Biohazard Review: The Rare Fan Film That Feels Like a Movie
By Devin Smock | More Horror
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT
Biohazard looks like an actual movie. That sounds like a low bar, and maybe it is, but anybody who has spent time wandering through YouTube fan films knows it is not.
The 19-minute short is based specifically on Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Chandler Riggs wrote, directed and edited the film, and he stars as Ethan Winters, who goes looking for his missing wife, Mia, and ends up trapped with the infected Baker family. It is a tight version of the game rather than a new story set somewhere in the Resident Evil universe, but Riggs and his crew understand which parts are worth carrying into live action.
I do not watch many fan films, for what I consider fairly obvious reasons. Too many of them are made by somebody with access to a Leatherface mask, a borrowed cabin and a plan to shove him into Friday the 13th. I understand that it is supposed to be fun. Making movies is fun, or at least it is supposed to be before the weather changes, the money disappears and somebody asks how many more setups you need. That does not automatically make the finished thing good.
Some of the Friday the 13th fan projects are especially bad about presenting themselves like lost official entries instead of people playing around in somebody else's sandbox. There is nothing wrong with being a fan film. Just call it that, have some fun and try to make a decent movie.
That is where Biohazard separates itself. Yes, it has advantages that most fan films do not. It has an established actor leading it, an experienced crew and a cast that includes Jason Douglas, Mary Rachel Quinn, Eugenie Bondurant, Sam Coyles and Mia Cole. Riggs teamed with Tampa-based Spooky Feet Films, and Greg Nicotero provided special-effects equipment. Those things do not earn the movie a passing grade by themselves. If anything, they create higher expectations.
The production mostly meets them.
Riggs is pretty good as Ethan. He does not turn the character into a swaggering action hero just because he is also behind the camera. Ethan is frightened, confused and usually a half step behind whatever is waiting for him. Riggs has enough control to let that fear register without spending the entire short screaming at the walls. He also handles the physical side of the role well, especially once the movie begins taking pieces off him.
The short was filmed inside the original Arturo Fuente cigar factory in Tampa Bay, which the crew transformed into part of the Baker estate. That was a smart decision. Production designer Brandon Agan and cinematographer Brian M. Tang make the location feel larger and more complete than one building being redressed for a short. The rooms, narrow hallways and feeling that something might be waiting just outside the frame reminded me of the early Resident Evil games on the original PlayStation, even though the story and characters come directly from the seventh game.
More importantly, it is creepy. It does not just throw recognizable props into a room and expect the name Resident Evil to do the rest of the work. The location has weight. The corners feel dangerous. Ethan moving through the building gives the short some of the exploratory tension of the games without making the camera behave like we are watching somebody else's playthrough.
The practical effects are the strongest part of the film. The wounds have texture, the blood has weight and the violence looks like it is happening to bodies in the room rather than being added later because the frame needed something red. The production used practical design, effects and stunt work with minimal visual effects, and it shows in the best way. There is something naturally unpleasant about watching a physical effect being torn, crushed or pulled apart. Your brain may know how it was done, but another part of your brain still says, Nope, that looked like it hurt.
Ethan losing his hand is the obvious showcase. The effect works, and the smart watch continuing to monitor his heartbeat afterward is funny. It is ridiculous, but it is the correct kind of ridiculous for Resident Evil, a series where somebody can lose a limb, pour medicine on the problem and get back to work. The movie understands that game logic becomes a little absurd when performed by an actual person and lets the joke sit there without turning the whole short into a comedy.
The Baker family is generally effective, particularly when they are allowed to loom around the house and make Ethan feel trapped. Jason Douglas brings the right physical presence to Jack Baker, but some of his dialogue is corny and not especially good. A few lines sound like the screenplay is working too hard to announce that Daddy Baker is crazy. Douglas is more effective when Jack is doing something threatening than when he is explaining his personality to us.
That problem extends to the short as a whole. At 19 minutes, it has to move, but sometimes it feels less like a complete story and more like a very well-made collection of scenes fans will recognize. Ethan is looking for Mia, the Bakers are waiting and the movie starts checking off the violent encounters. If you already know the game, the missing connective tissue is easy to supply. If you do not, Mia is mostly a reason for Ethan to enter the building and begin suffering.
I tried to judge Biohazard as a short film and not give it extra credit because it is a fan project. I also did not want to punish it for lacking the money and resources of a studio production. Fan film or not, the same questions still matter. Does it build tension? Do the performances work? Does the camera know where to be? Do the effects survive when the light hits them? Is there an actual movie here?
Most of the time, the answer is yes.
The comparison to Zach Cregger's Resident Evil is unavoidable because Biohazard arrived less than a month after that movie, but it is not an especially fair comparison. Cregger had a studio production and used the world and game mechanics to tell his own story. Riggs is condensing recognizable material from Resident Evil 7 into 19 minutes. He was also developing the short before Cregger's film was announced, so this is not a quick attempt to grab onto the theatrical movie.
It is nowhere near Cregger's Resident Evil, which remains one of my favorite horror films of the year. It does not need to be. If that movie sends more people looking for Resident Evil material, I hope some of them find this. Biohazard deserves the attention, possibly more than any fan film I have watched.
It is not great. Some of the dialogue needs another pass, the story depends heavily on the audience already knowing the game and the 19-minute structure makes it feel like an impressive proof of concept instead of a completely satisfying short. Still, the effects are good, the location works, Riggs gives a solid performance and the entire production has a level of care that is usually missing from this corner of filmmaking.
Most fan films remind me why I do not watch fan films. Biohazard is the rare one that made me glad I did.
6.8/10
Biohazard is now available free on YouTube.
