Resident Evil’s New Villain Design Is A Great Sign For The Reboot

The first images released for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City include a glimpse of their portrayal of Lisa Trevor, and it’s a great sign for the new adaptation. After six Milla Jovovich-fronted Resident Evil films, Sony Pictures is revisiting the franchise with a whole new movie. Helmed by Johannes Roberts, the reboot is made in close conjunction with Capcom and promises to be a more faithful adaptation of the original games.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is set to draw from the first two Resident Evil video games. In the first game, the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team investigate the disappearance of their Bravo team at the abandoned Spenser Mansion following a series of strange murders on the outskirts of the nearby Midwestern town, Raccoon City. The mansion turns out to be built to conceal an underground laboratory and a series of tunnels that were used by the Umbrella Corporation for research that would eventually lead to the development and release of the T-Virus.

Lisa Trevor plays a key role in the narrative of the first game. The daughter of the architect that built the mansion, she and her mother were kidnapped and experimented on by the Umbrella Corporation. While her mother was killed shortly afterwards, Lisa survived and the vast number of viruses she was exposed to gave her superhuman powers while also damaging her mind. The depiction of Lisa Trevor (played by Marina Mazepa) in the images from Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City are extremely similar to the character as she appears in the original game. This shows that not only are they staying true to the source material, but they are leaning into the horror aspect of the Resident Evil franchise rather than making action movies related to the concept as with previous adaptations.

Roberts’ decision to include Lisa in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City shows a dedication to keeping some of the most gruesome elements of the original games. Lisa is a central figure whose moans can be heard throughout the mansion and embodies one of the most depressing stories that highlights how monstrous the Umbrella Corporation is. With Lisa unaware that her mother was dead, the Umbrella Corporation tried to calm her with imposters that looked like her. Lisa was not fooled by the impersonators but, owing to the brain damage from the experimentations, she came to the conclusion that the imposter had stolen her mother’s face. She cut off the impersonator’s face and sewed it to her own body in the hopes of returning it to her mother. From the Resident Evil image released so far, it is clear that they are keeping this element of the character in play.

Roberts has acknowledged Lisa Trevor’s pivotal role in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. This makes it likely that her full story will play out on screen, including her quest for revenge against Albert Wesker. There’s a lot more of the character still to be seen, including if and how they’ll execute her use of tentacles. But with what has been released so far, audiences can expect a truly scary horror movie that truly embodies the spirit of the original games.