Produced under the banner of Paul W. S. Anderson’s Constantine Films, Johannes Roberts’s reboot is less interested in Anderson’s surprisingly seductive horror franchise than it is exploring the beginnings of the video game that spawned it. We passively observe the action from the various characters’ points-of-view. With guns drawn, the survivors round wide corners mindfully stalking the halls of the Umbrella Corporation in search of jump-scares and shoddy effects. All that’s missing is a DualShock controller built into each reclining theatre seat. Add to that a uniformly frightful cast led by Kaya Scodelario (The Truth About Emanuel, Crawl). As Effy, the cigarette-wearing bourgeois tough in the British series Skins, Scodalerio was young and cocky enough to let her attitude do most of the heavy lifting. Her subsequent work in franchise films brought her here. Without effects to guide her, Scoladero can’t carry a picture. Rubbish like this should never have left the PlayStation. (2021) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.