The "Resident Evil" game series has been hugely popular over the years, mostly by masterfully combining all the fear and confusion of being stuck in a zombie attack with all the fun of pushing statues around and looking for hidden keys. With a reputation for having some of the most hilariously voice-acted cutscenes in video-game history, the series' increasingly absurd plotline never seems to get the thorough explanation it deserves. What's Capcom's answer to this problem?
A full 90 minutes of exposition.
A movie that believes in "tell, don't show", "Resident Evil: Degeneration" has everything you love about the game series: test tubes, bad voice-acting, and more exposition than an instruction manual. Starring "RE2" heroes Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, "RE:D" proves that a zombie movie doesn't need isolation, interesting characters, or zombies!
Sit back and enjoy as Shawn and Keith of "Cinester Theater" take you on a fantastic voyage of hilarity. Thrill as we try to survive the horror of survival-horror in "Resident Evil - Degeneration"!
Comments
This is the third IRiff by Cinester Theater that I've downloaded and the third that I've commented on. These guys do not fail to make me laugh and this latest effort is just as solid as the rest. Fans of the "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" or "Final Justice" MST3K episodes will appreciate the many food-related jokes targeted at the movie's overweight antagonist. The same strengths that I have praised them for in the past apply here as well. Good joke variety, celebrity look-alikes (that never gets old for me), and overall good pacing for dialogue. This time however, I do want to offer some constructive criticism in the hopes that this group can rise from the four-star range up to the five-star range. The delivery of the jokes sound natural enough, but the opening dialogue skit seemed really forced. I don't expect anyone here to sound like professionals, but it should at least sound like they aren't reading directly from a script. One of the riffers mentioned in a forum post that this was a tough project to get through and they were exhausted by the time of its completion. While that sort of fatigue is very understandable, it unfortunately shows up in the final product. Towards the movie's final act, Shawn and Keith morph into "This movie is horrible" mode where they outright bash the film in between regular jokes. That riffing style is usually a turn-off for me, but these guys are so funny to listen to that it was easily forgivable. I just hope in the future they don't fall into the same trap that so many other IRiffers are plagued by, where they bash the film so much that they forget they're supposed to be funny. Also, as a humble request, I would like to see a few sync lines written into the readme text file. I like to burn my RiffTrax onto audio CDs and looking for a middle-of-the-road sync line makes it easier for me to re-sync the track after switching CDs. Keep the riffs coming, Cinester Theater. The future is looking bright for you.
Much thanks for the comment. We will work on the opening skits a little harder in the future. We will also try not to be so angry at a movie again. Although, this one was really hard not to get angry at. More sync lines shall be entered into our text file as well.
Thank you for the purchase and the honesty. Much appreciated. We hope to keep you laughing with future iRiffs.
Man, this was a HORRIBLE movie..... and calling it a movie is an insult to fine films like "Chairman of the Board".
This was a very funny iRiff. I loved the line "RESIDENT EVIL" that you would say when the characters are just sitting around talking. For a zombie movie, very few zombies. The growing sense of frustration you all had with the movie as it was going on made for some good riffs. The "you've been having a lot of sex" and "hey, you found your jacket" bits were laugh out loud funny.
4/5 Stars...... very much recommended.
man, you know what this movie needed? more epilogues. seriously, at one point i was like, if it cuts to all the zombies getting on a boat headed into the sunset, it will totally not feel out of place. who placed the stocks to make the plague viable to sell with the foreign country and the thing? WHO CARES? i'm here to enjoy zombie shooting. really. this movie seems to find that hard--nay, impossible--to believe.
anyway, fun riff. definitely not your best, but thoroughly entertaining. i found the 'resident ... evil' gags and the 'he's fat' gags a bit tiresome after a while, but obviously from the other comments others felt differently. also you could tell this was an earlier riff from the way you'd sometimes point out a gag, then play off of it, but not really in a "new" way--this has definitely changed as you guys have gotten better. still, the chemistry between you guys is awesome, and even a non-perfect riff from you is better than the best that a lot of people have to offer. my personal favorite line: 'so, we're uh ... we're just gonna watch the whole thing burn, are we?'