Main Story

(NOTE: This is meant to be canon with the games)

The year is 2018, one year after the events of RE7. New Zealand is hosting a summit regarding the control of bioweapons and has invited numerous countries to attend. Among the attendees are -

1) Ashley Graham, who is now a famous anti-BOW activist and was invited to the summit as the keynote speaker

2) Sheva Alomar, who is acting as the BOW expert for the representative of Burkina Faso (which is retconned to be where Kijuju is located)

3) Carlos Oliveira, who was hired by Leon S. Kennedy to watch over Ashley. Carlos was personally recommended to Leon by Jill Valentine.

During Ashley’s main speech to the world leaders in attendance, a mysterious group starts a C-virus outbreak. Carlos takes Ashley to safety while Sheva manages to join them, along with a few other survivors. The area is contained by the New Zealand military and the BSAA, who now face the dilemma of how to end the outbreak. Representing this side of the story is new character Capt. Anthony Taumata, a New Zealand SAS operative who has never dealt with bioweapons before.

As this is happening, a young woman wakes up in a hospital. She’s suffering from severe amnesia with the only clue to her identity being a burnt medical report which lists her name as “Alice”. As she exits the hospital, she learns that she’s trapped in the middle of the containment zone.

So, we have three main storylines going into this show; Ashley, Sheva, Carlos, and a few other survivors surrounded by zombies, Capt. Taumata trying to rescue the survivors and figure out who caused the outbreak, and Alice trying to regain her memory while surviving the outbreak. As the season goes on, the three storylines eventually merge and ends with a showdown against the bioterrorists who started the outbreak.

The main plot reveals are -

1) The bioterrorists are the Los Illuminados, returning from RE4. They’ve reformed under Osmund Saddler’s grandson, Hector Saddler, who is the main villain of season 1. His goal was to avenge his grandfather by killing Ashley Graham. He also thought that Leon S. Kennedy would be attending the summit to watch over Ashley, unaware that Carlos had been hired for the job.

2) Alice’s full name is Alice Saddler. She is revealed to be Hector’s sister (thus, Osmund’s other grandchild) and fellow co-conspirator. Despite learning this, the reason why Alice lost her memory isn’t revealed…until the post-credit.

3) The season 1 post-credit is a flashback that reveals that Blue Umbrella had captured Alice a few days prior. Realizing they could use Alice to infiltrate Los Illuminados, they put Alice through an experimental procedure meant to brainwash her and turn her into a sleeper agent. However, the procedure went awry due to the start of the outbreak. So, instead of getting brainwashed, the unfinished procedure wiped Alice’s memories. While the procedure was happening, Alice hears one of the Blue Umbrella agents say, “Don’t tell this to Chris Redfield, you know he wouldn’t approve”, hinting that there’s something sinister happening behind-the-scenes that Chris isn’t aware of.

Miscellaneous Stuff

1) In case it wasn’t obvious, Alice Saddler is meant to be the game universe’s version of Alice from the Milla Jovovich movies. Same amnesia-centric character, but with a completely different backstory.

2) Capt. Taumata and Alice are set up as the lead protagonists for future seasons. Taumata joins the BSAA while Alice goes on the run to figure out the reason why her memory was wiped. Carlos, Ashley, and Sheva would still be around, but in a recurring/guest capacity.

3) While I don’t have a story for season 2, I’d probably bring in Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin as major characters (maybe they’re sent to capture Alice for her ties to Los Illuminados).

4) Ashley, Sheva, and Carlos should have at least one flashback scene that is from their respective games.

5) I imagined either 8-9 episodes per season. For the show’s overall vibe, maybe “Stranger Things” would be a good reference point. Also the movies “Aliens” and “Predator”. But definitely NOT “The Walking Dead” or “The Last of Us” since this isn’t a post-apocalyptic show.

I’m about 2/3rd of the way into “Ghost of Tsushima”. One, I did not expect that this game would be about the origins of the ninja. Two, in a weird way, this game is secretly a coming-of-age/generational gap story.

Our main hero is Jin, who represents the current generation. He was raised to follow the ways of his elders, namely his father and uncle. However, the old ways are limited since the Mongolian invaders don’t respect them. That’s when Jin meets Yuna, who is the “rebellious” youth who shows Jin a different way of handling the Mongols. Yuna’s way clashes with the elders’ ways, but she’s getting results. This ends up creating a moral panic in Jin since he’s torn between respecting his elders and doing whatever it takes to stop the Mongols.

It’s straight up a generational gap storyline. If you take away the samurai/ninja stuff:

1) Jin is the young man who grew up in a sheltered, conservative home but grows disillusioned with his elders due to the state of the world he’s in.

2) Yuna is the rebellious young woman who wants to save the world (let’s just say, her brother is her world) and has no respect in the older generation since she feels they are responsible for the troubles of the world, such as Yarikawa’s resistance to assisting Lord Shimura.

3) Lord Shimura represents the older generation that is set in their ways and is, albeit reluctantly, willing to punish the younger generation if they stray from tradition. He also represents how older generations have created problems that the younger generations are forced to deal with, such as Jin and Yuna needing to mend the strained relationship between Clan Yarikawa and Clan Shimura.

4) The Mongols in general represent the troubles of the world that both the older and younger generations have to deal with. However, both generations clash over how to deal with their mutual problems.

Short review

It’s an okay horror movie, but the worst Evil Dead installment in my opinion. Letter grade of C (or 7/10).

Long review

Before I begin, I just want to start by saying that I’m approaching this review as both an Evil Dead fan and a regular viewer. Because my thoughts on this movie is a bit mixed. It’s not bad, but it was weirdly underwhelming. I had a fun time, but I was also kinda bored near the end. So, I have to split this long review into two parts to fully explain my thoughts.

As a regular viewer, the movie was fun. If you ignore that this is an Evil Dead movie, it’s pretty much a fun, cheesy horror film that is really heavy on the gore and monster imagery. Other than that, it’s pretty much your run-of-the-mill horror film with all the familiar tropes:

1) Obvious Final Girl and child with plot armor

2) Dumb as fuck characters who don’t know the difference between a demon and someone with a medical condition

3) Large amounts of gore and violence

4) Demonic imagery

I’ll say it like this; this movie feels like something you’d find on FEARnet on a Friday night that you put on simply because it was the most interesting of the movies listed. You KNOW it’s going to be a 7/10 at best, but you’re just expecting it to at least be entertaining.

Now, how is this as an Evil Dead movie? Gonna be honest, I was disappointed, mainly because of the reasons above. Yes, this is a passable horror movie. But that’s exactly the problem, the makers made an Evil Dead movie that doesn’t really add anything to the franchise.

Say what you will about the 2013 reboot, at least that movie was honest and upfront about how it was just a retread of the original but amped up with violence and gore. And that’s fine! I loved the 2013 movie for what it was. It was just the original cranked up to 11, and that’s what it delivered.

So, what I’m trying to say is, I’m judging Evil Dead Rise on its own merits. The movie is a standalone installment, which usually means it’s bringing something new or fresh into the franchise. There’s clearly something here that just had to be told by the filmmakers that hasn’t been told in previous movies…right?

You see where I’m getting at? Despite the movie being passable, it doesn’t add anything to Evil Dead as a whole. It felt like a filler chapter. And just to drive home why I was disappointed by this movie, here are what I felt were the best parts:

1) The shotgun and chainsaw

2) The demon antics

3) The wood chipper grinding up the final demon

4) The creative ways that the characters were torn apart by the monsters

The best parts are just stuff that reminds me of the other Evil Dead movies. The ONLY part that felt like a genuinely good addition to the franchise was the human centipede-like monstrosity, which was also disappointing since it only appeared near the end.

Other than that, the movie doesn’t have much going for it. The characters are all 2-dimensional and typical of the genre. The pacing is weirdly slow and missing the chaotic energy of the 2013 reboot (or even the original trilogy). And last but not least, it doesn’t do much to justify its existence. It just feels like a typical horror movie.

Which…I guess isn’t the worse thing in the world? If you’re looking for a fun time, then sure, give the movie a shot. If you’re looking for a great Evil Dead movie, just watch the other 4 and the Ash TV show.

Not gonna lie, “Saw X” feels like it’s taking inspiration from “Don’t Breathe”:

1) Helpless victims are terrible people who put themselves into this horrific situation (okay, I should clarify, what I mean is they put themselves in this situation by directly going after John and not just by being people who are ungrateful of their lives)

2) Main villain is this old, horrible man suffering from some medical condition, but you feel a little sorry for him since he was screwed over by the helpless victims

3) For once, Jigsaw is gonna be present throughout the game, openly challenging the victims

I was going through some of my older posts for fun. One post that brought back memories from college was me pointing out how lowkey insensitive it was that when the UFC was marketing their event in Macau, which was their first ever event in China, they hired a Korean model to be the main ring girl. I mean, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that action, I just thought it was strange that an event that was about introducing the UFC to China didn’t feature a Chinese woman as the main ring girl.

It brought back memories since I remember discussing this topic with my college friends at the time. Everyone had interesting perspectives as to why the UFC did this (one theory presented was that South Korea was the “standard of beauty in Asia” at the time, so the UFC was just following suit). Just to give some context, I was part of an Asian-American theater club, so we would be having this type of conversation regularly.

It bothers me that the next “Saw” movie is called “Saw X” since we’re now counting “Spiral” as the 9th movie, even though that was clearly marketed as a spin-off. Also, the movie isn’t a continuation since it’s an interquel, so it doesn’t even make sense to call it the tenth installment.

As someone who has never watched or read any “One Piece”, based on the trailers for the Netflix live action, it feels like the long-lost spin-off to “Pirates of the Caribbean”. It’s definitely the music choice that gives off that feeling.

Is that right when it comes to the source material? What I mean is, is “One Piece” similar to “Pirates of the Caribbean” in the overall tone/feel, or is the series different (I guess, either more shonen anime-like or some other genre)?

I’m rewatching “Zoolander” right now. I swear, if this movie had been made today, I could see Ryan Reynolds being cast as Derek and Chris Hemsworth being cast as Hansel.