DEEP RISING - what a mid-90s RE movie could've looked like

[Hardware]

I just re-watched 1998's "Deep Rising" after a while and now I cannot escape the idea that a RE movie made in the mid-90s would've probably looked a lot like it. From the line cruiser pretty much looking like a haunted mansion (unsurprisingly, such a ship was also supposed to be the setting of the real RE3 we never got to see) to the Alien\Aliens vibes, to the "we need a card to open the door" bits to the gore (not too excessive, but pretty surprising in a movie from that era)...hell, it even has a scene very similar to Romero's script (the half-digested guy coming out of one of the tentacles\worms - in his RE script, it is Aiken after they kill Yawn). Of course, "Deep Rising" tries to lighten up the mood with humor, but that's a minor issue. Does anyone agree?

 

[Fishcakes]

I just re-watched 1998's "Deep Rising" after a while and now I cannot escape the idea that a RE movie made in the mid-90s would've probably looked a lot like it. From the line cruiser pretty much looking like a haunted mansion (unsurprisingly, such a ship was also supposed to be the setting of the real RE3 we never got to see) to the Alien\Aliens vibes, to the "we need a card to open the door" bits to the gore (not too excessive, but pretty surprising in a movie from that era)...hell, it even has a scene very similar to Romero's script (the half-digested guy coming out of one of the tentacles\worms - in his RE script, it is Aiken after they kill Yawn). Of course, "Deep Rising" tries to lighten up the mood with humor, but that's a minor issue. Does anyone agree?

Yea it's pretty hard not to agree with that, the early resi games were pretty similar to the deep rising. Some of the concepts are weirdly similar. Would've been pretty cool to see since deep rising was pretty sick in it's time. Even comparing the 2002 resi movie with it, pretty similar.
were you thinking a resident evil the original game movie? Or a resident evil 3 type movie?

 

[Ikawaru]

I remember seeing it in the theater and thinking it was a good comedic horror film almost like Bruce Campbell in 'Army of Darkness', but not quite. This was many years ago so I cannot give a neo-evaluation but it never really reminded me of Resident Evil aside from the 1990's style acting, which was more aloof and whimsical than the monotone one dimensional acting of today.

Not many movies reminded me of Resident Evil back then, even the Anderson films because when I think RE I think of low lit mansions with old fashioned artwork, wooden well varnished staircases, zombies, dogs, and a picture of a tired middle aged man (no irony there I swear! ).

 

[Hardware]

were you thinking a resident evil the original game movie? Or a resident evil 3 type movie?

I was thinking about RE1 - especially from a practical\design POV. These days it sounds crazy (especially when some of the sets in the new RE movie are clearly CG), but back then they had to build all the interiors - I hazard that it would've probably been cheaper to build some rooms from the Spencer Mansion (the very few Romero needed) than it did cost them to build the Argonautica. Also, the cinematography is probably pretty close to what a RE movie from the 90s would've looked like...even though I still believe a real RE movie should be shot in 1.85:1 (which is one of the few things Anderson's first flick gets right in my book), while DEEP RISING was shot on Super35 in 2.35:1...but, again, I am pretty sure that had one of the pre-Anderson script been greenlit, the movie would've looked that way - that's the look Kodak filmstock (the best stock you could get) had in 1998. And that's how it looked when you went for a dark, gloomy style.

 

[Ikawaru]

Seven, Saving Private Ryan, and Fight Club where all released around that time period and they used a technique called a 'bleach bypass' to make the films seen darker and more sinister. I can easily see an RE movie of the day being quite good using such a process if it was in the right hands that is, and I don't really think anyone in film existed at the time to capture an authentic survival horror film and probably all the younger fans had a better grasp on the themes of RE than the industry leaders at the time. Hell, I'd roll the dice on Oliver Stone doing an RE movie in the 90's than as good if not better than anybody else, lol.

 

[Hardware]

Seven, Saving Private Ryan, and Fight Club where all released around that time period and they used a technique called a 'bleach bypass' to make the films seen darker and more sinister. I can easily see an RE movie of the day being quite good using such a process if it was in the right hands that is, and I don't really think anyone in film existed at the time to capture an authentic survival horror film and probably all the younger fans had a better grasp on the themes of RE than the industry leaders at the time. Hell, I'd roll the dice on Oliver Stone doing an RE movie in the 90's than as good if not better than anybody else, lol.

As a working cinematographer, I don't think bleach bypass would've fit RE - bleach bypass processes (there used to be more than one) heavily desaturate the image (don't get fooled by the current release of Seven, which has boosted colors). Also, they double the black levels (and also highlights), which is not very ideal for a movie that is supposed to take place 90% of the time in dimly-lit environments. Unless we're talking about what they did with "Alien: Resurrection" (can't recall the exact bleach bypass process that was used there, but it only retained about 50% of silver from OG emulsion - hence a less desaturated and contrasty image - but on that movie, they did an incredible job with sets, costume, and props design - everything was painted to look right in the final print - the alien suits were actually coppery brown so that they would eventually look black). Personally, I always imagined my ideal RE movie to look like some stylish horror films from the early-to-mid 90s, like "Demon Knight" (with less blue hues) or Guillermo Del Toro's "Mimic"...or some Hollywood movie printed with the Technicolor process...actually, I always expected it to look like the 1990 remake of "Night of the Living Dead" (rich, vibrant colors in a 1.85:1 frame)....or even "Evil Dead 2", which was shot by Peter Demig, who, among the other things, was the cinematographer on Romero's RE2 commercial.