They had as at zombie sharks! Sure, there’s probably a lot more going on in the fifth instalment of the Resident Evil animated series, a wholly separate thing to the live action series starring Milla Jovovich, but why over-egg the pudding? Resident Evil: Death Island is streaming on NEON right now in all its undead, sharky glory.
Adapted from the long-running survival horror video game franchise from Capcom, Resident Evil: Death Island sees a T-virus (that’s the zombie bug) outbreak seemingly originating from Alcatraz Island, arguably the most famous (former) prison in the world. And so, our long-suffering, ass-kicking heroes, Jill Valentine (Nicole Tompkins), Claire Redfield (Stephanie Panisello), Chris Redfield (Kevin Dorman), and Leon S. Kennedy (Matthew Mercer) set off to see what’s what—in all likelihood finding some cold-blooded corporate scientist type up to no good, and a veritable tsunami of horrible zombies. Including, as we’ve taken pains to highlight, zombie sharks.
This CGI-animated action/horror hybrid comes to us from Japan, specifically Director Eiichirō Hasumi and screenwriter Makoto Fukami, both veterans of the franchise. The word is that the animated series ties in directly with the events of the game series, taking pains not to contradict the extant lore, which will please the fanbase but may or may not make things difficult to parse for newcomers. But, counterpoint: paramilitary commandoes vs ravening ghouls is not a particularly difficult concept to get your head around.
Still, although the animation is slick and pretty, there’s a hint of the uncanny valley going on here, which may make audience empathy, essential for any good horror movie, a big ask. It’s hard to care for characters so obviously artificial. Having said that, if you’re just here for the gore and the gunplay (and the zombie sharks—did we mention those?), your needs will be well met.
