Two Horror Reviews: Resident Evil and The Dead Zone

These two pieces that I’m talking about today have nothing to do with one another, besides the fact I experienced both of them recently. I suppose seeing / reading both so close to one another is a little fortuitous, because just the titles sound somewhat related. And I suppose it would be natural for Evil to Reside in a Dead Zone (*sardonic chuckle*). 

But, truthfully, The Dead Zone would be an odd pairing for Resident Evil if I hadn’t just read it. It isn’t really a horror book, more like a supernatural thriller. Protagonist Johnny Smith (no, really) has shown latent psychic abilities since an ice skating accident when he was 6 years old, but it isn’t until years later when adult Johnny suffers a head injury in a car crash that his ability to see the future through psychometry develops. Of course, he gains fame, well, notoriety once his abilities are proven to be true and he ends up involved in a political assassination plot and the hunt for a serial killer. Honestly, not a bad plot, landing somewhere between John Hinckley Jr., the Silence of the Lambs and Psych, with the massive exception that Johnny Smith’s powers are real, unlike Shawn Spencer. 

According to Stephen King, the impetus for the book was the question “what if Lee Harvey Oswald was the good guy?” You might wonder then when I compared the protagonist to John Hinkley Jr. then, since the book was published three years before his attempt on Reagan, and my answer would actually spoil the book if you’re interested in reading it. If you have read it, you’ll understand why. And no, the answer is not that Johnny Smith had an obsession with Jodie Foster, or any other woman for that matter (his one relationship ended satisfactorily, and the woman he loved was merely a good friend and had nothing to do with the murder, per my reading.) No, he just had a terrifying vision of the future where an up and coming populist, independent but leaning right politician gaining the presidency and igniting the nuclear apocalypse. The more things change. 

You might ask yourself, outside of the eerie parallels to real life, does this book have any value? Well, yeah as it happens. The first notable thing for me is that this book has one of the best endings in the Stephen King canon. I put that down to the fact that he knew exactly where the story was going instead of just pantsing it as he usually does. The second thing for me is the very human story that runs underneath the plot. Johnny’s abilities are born through trauma, and are therefore manifestations of his pain. The book’s thesis that living with those abilities isn’t pleasant is ... fairly realistic to me. I don’t imagine it would be pleasant to get never-ending fan mail from people you’ve never heard of demanding a psychic explanation for some bullshit problem. I don’t think having your name dragged through the media mud is very pleasant, not to mention experiencing the pain and horror that a serial killer’s victim felt just by touching the ground they died on. Can you imagine the trauma of knowing what would happen if an insane man took the highest office in the country? (OK that one might be more relatable.) 

It’s not a perfect book. if I had to nitpick one issue, I think this story is a prime candidate for King’s inconsistent approach to religion. If you’re at all familiar with his body of work, you know Stephen King has the tendency to dunk on fundamentalism quite a bit, and I think we can all agree with that. However, he is also a religious man and whenever he writes a ‘good’ religious person, they tend to have a connection to the supernatural that isn’t obvious to all characters, the most notable example being John Coffey in the Green Mile. The problem for me is that it’s hard time tell his cranks from his earnest believers. The Dead Zone features a significant character who believes Johnny Smith’s gift means that God has a plan for him, some great work that Johnny must do. As it happens, this character is correct... but they’re written like a complete nutcase and, well, they are. It’s hard to see where King is coming from is my point. Another gripe is that the obvious answer to King’s “what if Lee Harvey Oswald was the good guy” question is to make the target of the assassination the bad guy and while that’s the obvious answer, I was hoping we’d get a little bit more nuance. 

Issues aside, The Dead Zone is a fantastic read. King’s great talent as a writer has always resided in sharing his fears and hope through through his characters and pain through his monsters. Here, his monsters are ordinary humans, his heroes also somewhat resemble monsters, at least from the outside. It’s a thematically rich novel and, I think, one of King’s best. 

Resident Evil then. Good movie about all sums it up. 

I know you’re hoping for more, but really, I’m having a hard time saying anything else. Like Mad Max Fury Road, its a very simple “get to the place” plot, and the story isn’t all that complex. The main character, medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams in a fantastic performance) is your ordinary guy in a tight spot. He’s in the middle of a complicated fight with his newly pregnant girlfriend, he doesn’t make a lot of money, and his car clearly needs replaced. So of course he jumps at the opportunity to make double his usual commission transporting a mysterious bio-hazard to the mountain secluded Raccoon City, and from there he runs deeper and deeper into a nightmarish odyssey where he cannot possibly be paid enough to cover the shit he deals with. 

If you’re familiar with the videogames this movie is based off you might have some issues. The movie’s story is set concurrently with the second game, yet there are continuity snarls. It wasn’t snowing for one, none the game’s major characters appear, and the people that Bryan works with are the villains of the entire game series. Is this a problem? 

No, absolutely not. The movie was never billed as a direct adaptation, just a story set in the Resident Evil universe. Hell, more often than not previous adaptions of the RE franchise have failed because they focused on looking good and trying to add more to the game’s lore (and because they gave the directorial / story writing reins to notable failure Paul W.S. Anderson {Legally distinct from Paul Thomas Anderson [I’m shitting on the previous movies, but they are kind of fun in the ‘so-bad-they’re-good-way.]}) 

The new movie’s first priority is being a horror movie and it’s really damn good that. Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten’s script is focused on emulating the survival horror spirit of the games, taking appropriate influence, and some visual references, but never just repeating or adding ideas as previous movies had done. It’s a taught, 90 minutes horror-thriller without an ounce of fat on the story, and one of the best horror soundtracks of the year (seriously, the main title theme is AMAZING. Reminiscent of Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for The Thing, but also being it’s own creature.) 

I haven’t wanted to talk too much about director Zach Cregger because, while he’s 3/3 movies so far, I don’t want this movie to be framed as a ‘Cregger’ discussion if that makes sense. It should, and I think it will, stand on it’s own. Obviously, Zach Cregger’s style and skill as a director has a lot to do with the movie’s success and you can’t separate him from it. Hell, I think Cregger and his movie Barbarian are probably one of the reasons horror films are having a bit of a renaissance right now. But I hope it’s understood that the highest compliment I can pay this movie is that it stands out from Cregger’s filmography as its own thing. Barbarian and Weapons were fantastic movies, and Resident Evil is great too, I wish Cregger all the best in his next endeavors. 

If I do have any criticisms of the movie, I'd say it could have pushed the game's anti-corporate subtext a bit more. The games have always had cartoony, over-the-top villains who engage in corporate villainy so absurd it could only work in a video game (well, it seemed that way until the last couple of years. Or if you know some of the things Nestle has done.) Here, the villainous corporation seems to be made up mostly of scientists who we don't know well enough to determine their level of responsibility. I feel like Cregger could have made more of the game's anti-corporate subtext, but given that this is an action horror movie, I'll let it slide. I also wish Cregger had reined in some of his comedy instincts. Most of his jokes land, but one scene in particular goes on too long.        

I do not own either image, just used for illustrations

Follow Up and Writing

It takes a while for me to come up with a theme that interests me for these posts, and as you can well imagine, I found myself a little bit drained by last week’s post. And before I continue, I want to thank everyone who reached out to me with their kind words last week. I couldn’t reply in the moment, but please be sure that I found a good sense of comfort from everyone who offered support. And its because of you that I’m working on this post. I wanted to spend this week following up on some observations that have drifted my way from my readers. 

First, I really am lucky to have the friends and readers that I do. I think that living far away from my closest friends makes it a little harder to reach out to some people whenever I’m feeling down, but I have a few people I can reach out to in these times. I guess I should make friends down here in Dallas, which... I mean I’m trying, but that takes time. Anyways, I am exceedingly grateful to the people who took the time to respond (both in the comments and through DMs) and I do value your contributions. 

Second, not to highlight a specific response that has given me some extremely positive food for thought, but... well that’s exactly what I’m doing. One of my friends is doing me the courtesy of teaching me literary criticism (really all art criticism) and at our meeting this past week our conversation turned to my most recent post. This friend observed, not to diminish anything I felt, but that he remembered similar feelings of the world being suicidal in the wake of 9/11 first being raised in 2006. I’m not surprised that I’m not the first to feel that way, and I could honestly see those sentiments being raised even earlier. But here, my friend suggested that I’m already doing the right thing to allay these fears: Writing. Or, as he said: doing the damn work. 

You see, we had just read an essay by the Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold, whose major contribution to the field of criticism was the astonishingly simple suggestion that criticism itself exists not simply to examine, engage with life and art, but also to keep new, fresh ideas flowing in the world, fueling new creations. If you believe that Art or other acts of creation are essential to humanity’s survival and constant evolution, as I do, then this cycle of criticism and creation is integral to us thriving. 

Now, with all of this, I wouldn’t be so bold to call myself an artist, just a writer. But it must be said that I believe that I’m doing something related to creative expression and the exchange of new ideas. A few weeks back I mentioned that I would keep writing in the face of adversity. It’s difficult, but I’ll keep doing the work. 

So to that end, keep checking back every Sunday. I have a few ideas for the upcoming week’s posts; I’m currently watching Star Trek The Next Generation for the first time (well, the complete series; I've seen random episodes before)  and I’d like to write a season by season review / retrospective. I’d also like to write about the books I finish as I get back into reading. I just finished Fire and Blood, the basis of HBO's House of the Dragon. 

Speaking of reading, last week I’ve gotten out of my reading slump a bit by adding a time limit to my phone’s YouTube, Instagram and a few other apps. Happily, I’ve already reduced screen time on my phone that way. I had to order a new desk chair because my old one broke, and I’m looking into seeing if I can find an inexpensive adjustable height desk so I can stand more during the day. I’m doing this all in the hopes that I can find more time to write, because if I didn’t make it clear in my post on writing, I really love it. 

PS; I also have a job interview this coming Tuesday; wish me luck! 

Life Update: September 2026

Caveat emptor: this piece turned out heavier than I anticipated. 

First, an explanation. 

Last week I had to pass the buck on a post I was writing because I couldn’t make it work. This was extremely frustrating and I apologize to all of you for that. Long story short, it was an open letter to the CEO and owners of several subservience corporations who have been in the news recently. My goal was to write a letter encouraging them to cease activities that I view, not just as invasive, but as detrimental to human development in general. Try as I might, there was no way *I* personally could write that letter without letting my frustration boil over, or sounding hopelessly naive. It’s frustrating to admit, but I couldn’t make it work at all and I have scrapped it for the time being. I hope to return to this subject someday, hopefully none too late. In exchange for that subject, I have written an update on how my life is going... sorta. 

Second, a warning. 

I’ve noticed in my recent posts a tendency to claim absurdism as my philosophical outlook, with a Diogean influence. I don’t wish to keep harping on it just because I know you all have your own outlooks, but I will reiterate the point that, however absurd, incomprehensible, hopeless, or inherently meaningless I find existence, I do still choose to make my own meaning, to make my own hope and to laugh at the absurdity instead of sinking into despair. I have to underline this, but it’s just as important to admit when I’m feeling the weight of existence. And fair warning, me admitting that will get pretty heavy for the next few paragraphs. 

Third, a weary diatribe (Complaint... Grievance...? I don’t know which is the right word I’m looking for here.) 

A few months back in May, I made my list of goals for the year. Last week it hit me, finally, that I’m 27. It hit me right during the middle of a bad work day. I have some general anxiety issues, and I admit I tend to spiral. I suppose that this bad work day left me in a spiral. 

I need a new job for better health insurance and better financial reasons. I privately have to bemoan the fact that no one seems to be hiring, and companies don’t even seem to be responding to applicants anymore. I don’t know if this is because we’re in a shit economy, AI influence has made my type of work redundant, or the uncertainty around the midterms has resulted in a hiring freeze. 

Over this summer I’ve had two explorations of relationships, and two determinations by the guys I met that we shouldn’t continue.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that I haven’t taken as much pleasure out of reading as I usually do. I’m hoping that this is just because I’ve read a lot recently and I’m just in a cycle. But I’m worried that my brain is seeking the cheap trill of YouTube algorithms and Instagram doomscrolling. 

I saw a report this week that the earth might be running out of fresh water. I haven’t seen any substantive confirmations yet, mostly because I’m too scared to check, but in light of the reports about AI data centers water consumption this seems scarily plausible. 

I don’t wish to harp on politics, but the way this country, and the whole world is going is depressing. Not to make too fine a point of it... but the president doesn’t seem conscious half the time, and actively malevolent when he is.  Not to mention that the Vice President of the United States recently said that he’ll be happy if his work leads to the end times... 

I just have to ask. WHAT. THE. FUCK? 

Are you familiar with the motif from Medieval art called the Danse Macabre? It’s usually an image of death, personified like the grim reaper, leading the dead and the soon to be dead from all walks of life in a dance to the grave, a rather on the nose allegory reminding people that mortality is universal and we will all die. Let me stress that: it’s a reminder that we will die. But modern life seems to be led by billionaires and politicians who have misunderstood the danse as a fucking queue to the exit. It’s like they all know we’re going to die and have figured, “welp, might as well start on the way.” 

Fourth, the worst part. 

I know I started this piece with an expression that I’m aging, but in all reality, I know that I’m still fairly young. And given the fact that I’m young, I could just be misunderstanding what I’m seeing. But does anyone else feel like this? Does anyone else feel like our leaders and some of the public are suicidal? Like they don’t see any possibility of changing paths because it’s too late?  

It’s been twenty-five years since 9/11. I admit I don’t remember it all too well. I just about remember my dad coming home from work early, and a terrible malaise, but I don’t remember the day. In retrospect however, I’m starting to think that this terrible event was the moment we all just gave up hope. I feel like it was the moment humanity nervously caught its breath, thought about the past horrors we had been trying to ignore and the bright future we had been trying to build, and then we exhaled in confusion and fear. We collectively decided that our only option to protect ourselves was to end everything in a mad, selfish scramble of war, greed and hatred towards the other. 

And it’s working. Barely taken us 30 years. 

Fifth, an attempted understanding and reconciliation. 

I realize that I’m struggling with pessimism, maybe with depression. But I want to emphasize that, difficult as it sounds, I do still have hope. It’s alive in me somewhere. It’s an absurd spark of joy dancing in me somehow. Just as I was writing this I realized I was singing along to some music I had playing, and that brought a smile to my face. Earlier today I laughed at an old Zero Punctuation video. 

What I want to know is, how do I spread this spark of joy? I don’t want it to die with me. Maybe through reconciliation, meaning I should reach out to people who share different ideologies, people who annoy me, people who have wronged me, people who just straight up hate my guts, people who I just straight up hate, - and forgive them, and ask forgiveness in return. Reconciliation and acceptance. 

I refuse to let other people decide how I should live my life, or decide that my life is already over. Fuck that. There is no middle finger big enough. I want to live, I will live, and I want other people to live with me. 

Fuck this end times bullshit. Choose hope. 

Me, a few months ago. I like this picture. 

Leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you. 

Disappointed With Myself

 

I had a post I was working on for this week, but I'm not happy with how it turned out. It's needs another week to germinate or I'll scrap it entirely and write something new. Sorry about that, lovers of my blog. 

Anyways, how're you guys doing? 

Anyone want to comment and just, you know, chill?