I need to use my defensive item, or do I just take the hit and hope I can survive?
To me, Resident Evil is all about making compelling inventory decisions like that, and none are more compelling than the ones created by the best new addition to the game: the crimson head zombie. After a certain point in the game, zombies that you’ve killed have the possibility to come back as faster, more deadly versions of their previous form. Players have two options to prevent this from happening: decapitating a zombie when you initially kill it or burning its corpse with a fuel canteen and a lighter.
The sheer amount of tension-increasing decisions this change makes is staggering. Previously, as you progressed through the mansion you would analyze each fight, determining if it was worth it to clear a zombie out of a hallway or just save the ammo and run around it each time. Now, the choice to kill a zombie forces you to think more about how you want to do it. Should I wait for it to get close and hit it with a precious shotgun shell in the hopes I take its head off? Do I just put it down from a distance with my plentiful handgun bullets and use one of my few canteen charges to burn its body? Or the even more tense options, do I kill it, leave its corpse and deal with the consequences later? It’s the perfect evolution of the franchise’s iconic enemy that ups their difficulty and forces you to think even more about each time you run into one.
Obviously, this wasn’t the last time that Capcom remade an entry in this long and storied franchise. The remakes of RE2 and 3 decided to go a different route and update the game to a more modern third-person camera, bringing it in line with the RE4-6 style of gameplay. There were some great changes, like the stalker behavior of RE2’s Mr. X, that had big impacts on the design of the game, but I still can’t help but wonder if something was lost by giving the player more control of their view. Fixed camera angles give the developers so much authorial control over the tension in the game, while a player-controlled camera can sometimes cut into the “what’s around that next corner” feeling of the earlier games.
I don’t know if it would have been what players wanted, but the combination of the classic perspective with some more modern design sensibilities sprinkled in could have made for an experience more in-line with what made the originals, and the Resident Evil Remake, so great. It’s tempting for a remake to smooth off all the rough edges of its source material, but Resident Evil Remake knows exactly what to keep without losing its charm. While it won’t be possible to do with the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake, which already had the third-person controls modern players are used to in its original form, I would love for Capcom to take a risk and do a remake of Code Veronica in the classic fixed camera style as an experiment to see how audiences would take to it.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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