Resident Evil Requiem - Beyond the Horror

Forget everything what you may have already 'read' and/or 'watched', because this is all that matters.

Summary

In October 2026, FBI technical analyst Grace Ashcroft is sent by her superior Nathan Dempsy to report on the latest T-Virus related death at the Wrenwood Hotel, where her mother Alyssa was murdered by former Umbrella scientist Dr. Victor Gideon eight years prior, on 19 October 2018 to be precise.

Set up sounds vaguely familiar.

Longlegs (2024)

In 1995, FBI agent Lee Harker is assigned by her supervisor William Carter to a case of murder-suicides in Oregon.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Clarice Starling, an FBI student at Quantico Academy is sent by Behavioural Science chief Jack Crawfordto interview Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, secretly for the purposes to apprehend Buffalo Bill (primarily based on Ed Gein and Ted Bundy).

Adding extra layers.

Grace vs Ada¹ - RE 2 (2019)

¹Femme fatale poses as an FBI agent.

Dempsy vs Tyrell - RE 3 (2020)

Face models were provided by Richie Campbell and Patrick Kengsong respectively.

And. 

Dr. Albert Wesker - 2022 TV series

R.I.P. Lance Reddick.

Victor Gideon

Goggles vs Buffalo Bill - The Silence of the Lambs

Mutated vs Dale Ferdinand Kobble - Longlegs

Seven (1995)

"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."

Norman Cole vs Officer Davis

The Girl vs Sloth victim

Achievements

Selection follows.

The Power of Blood

Rather than Jennifer Rush or Frankie Goes To Hollywood, I'd like to think Capcom had Huey Lewis and the News and Back to the Future (1985) in mind.

Crate Expectations

A cheesy play on Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations.

Not Today, Buds!

In RE 4 (2005), Leon famously flips off Salazar with: "No thanks, bro!"

Grace and Goliath

Taking care of the first Chunk (Thomas K. Jackson) rings biblical bells of the story of David and Goliath.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A nod to Alyssa's lock-picking skills in Outbreak (2003).

RPD

Presenting the best of nostalgia porn.

JoJo locker
The terrible poster used for the North American/European versions of Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams is impossible to miss.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 and the OG RE (on top of a Sega Saturn) also join the party.

S.T.A.R.S. photograph

RE 2 (1998)
A picture of the S.T.A.R.S. members.

28 years later, we can finally spin shit around, revealing date.

5/24/1996

Although OG takes place in July 1998, background lore states Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield had been working together for about two years before the Mansion Incident.

An upscaled version appears in 2026 fan film Resurrection: A Biohazard Story.

RE 2 (2019)
Leon (and Claire) find a dead cop with his lower jaw hanging off.

In RE 3, we're shown a Licker was responsible.

Anyway, examining the same corpse brings the following message.

The lower jaw is missing.

Why the fuck is head facing the other way?

Oops.

As a side note.

Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
Lisa Trevor saves Leon and Claire from a Licker by using wooden stock to break its jaw.

Miscellany

Grace finds Leon slumped outside the Control Chamber at ARK, who says:

"I was just resting my eyes."

Ada says the same thing to him in RE 6 (2012).

At the beginning of Rhodes Hill, Grace fruitlessly begs the girl:

"Don't come any closer!"

In RE 2 (2019), guess what Claire says to a zombie?

Yeah.

RE 2 (1998) - Claire A

When interrupting a zombie enjoying a meal inside Emmy's, Claire says:

"Just don't come any closer!"

Visual callbacks

A painting in Spencer's study is signed M.

Mother Miranda was the primary antagonist in Village.

The registration of Leon's Porsche is ND 9642.

Numbers refer to games m'boy either headlined or shared.

It's speculated that ND stands for Not Dead or Never Dies.

Finally, All or Nothing is displayed below the above.

I'm sure this means jack and shit, but Everything or Nothing is a 2004 James Bond game, considered a continuation of Die Another Day (2002).

ANALYZER... Ver. 1.21.8991

Year is reversed, but operating system of lazer microscope is actually when RE 2 was released in North America.

Grill Fourteen

In the OG RE 3, Jill can meet Carlos inside Grill 13.

Meanwhile, at Wrenwood Hotel.

"Let's talk. Room 204."

Elsewhere.

Outbreak - Hellfire scenario
Apple Inn Hotel contains another Room 204. 

Investigation Report

M. Warren (90): Pronounced dead at Night Valley Nursing Home.

That means that former Mayor was born in 1936.

Albeit unnamed, he was first mentioned by Irons to Claire in OG RE 2.

City Guide - RE 3: Nemesis

He was elected in 1987 and came to the city as an engineer more than 35 years ago.

City Pamphlet - RE 2 (N64)

EX'clusive' file is a variation on the above.

Personal best

Tyrant-501 ripping Leon in half vs Tyrant tearing a Licker apart in Damnation (2012)

Maybe that's reaching, but this is blatant.

Motorcycle chase vs Vendetta (2017)

Harry's chopper vs Day of the Dead (1985)

Cheers "Flyboy".

Leon twirling Requiem vs Nero twirling Blue Rose - Devil May Cry 4 (2008)

Both pay homage to RoboCop (1987).

Photo in Lead Researcher's Office vs Hellraiser (1987)

Geezer holding puzzle box is more accurate to Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992).

You 'probably' know what's coming next...

They Will Kill You - The scoop and digest

Unrelated to feature-debut Why Don't You Just Die!, Kirill Sokolov directs and co-writes action comedy with Alex Litvak.

Zazie Beetz - Isabelle Davison/Asia Reaves

Myha'la - Maria Reeves

Paterson Joseph - Ray Woodhouse

Tom Felton - Kevin Sullivan

Heather Graham - Sharon Vanderbilt

Patricia Arquette - Lilith Woodhouse

Summary

To protect Maria from her abusive father, Isabelle Davison shoots him and is soon arrested, leaving sister in his custody.

10 years later, Isabelle takes a job as a maid at an apartment block called The Virgil, and superintendent Lilith briefly introduces her to its wealthy residents.

While she's sleeping, Isabelle is attacked by a masked assailant, but manages to knock him out.

When others intervene, they are shocked to learn that Isabelle (real name Asia Reaves), is highly proficient in combat and she kills all of them.

Trouble is, they soon resurrect, as satanic cult made a deal: immortality in exchange for human sacrifices.

With Maria next in line, Asia rolls up rescuing sleeves.

One death for one life

Like Ready of Not 2: Here I Come, splatstick violence is more comical than nasty.

Action highlights include Sharon's sentient eyeball following Asia and Lily's husband Ray and Asia hacking enemies up with a flaming axe.

Reattaching his head, Kevin quips "Just a flesh wound", an obvious nod to John Cleese's Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

There's generous dollops of Evil Dead and Asia wielding samurai sword smacks of The Bride in Kill Bill.

For those not aware, Arquette starred as Alabama in True Romance (1993), which was penned by Quentin Tarantino (after he paid off Roger Avery to remove screenwriting credit).

In a very physical role, Beetz handles shit with aplomb, complemented by nice wide shots and impressive stunt work.

Satan is summoned and communicates through a pig's head, which sprouts tentacles.

Maria sacrifices herself and makes Asia invincible.

Lilith allows the head to take over her body and Asia wins sword fight.  She removes swine, douses it in bleach, erases the written names of immortal souls, finally killing them.  Head is then set on fire and sent plummeting down an elevator shaft on a trolley and Asia leaves with Maria's body.

Having sliced a piece of skin from the head and changed her name to Maria, sister revives, and the top floor of the Virgil goes boom (for some reason).

Project Hail Mary - The scoop and digest

Based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel of same name, sci-fi adventure is written by Drew Goddard and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Ryan Gosling - Dr. Ryland Grace

Sandra Hϋller - Eva Stratt

James Ortiz - Rocky¹

¹Ray Porter and Meryl Streep provide additional voices.

Summary

Ryland Grace awakes on a spacecraft light years from Earth, with no recollection of how he got there.

He begins to remember that he was a science teacher, yapping about the Sun dimming, and the Petrova line.

Dim is caused by the increase of Astrophage on the surface, which over time, will cause the Sun to die.

Scientists discover that microorganism breeds on Venus, feeding off the planet's carbon dioxide and energy from the Sun, also determining it is also an effective, if volatile fuel source.

Ryland's superior announces Project Hail Mary, a plan to send its crew on a suicide mission to Tau Ceti, the only unaffected nearby star.

In the present, Ryland approaches Tau Ceti and a spacecraft docks with the Hail Mary.  The pilot is a friendly crab alien from 40 Eridani, which he names "Rocky", after bodily composition and Rocky Balboa.

A sweet relationship develops, with Earth's future resting on their shoulders.

Medium rough texture circle planet

The first hour was pretty boring, so thank goodness for the puppet, which oozes charm, personality and swagger.

All of that wouldn't have been possible if character was CG.

Lashings of Silent Running (1972) and "Max" and David in the forgotten Flight of the Navigator (1986) is filtered for the modern audience.

As expected, there are multiple differences between source material, but ditching science babble made sense, as did increasing the size of titular spacecraft, literally giving Grace more room to manoeuvre.

Odd couple share some genuinely touching moments, but Rocky putting himself in grave danger to rescue Grace packed an emotional punch.

Oh, Rocky isn't without "Adrian", as planet Tau Ceti e is dubbed so, where odd couple gather predatory lifeform Taumoeba, which eats the Astrophage.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man - The scoop and digest

Feature-length continuation of hit TV series is written by Steven Knight and directed by Tom Harper.

Cillian Murphy - Tommy Shelby

Rebecca Ferguson - Kaulo/Zelda

Tim Roth - John Beckett

Sophie Rundle - Ada Shelby

Barry Keoghan - Duke Shelby

Stephen Graham - Hayden Stagg

Packy Lee - Johnny Dogs

Conrad Khan wasn't recast as Duke because of time jump.

Summary

During the Blitz in November 1940, the Nazi government forged hundreds of millions of pounds in counterfeit currency and devised a plan to smuggle it into Great Britain to flood the banking systems, crash the economy and win the war for Germany.

Meanwhile, Tommy Shelby is living in isolation writing his autobiography, haunted by the ghosts of people who died because of him, including his older brother Arthur who apparently took his own life in December 1938.

His sister Ada informs that his son Duke is stealing weapons from a BSA factory, who has secretly joined forces with Nazi agent John Beckett to funnel counterfeit money through gang networks.

Zelda's twin sister Kaulo Chiriklo convinces Tommy to return to Birmingham and save Duke.

After Beckett kills Ada to prevent her from running to the military police, Tommy reassumes control of the Blinders and plots revenge.

Epilogue

On the night of November 19th 1940, 400 tonnes of high explosive were dropped on the city of Birmingham by the German Luftwaffe.  53 workers were killed at the BSA factory in Small Heath after deciding not to go to the shelter, even after the sirens sounded.

This film honours their memory.

Accidents of blood

First off, backstory is the same principle as 1981 TV series Private Schulz, which had Michael Elphick in the title role as a bungling German agent trying to destroy Britain's economy with counterfeit five pound notes immediately after WWII.

Coincidence?

While undeniably well made, so many things were borderline stupid.

How Ada died made me frown and the reveal that Tommy actually killed Arthur didn't make any sense.

Midway through a gunfight with Beckett, Tommy informing enemy that Sten is about to run out of bullets was just dumb.  Surely you'd use that to your advantage?

He then flees shielded by horses.

Seeing Beckett driving towards him, Tommy just stands there, and lets himself be shot twice, before killing enemy with a headshot.

Yes you could say Tommy's death pays tribute to Polly Gray, but I found it cheesy as hell.

Original songs by Grian Chatten, Antony Genn and Martin Slattery were enjoyable and cremation was well done, but for reasons already mentioned, I was disappointed.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come - The scoop and digest

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett return to direct, as do writing duo Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy.

Samara Weaving - Grace MacCaullay

Kathryn Newton - Faith MacCaullay

Sarah Michelle Gellar - Ursula Danforth

Shawn Hatosy - Titus Danforth

Elijah Wood - The Lawyer

David Cronenberg - Chester Danforth

Néstor Carbonell - Ignacio El Caido

Kevin Durand - Bill Wilkinson

Olivia Cheng - Chen Xing

Varun Saranga - Madhu Rajan

Summary

Picking up immediately after previous film ended, Grace is rushed to hospital.

She awakes handcuffed to a bed as the police suspect foul play at the Le Domas mansion.  When her estranged sister and emergency contact Faith turns up, they're kidnapped by Ursula and Titus Danforth.

Grace learns her 'victory' came at a price, as before Ursula and Titus murdered Chester, family patriarch messaged the remaining families of the Council informing they must kill Grace before dawn to claim the vacant 'High Seat', but breaking the rules will make Mr. Le Bail angry.

Let the game begin.

The ball is in play

Upping the scale sacrifices some of the magic, but chaotic symphony of carnage was still a bloody good time.

Aside from the girls melting Viraj inside an industrial washing machine, the stand out sequence is Grace and El Caido blinding each other with pepper spray against the irony of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.  Confrontation begins with hunter comically firing a rocket launcher the wrong way, which could be a nod to Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong) in Commando (1985).  

Titus beating the ever loving shit out Faith smacks of Virgil (James Gandolfini) doing the same to Alabama (Patrica Arquette) in True Romance (1993).

Outcome is different, but even so.

Grace marries Titus to guarantee her and Faith's safety, handing power to the Danforths and effectively ending the game.

The marriage goes ahead, but using a law circumvent revealed by Chen, Grace repeatedly stabs 'husband' in the neck and removes herself from the Council, leaving satanists to fight over the ring she threw into the pit.

Suffice to say, they fail, resulting in a blood explosion.  Grace and Faith leave, taking a goat for good measure.

If trilogy comes to fruition, I already have a title - Ready or Not 3: Here We Come.

Daymare: 1998 - Beyond the Horror - Part 2

Prepare to have a multiple postergasm.

Deconstruction Man vs Demolition Man (1993)

Partial Recall vs Total Recall (1990)

The Something vs The Thing (1982)

The Stone vs The Rock (1996)

Broken Arch vs Broken Arrow (1996)

Virgil's Peak vs Dante's Peak (1997)

The Escaper vs The Fugitive (1993)

Now shit gets greedy.

Face/On and Dependence Week vs Face/Off (1997) and Independence Day (1996)

Inland and Death Horizon vs Outland (1981) and Event Horizon (1997)

Tornado and The Sixth Door vs Twister (1996) and The Fifth Element (1997)

Die Hard (1988)

Before going any further, there were four different video games based on one of the most influential action films of all time.

DOS (1989)

C64 (1990)

PC Engine (1990)

NES (1991)

As the PC Engine version was only released in Japan, cover art is unique.

DOS (left) and C64 (right) are identical.

Activision made a pointless alteration by moving title.

Rather bizarrely.

Hard Hero

Going the whole hog, an 'uncensored' alternative appears elsewhere.

Reluctant Hero

And there's more.

Live Hard 2 vs Die Hard 2 (1990)

Die Soft vs Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)

Quite understandably, Die Hard 4.0 (2007) and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) were left well alone.

Miscellany

? vs The Relic (1997)

Yeah, there is no title.

Mars 1978 vs Capricorn One (1977)

Fear and Loathing in Keen Sight vs Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Masquerade vs Wishmaster (1997)

Finally.

Cacciatoa 2 vs Shake, Rattle & Roll V (1994)

Filipino horror anthology series began in 1984 and latest entry Evil Origins was released in 2025.

Until next time.