Resident Evil (DVD)

Late in the game here, but we have arrived nonetheless with a review of the Special Edition DVD for Resident Evil as we are just over a month away from Resident Evil: Apocalypse in theaters. While I am reviewing the Special Edition version of the DVD you should also be prepared for a whole new slew of features when the Deluxe Edition debuts on September 7th, only three days before Apocalypse hits theaters.

Resident Evil was a movie that I wanted to see only because I knew I would get blood, guts and gore, and boy did I get them, but I also got one hell of a horror/action flick that was fast paced and keeps you guessing at every turn.

The film is based on the popular video game of the same name, and follows the heroine, Alice (Jovovich) on her commando-esque journey through "the hive," a vast underground genetics laboratory operated by the powerful Umbrella Corporation. In the labs a deadly virus has been let loose and while it is killing the personnel it is also resurrecting them into zombies and Alice and her team has only three hours to shut down the Hive's supercomputer before the virus can get out and into the open.

My thoughts on the movie are evident as I was extremely impressed and am anxious to check out all the additional features the new Deluxe Edition is going to come with, but for the meantime let's check out the features we have here.

There are five featurettes that cover the making-of the movie, the scoring, costumes, set design and some zombie make-up tests. Each one of these has a lot to offer in a little bit of time, with the making-of feature running the longest at just under 30 minutes and the rest ranging from about 3-7 minutes long.

The scoring feature goes into discussions with rock-and-roll badass Marilyn Manson and Marco Beltrami and the zombie make-up tests are certainly a section you don't want to look at while you are eating.

The other primary feature on the disc is a commentary featuring writer/director Paul Anderson, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez and producer Jeremy Bolt, and this just may be the liveliest commentary I have ever heard as Milla and Michelle get extremely caught up in the film, and by the way, if you didn't know, Michelle's favorite word is "sick" it is used to describe everything from the good to the bad. This commentary lets you in to just how into the Resident Evil video game these people were that even Milla and Michelle knew what scenes from the game they were trying to duplicate.

Overall this is one cool flick that surprised me to no end. I expected very little from a movie based on a video game but with Anderson's writing and one kick ass group of actors and special effects Resident Evil is certainly worth a place on my shelf and with Apocalypse out in theaters soon be sure to know what you are about to be in for.